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Sin Unto Death

The exact phrase of sin unto death  only occurs in Romans 6:16 and 1John 5:16.  However, we find the words sin  and death  together in Exodus 10:17; Deuteronomy 21:22; Deuteronomy 22:26; Deuteronomy 24:16; 2Kings 14:6; Isaiah 53:12; Romans 5:12; Romans 5:21; Romans 6:16; Romans 6:23; Romans 7:13; Romans 8:2; 1Corinthians 15:56; James 1:15; 1John 5:16-17.  In most cases these references are also talking about a sin unto death.

  1. Basic truths
    1. This sin can only be done by God's people.  God leaves lost people alive, even after God determines that He will never save them such as He did with Pharaoh in the day of Moses.  God uses such lost people to tempt His people in order to prove that they will not submit to the temptation.
    2. Once saved we are always saved.  We can not go to hell or the lake of fire  once we are saved but saved people can do a sin unto death  and live less than the amount of time that God had originally planned for their life.
    3. John 9:1-3 says: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.  Just because a saved person dies before we think is their time, that does not mean that God agrees.  We must be careful to not judge our brother wrongly in order to avoid having God's judgment come upon us (Matthew 7:1-2; John 7:24).
    4. The sin unto death  is not a one-time sin but is choosing a lifestyle of ongoing sin and refusing to let God's messenger and God's word correct that lifestyle of sin.  Instead, in every case, the person judged clung onto doctrinal error which they believed allowed them to continue to live in sin and avoid judgment by God.  Thus, the real basis is the doctrinal error which was clung to and not the lifestyle sin which was justified by that doctrinal error.
    5. I have seen God remove a pastor from the pastorate four times because of this sin.  In every case God gave the pastor years to repent and sent those pastors repeated messages to repent and accept correction.  However, they kept refusing God's messages which were backed by what the word of God literally says using methods to understand the word of God which they said that they agreed to.
    6. I have seen four literal deaths with the same cause of people refusing to let go of doctrinal error and, instead, using the doctrinal error to justify a lifestyle of sin.
  2. Romans 6:16 says: Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
    1. Please notice that we have two steps separated by the semi colon.  In our Second Step, we have two possible results from the First Step.
    2. One possible result is obedience unto righteousness.  If a doctrine truly comes from the Bible, then it will demand that people obey  the Bible, in an ongoing manner, for God's righteousness  displayed in their life.  We do not get God's righteousness  to be displayed our life, in a way which is displayed to others, for a one-time act unless it is the start of an ongoing personal relationship such as for our initial salvation.
    3. Any doctrine which does not require the prior results is a sin unto death.  Many people refuse to believe that their sin is unto death  because God is longsuffering  (Exodus 34:6; Psalms 86:15; Romans 2:4; Romans 9:22; 1Peter 3:20) and gives people plenty of time to truly Biblically repent.  As a result, when God does bring judgment, they can not deny that God gave them much time to repent and provided many motivations for their repentance.
    4. In the First Step, we see the phrase yield yourselves servants to obey.  At the time that this was written, servants  were usually hired for a life-time of service.  In fact, it was not unusual for several generations of one family to be servants to several generations of another family.  This also makes sense since it should be obvious that God will not bring a sentence of death  for a one-time mistake.  It also matches with true Biblical salvation which is not the result of a one-time religious act but is an ongoing personal relationship.  Therefore, this yield yourselves servants to obey  is talking about a lifestyle yielding,  which matches with all that I have said before this.
    5. Next, we look at the phrase to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey  and see a choice of obeying  God through obeying His written word or obeying  a religious leader who claims that if we obey him and his doctrine than God can't punish us for our disobedience to God's word.
    6. When we put this altogether, we have: 'A child of God can chose to obey God's word as a lifestyle and receive God's righteousness displayed in their life or they can chose to obey, as a lifestyle , some religious person who claims that their doctrine makes it OK for God's child to live in sin.  This second choice leads to forms of death, such as death of ministry and can often to an early physical death'.
  3. 1John 5:16-18 says: If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.  There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.  All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.  We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
    1. The first thing to pay attention to, in this reference, is the th  in the words sinneth  and keepeth  and toucheth.  The th,  in these words, means that these are lifestyle actions.  Thus, we see that whosoever is born of God  does not 'continue is a sin as a lifestyle '.  Instead, he has a lifestyle of 'keeping himself from ongoing sin', which requires avoiding ongoing sin and he abstains from all appearance of evil.  (1Thessalonians 5:22).  In addition, while Satan might touch  us with some addictive sin, the truly saved will not remain in that type of lifestyle .
    2. That said, our reference also says, There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.  The indication from the context, along with what we learned from Romans, is that this is 'an ongoing lifestyle of sin'.  We do not have to pray for someone who claims to be saved while refusing to get out of a lifestyle of sin.  In fact, if we do pray, we should follow the instructions of 1Corinthians 5:3-5 (To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus).  That is, we should pray for God to cause their lifestyle sin to cause the destruction of the flesh  so that they are motivated to stop the lifestyle sin.  Notice that Paul writes that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.  That is, they might have an early physical death, or might have to live being physically crippled, but the object is to turn them so that they end up in Heaven (that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus).  When we combine our two references, we see that there is reason to doubt a claim of salvation by someone who continues in lifestyle sin.  In order to be truly loving, we should seek their best spiritual good even if it means praying for Satan to destroy their flesh.
    3. Our reference in 1John 5:16 tells us that we should pray for any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death.  That is, we should pray for God to help them to stop their sinning.  However, if they don't stop and it becomes obvious that they will continue their sin as a lifestyle , then we can stop praying or change our prayer to be for the destruction of their flesh to drive them to true Biblical repentance.
  4. In addition, to those verses which use the phrase sin unto death,  there are 21 verses which use the words sin  and death.  Some of the lessons which we learn from those references are:
    1. In Exodus 10:16-18, we see that Pharaoh admitted that he had done a sin unto death  and asked for forgiveness, but did not truly Biblically repent.  The result was greater judgment upon him and his people because he now deliberately sinned against God.
    2. In Deuteronomy 21:22-23, we see that we see that a person who does a sin unto death  is to be hanged him on a tree  to show that he is accursed of God.
    3. In Deuteronomy 24:16, we see that no relative should suffer because their relative did a sin unto death.
    4. In Romans, we see that we see several references which tell us that all sin  ultimately ends in death.  This is why we all physically die, eventually.  However, this is different from a sin unto death,  which ends up with an early death.
    5. In James 1:13-15, we see that we see that all sin  starts with our giving into our own lusts  and ends in death.  Therefore, we should obey the instruction to Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.  (2Timothy 2:22).
    6. In 1Peter 3:18 we see that the only cure for sin  is to be quickened by the Spirit.  Therefore, we need to draw close to God's Holy Spirit and stay close to Him if we want to avoid an early death.

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