I have been hearing a lot lately, “We shouldn’t expect non-Christians to live like Christians. They don’t know God, so they sin. That’s what sinners do. Stop expecting them to be moral.”
Or even, “God’s laws apply to Christians, but they don’t apply to non-Christians.”
Is this thinking Biblical? Should we refuse to mention to non-Christians that they are sinners and that they are violating God’s moral law?
People also frequently say, “You can’t legislate morality!” That isn’t true. In fact, every time you make a restrictive law, it is an attempt to force someone to comply to a moral standard that he or she doesn’t want to abide by. You can’t avoid legislating morality (even if based on a faulty Humanistic standard). What you CAN’T legislate is holiness!
Paul says that God didn’t give His moral law for good people, but for the people who are sinning.
“We know that the law is good when used correctly. For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.” (1 Timothy 1:8-10, NLT)
Should we tell our non-Christian friends that they are sinning? Paul certainly did to the unbelieving Greeks in his day:
“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31, NLT)
A lady I know posted online the other day that we shouldn’t tell people they are sinners, instead, we should just tell them about Jesus. Really? Tell them what about Jesus? What is significant about Jesus? That He loves people? Heck, Barney the Dinosaur loves people! That’s not life-changing news.
Jesus is only significant if He is the remedy to the sin that separates us from God (His claim). You can’t skip over the cross on your way to acceptance by God.
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. (Romans 3:22-25, NLT)
Galatians 3:24 says that God’s moral law is what He uses to bring us to Christ. Until we know God’s moral law, and that we have broken it, we cannot seen our need for a Savior. Don’t skip the confrontational parts of the Gospel in your eagerness to just love everybody into the Kingdom. God is holy, and He will not allow sin to abide in His presence. We owed a debt we could not pay, Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, so we could be reconciled to God.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NTL)
Before you can give the good news, you have to give the bad news. God doesn’t give people a free pass on sin just because they aren’t Christians, and neither should we. God doesn’t merely require all people to be good, He commands us to be Holy. That can only happen through the life-giving power of Jesus.
Finally, we understand that it is ONLY through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit of God, living inside of us, that we can be transformed and finally overcome the grip of sin in our lives and live the life that pleases God.
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4, NLT)
So lovingly confront unbelievers with their sin, otherwise, they can never be saved from their sin.
Israel Wayne is an Author and Conference Speaker and Director of Family Renewal, LLC. He is also the Site Editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net.
Excellent thoughts Israel, thanks!
Yes, this is right on. I’ve heard this argument as well and it just doesn’t stick as you have shown. God’s law demands obedience!
I saw a tshirt on someone riding a motorcycle a few weeks ago. It said “The Church Has Left the Building”
There are a few ways you can take that.
One – the actual church of Jesus Christ is not in a building, but is in the people who have submitted to Him and they are out- being the Hands and helping others, teaching others…
Or
The Church and it’s truth have left.
The latter of those two describes what is going on when people say “you can’t tell them they’re sinners, you have to tell them about Jesus”
I agree with you
WHY?
Why do people need Jesus?
If we don’t start in the garden – with an understanding that all have sinned and fallen short… that the only way to truly live an eternal life with God is to begin here – right now, submitting all that we are – confessing and repenting and thanking Jesus – letting our lives go to death here in the now to live for Him and allow Him to live through us…
Sadly, the church has left the building and very few are teaching truth..
the road seems to become more narrow each day.
Thank you for maintaining truth.
I believe the real problem is that people who call themselves Christian believe they should force others to live a scriptural life through legislation. People are very unlikely to come to a saving grace relationship with יהוה or his son, ישוע, because of civil laws enacted that attempt to force them to behave scripturally. Live the scriptural life yourself; be a shinning example in a dark world.
Paul,
I understand what you are saying. However, we must remember that all law is the imposition of morality upon those who do not want it. That is the nature of law. I don’t suppose that you would suggest that we get rid of all civil laws?
Israel
Great article, I have debated this many of times with people on Facebook who say you can’t legislate morality you can’t push your beliefs on me. Here is my question to those of us who profess faith in Christ and even to those who don’t: How do you decide what is right or wrong? Is it really OK for everyone to do what is right in their own eyes? Are you just following the crowd, doing what many around you are doing? Are you just going along in order to get along. When society becomes morally confused like we are seeing today; God’s people must realize His Word is true and His standards for morality and what is right and wrong does not change, regardless of the apparent lack of visible consequences. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and Hebrews 13:4. The problem that we are now seeing with many people who profess faith in Christ is this: Instead of a Biblical view of life they have a world view of life, and sadly this is leading many people who profess to be believers to just go along with the crowd, when it comes to deciding what to believe or how to live, what is right and what is wrong. From The Desk of Jim Castle
We are in an incredible battle for the heart and souls of mankind. The world along with all the forces of hell tempts and tries to draw us away from full devotion to Christ our Lord and Savior. The playground of our mind is one of the biggest battle ground areas and it is here where our thoughts come under attack. 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 In verse five Paul is alerting us to the reality and that is why he says every thought must be brought into captivity to Christ and any thought that would exalt itself against God must be thrown down. We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We are a nation of laws. Seriously none of us can just go around and pick and choose which laws we’re going to obey and not obey and try to justify it. Pray for America as it now seems like we are falling apart now, it seems like we are just unraveling at the seams and that verse in the Bible comes to my mind where it says in the last days that every man will just do what’s right in his own eyes, we will call evil good and good evil.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20).
