“In his book Every Good Endeavour (2012), Tim Keller, founder of The Gospel Coalition and prominent New Calvinist, expresses his disappointment that Christians are not more involved with popular culture. He writes: ‘Christians’ reaction to popular culture in the last eighty years has been some form of disengagement. ... Why this disengagement with our culture? One reason is a ‘thin’ or legalistic view of sin, where sin is seen as a series of discrete acts of noncompliance with God’s regulations. You pursue Christian growth largely by seeking environments where you are less likely to do these sinful actions. ... This view of sin comports with a lack of understanding of the thoroughness and richness of Christ’s gracious work for us. ... If we have a thin view of sin, we will feel safe if we remove from our view anything that could tempt us to commit actions of overt sexual immorality, profanity, dishonesty, or violence’ (Keller, Every Good Endeavor, pp. 192, 193). ... He says that Christians, who hold such a view of sin, are ‘legalists’ who withdraw from the popular culture of the world in order to avoid situations that could tempt them to commit ‘thin sins’, like overt acts of sexual immorality, profanity, dishonesty, or violence. ... Here we should note the biblical definition of sin. The Bible describes sin as breaking God’s law (1 John 3:4). It is also defined as rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7), which separates the sinner from God (Isaiah 59.2). Sin is an offense to God’s holy character, and all sin is primarily sin against God. ... Keller’s assessment is completely wrong, for it is those who hold what he calls a ‘thin view’ of sin who have been convicted of their sin and rebellion against God’s holy law and understand that their only hope of salvation is God’s grace revealed in the Cross of Christ. Hence their prayer: ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy Cross I cling’. Born again Christians, who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and stand in God’s grace for their salvation, are those who delight in God’s moral law and seek to obey it with all their heart, and do all they can to comply with what Keller calls ‘God’s regulations’. [This is the true grace of God, Titus 2:11-15.] ... Keller’s ‘thick view’ of sin encourages Christians to engage with worldly culture ... But Scripture makes no distinction between thick and thin sin. It teaches that sin comes from the lusts and desires of the human heart that is desperately wicked (James 1:14-15). Keller’s classification of sin into thin and thick is entirely without scriptural authority and purely a figment of his foolish imagination; it is profoundly heretical, for it presents a false and misleading view of sin that downplays the wickedness of disobedience to God’s moral law, suggesting that Christians should engage with the world in order to overcome what Keller calls ‘the compulsive drive of their heart to produce idols’. ... Scripture warns that friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4). Christians must not conform to the pattern of the world (Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 2:15-17). ... God commands his people to be separate from the things of the world (2 Corinthians 6:17).” “Redefining Sin” by E.S. Williams, www.newcalvinist.com Comments are closed.
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