Sin is Bondage

What can we say about sin? It seems so much lately that everything is a sin and there is really nothing anyone can do that isn’t sinful. I have lately been called a sinner for simply preaching the keeping of God’s law. I have a problem with all of these ideas, simply because it essentially because they are not Biblical arguments. Sure much of what is taking place in the world can be sinful, I agree with this, but when church goers state outright that judging another member of the body of Christ by the Word of God is a sinful act, I take issue with this.

John 7:24

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

1 Corinthians 5: 11-12

But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

According to this we can clearly conclude that judging someone that is a Brother IS a biblical concept and Paul condoned this action. He also quoted from several chapters of the Torah to support this idea. So again, we see that the things Paul taught were in direct agreement with the Law of God.

Deuteronomy 17:7, 19:18-19, 24:7

The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.

And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.

“If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; and you shall put away the evil from among you.

The evil people among the Believers are those that are breaking God’s Law. This should be quite evident. These evil people are sinners, and to be a sinner one can only break the commands of God. This is what the Pharisees did when they added to the law. That was a command God gave in order to keep people accountable to His Law.

To take this a step further, is keeping God’s law considered bondage as so many in the church claim today? I believe this is in complete error of the New Testament teaching. If we are to say that Paul taught against the Torah, we must conclude that he was a false prophet according to the Torah itself.

Deuteronomy 13: 1-5

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.

Deuteronomy 13 is the test that every prophet must pass in order to even be considered as someone YHWH would approve. Therefore, a prophet must preach keeping the commands of YHWH, and continual belief in and obedience of YHWH. If this isn’t being done, according to God’s own Word, the prophet is not sent by YHWH but is a false prophet. How this is so often overlooked is beyond me. When we decide to follow the Word of God, we need no teacher, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. That being said, we need to take into consideration the entire Word of God, and not just the New Testament.

Sin is bondage, not the Law of God. Too many times has the argument arises that claims keeping the “law of Moses” is keeping ourselves in bondage. The first problem I have with that is the fact that the Law of Moses is one and the same as the Law of God. Secondly, we are told that God removed His people out of the bondage of Egypt. If this argument is correct then we must conclude that God took His people out of the bondage of one country in order to place them right back in bondage in another city. Sounds kinda stupid, huh?

Acts 8:22-23

Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

1 John 5:17

All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.

Wickedness requires repentance. Furthermore, we can see that the man in question is bound by iniquity. The Greek word here for iniquity is adikia and this same Greek word is used in the second passage for the word unrighteousness. Therefore we can conclude that iniquity is sin and having concluded that we can clearly understand that sin is bondage. The man in Acts was bound by sin.

Romans 6:6, 16, 19

knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.

Deuteronomy 6:25

Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

As we can see from these several examples found in the book of Romans, sin is what Paul was always referencing in terms of bondage. Being a slave to sin, or a slave to lawlessness. He even asks a question concerning the difference between sin and righteousness. This should be a nail in the coffin of the idea that Paul teaches against the Torah. Obeying YHWH’s commands is our righteousness. That is what brings us closer to Him. Disobeying His commands is sin and continuing to sin is what leads us away from Him. It is really a simple concept that has been turned into something completely contrary to His intended will for all of us.

What I would like you to take away from this is that fact that sin is bondage, not the Law of God.