I truly believe, once you take the moral standards of God off the table, you no longer have morality. Without Christ as our compass, pointing us to the Truth, there are no longer any moral absolutes. Today, everyone does what is right in their own eyes. This should sound familiar to anyone who has read the Bible.
I do think one of the reasons that our courts seem to be in state of confusion anymore is because they are now faced with two opposing legal systems. One is based on man’s Humanistic principles and morals and the other based on the Bible.
In the Book of Judges, you find this quoted twice: In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25). Because there was no one leading the people according to the Word of God, the people did whatever they thought was good to them. They had no moral compass.
I understand that there are some who cry out against legislating morality, maybe what they are really trying to say is this; you cannot force people to do what is right. I agree that there will never be a law that will prevent evil from doing evil and in that respect; I understand how they or anyone might say that we cannot legislate morals and values. The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart, (Jeremiah 17:9 says; “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?) People who believe human life is sacred do not extinguish it at their own sweet will; they do everything in their power to preserve and protect it. People who do not believe human life is sacred can be more prone to base life and death decisions upon emotion, convenience, my right to do whatever I want.
But is it right to TRY and legislate morality and values? Here is where I disagree and why I disagree with those who say we can’t legislate morality and values. How many laws can you think of right now that are not legislated upon morals or values? Every law springs from a system of values and beliefs, every law is an illustration of legislating Morality. Those who seek to try and separate morality from law, are in pursuit both of the impossible and the destructive. The real question before us is never whether or not to legislate morality, but which moral system ought to be made legally binding. Sometimes those who resist legislating morality do so because they object to the morality being legislated.
Every law legislates morality, either God’s or man’s. Every legal system in the world is based on a set of religious and moral beliefs. All of our public policies require decisions which reflect moral judgment. Every time a law is passed, one set of beliefs is preferred over another set, wouldn’t you agree. Even the law to allow abortion is based on someone’s morals and values. The laws that say it is illegal to kill, steal, rape, animal cruelty laws, all based on morals and values, but who’s?
If all moral views are equally valid, then do we have the right to punish anyone? Can we ever say that something is wrong? In order to say that something is wrong, we must first have a standard by which we weigh right and wrong in order to make a judgment. If that standard of right and wrong is based on relativism, then it is not a standard at all. In relativism, standards of right and wrong are derived from social norms. Since society changes, the norms would change and so would right and wrong. If right and wrong change, then how can anyone be rightly judged for something he did wrong if that wrong might become right in the future? If relativism is true and all points of view are true, then is my view that relativism is false also true?
If we try to live in a society in which all points of views are treated as equally it is not only unrealistic but ultimately unworkable. I do believe that America is changing from one controlling set of beliefs to another controlling set. American law was established on the moral principles of the Bible. Take for example the Rhode Island Charter of 1638 that says this. We… submit our persons, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His, given us in His Holy Word.
Remember if one of the reasons that our courts seem to be in state of confusion anymore is because they are now faced with two opposing legal systems. One is based on man’s Humanistic principles and morals and the other based on the Bible. If our courts can decide that unborn children are not persons, they can also decide that people over 80 are no longer persons; or that deformed children are not persons; or that Jews or Christians are not persons. The same legal philosophy which allowed the Nazis to kill Jews is the same legal philosophy that allows Americans to kill unborn babies.
Well said and great points!
I appreciate the work you do, but there are points I disagree on. The law was given to show us our need for a savior. We are Christians and righteous because of the blood of Jesus that covers us, not our doing the right thing. The only right thing we can do is remember who we are. We were purchased by Jesus. He paid the price for our unrighteousness, me in my sin, my in-ability to be righteous on my own. We are now sitting at God’s right hand as Jesus is resting. As He is, we are in this world. He is sitting, not working. The work is done. There is nothing we ned to do. If we think there is something more we need to do, we are saying his work at the cross was not enough. He is our everything. He is resting. We should rest in Him.
Trusting that His work IS enough.
Yes, I agree with your friend, that all we need to do is tell people of the love of Jesus. Jesus did not come to condemn us, He came to love us. He came to condemn the world (the work of the enemy in the world). People who sin and don’t repent (turn from their sin) continue to sin because they do not know the way out. They do not know Jesus is The WAY out. We do not need to show them how horrible they are. That is the enemies job and deep down they know how horrible sin is. Point them to Jesus and He will reveal Himself to them. It is his job to change hearts, not ours, to point out sin.
Should we point others to God’s Word? Yes! Should we point others to Jesus loves us even when no one else does? Yes!
When we realize how loved we are, the price that was paid for us. Do we want to go on sinning? NO!
That IS Repentance!
We are living Under the New Covenant, Not the Mosaic Covenant.
Knowing the Law is Good. We learn that this Law is perfect. We know that us, being in-perfect could never full-fill the Law. But Jesus could, and He did!!! We can Rest in Him.
Right Living comes from Right Believing. Believe right and you will live right.
Our country has been down a long meandering road away from the Love of Jesus. Bring the Love of Jesus back, allow Him to reveal the error in their lives. He can do it better than we can.
When we rest in Him. He works,
When we work by our own efforts, He waits on us to sit and watch Him do the miraculous.