1987-11 - 09 - Bruce The Sin Unto Death

THE SIN UNTO DEATH
Problem Texts (11)

F. F. Bruce
The question is: what is a 'sin unto 'If anyone sees his hnltheI' eitheI' hef(JI'e or aiteI' Miilll'r's death,
death" and how dm's it dim'I' fi'om a committing a sin which is not unto Yet a Chl'istian in such close rappOl't
sin which is 'not unto death ',' I have death, hc shall make rerluest, and with the Lord's mind as MiilleI'
avoided the RSV wording, because it Cod will gin' him lifE> fix those whosc enjoyed I'ecein'd no guidance that Ill'
speaks of a 'mOl'tal sin" and that is sin is not unto death, There is sin should stop pI'aying f()]' that man, I
liable to confuse the I'eader, as unto death; I do not mcan that one think, therl:'fiJl'e, that the fiJI'meI' sug-
though the distinction weI'e that should {way fiJI' that. All gestion is bette!'.
between mortal and yeni;d sins in unrighteousness is sin, but theI'l' is a
western mOl'al theoloh')" stemming sin which is not unto death' Postscript: 'when that
fi'om the mediaeval schoolmen, (In (l J()hn !i: 1(,', 17'), which is perfect has cOlue'
this sense mortal sins are deliberate \vith I'eganl to thc meaning of 1 Cor,
and persistent, and depl'ivl' the soul
t:):10, discussed in our June issue,
of sanctifying grace,) It would be
the most I'ecently published commen-
anachronistic to I'ead this distinction The believer is not tan' on 1 C()l'inthiwls, In' Cordon D,
into the New Testament. Fe~' (Eenlmans, I'atenu;stcr, 18(\7),
given a 'God's-eye says this of the \iew that the chaI'is-
Is it knUWll bv the result?
view' of such a m~ltic signs were to ceasc ,,,ith the
The distinction between the two
completion of the Ne,v Testament
kinds of sin is one which John's
I'eadeI's ,,,ere expected to recognizc, situation, so as to I'evelation: 'Civen its classical exposi-
tion by B. 13, \vadield, this view has
But how could they recognize it
except by tlw I'esult:' A sin which know infallibly been iaken over in a variety of ,vavs
by contempoI',u'y Ref()l'llleci and Dis-
resulted in the sinner's death ,votlld
certainly be a 'sin unto death', \\11'
whether a person is pensationalist thcologies' (p, G4S, n,
2:3), DL Fee's I'eft'l'ence, I think, is to
may th{nk of the incident of Ananias
a!l(~l Sapphira: ,vhen Pe1L'r exposed
past praying for or \vadield's C()llIllcr/i'il Alil'uc/cs
(1~J18: reissued by "the Banner of
theiI' sin, it was public, and so ,vas
their penalty, \ve may think again of
not. Tnlth Trust, 1~)7i), In chapter 1
('The Cessation of the Charismata')
the incestuous man of 1 Cor, ;;:1-13,
\vadield maintained that such miI'a-
if'the destI'uction of the flesh' in n'I'se culous signs as arc I'econled in the
which was from thc beginning' (1
[) is to be undeI'stood in the most J()hn 2:18-23), This suggestion may Nnv Testament authenticated the
literal sense, Then there aI'e the apostles as the divinely-authorized
well bc right: we may n'cilll what
believcrs of 1 C()r, 11 :30, whose
,vas said last month about the iITl'- f(JtmdeI's of the chlllTh and ceased at
uncharitable conduct at the Lol'(i's
tl'ievahle apostasy envisaged in lfch, the end of the apostolic agc, Any
SuppeI' led to the death of sonlt', John (,':'-1-(;, But how does the praying miracles reconll'd since then, he
does not !(whid his readers to IJI'ay f()!' held, are ipso Jhelo 'counteddt lllira-
believer know that the apostasy is
such people, but he does not enCOUI'- irretrievahle-how can it he knmvn, cles',
age them to do so: if they have died, when the sin is committed, that it is On fiJl'theI' I'Cflection I also wondeI' if
they cannot be restored, But fOI' one BITthren attitudcs have not bcen
'unto death":' The belicvcr is not given
wl{o sins in any otheI' way, let them
a 'God's-eye \ie,v' of such a situation, influenced by Sil' RobeI't Andl'I'son's
pI'ay: so as to kIlow infidlihly whether a argument IJliblished at the cnd of the
'more things aI'e wrought by person is past praying kw 01' not. In nineteenth centuI'Y in Thc Si/Cl/Cl' of
pI'ayer thc ahsence of such inf;dlible know- G()d, His \iew W;IS that the miI'ani-
Than this Y\lorld dreams of:' ledge, let prayer continue to he lous phenomena of apostolic Chl'ist-
oflercd, ianity "eI'Ved as a public witness to
Could it be apostasy'? In the dosing yeaI's of his lifl' (~erwge the truth of the gospel only during the
That seems to me to he the most Miiller is reconled to have prayed 'tl",ll1sitional period' when 'the testi-
probable explanation of the text. But daily fill' the restoration (the son of a mony was addressed to the Jew, but
of course there are other ,vays of fi'iel'1(1 of his) who had given up the ceas~d when, thl'Jl'w being ~et aside,
understanding it: in paI'tieular, it has evangelical f;!ith of his youth: he was the gospel went out to the Centile
been suggestcd that the 'sin unto convinced, he said, that the man's world' (p, 1£;2), Although SiI'
death' is apostasy-specifically, the experiences in the spil'itual wilder- Robl'rt's ultra-dispensational ism has
apostasy of those who had aban- ness would, hy divine oveITllling, not been gelll'I'ally accepted, SOllle of
doned the primitin' and ,mthentic make him a more effective defendeI' its cOllcomitants l'ntl'I'l'd into the
message and l'stahlished a new basis of the !ilith when once he was res- ,\'(lrld-\ie>\' of m;ll1Y BI'l'thI'en of an
f(Jl' faith and life to replace 'that tOl'pd, But Ill' n('\'('r \vas restored, eadier geneI'ation,
f)

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THE SIN UNTO DEATH

Problem Texts (11)

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