Benefits of Sin
So many people have sat in church for so long, yet never actually stopped to read the book containing all that they claim to believe. In Romans 5:20 Paul says that the law was given, from God, so that our "sins might increase." Wait. What?! Yes, God gave the commandments, not so that we would do good by them, but so that we would increase in our failing! How can this be? Why would God want us to fail?...
Words carry associations and connotations which may be different from person to person so we need to try to use words that carry as much truth of the Bible as possible and minimize the false connotations and associations. Romans 5:20, again says that God gave the law so that sin would increase. Does that means God made/makes people sin?
So, instead of saying that God “makes people sin,” what if I said, “God governs all things in this world and even sin is not outside his control”? Would that be better? Maybe; maybe not. Or what if I said, “God rules the world and everything that happens in it”? Or what if I said, “God foresees all that will come and he can stop anything he pleases from happening, or he can permit it to happen. And if he stops it or permits it, he, then, controls whether it happens”?
Let me give a few examples from God's word:
1. The Bible teaches that the devil causes many sins. But Satan is not ultimately out of God’s control. He can only do what God allows him to. God can always put limits on Satan, to any degree he pleases. Therefore, God governs what Satan does. SeeJob 1:12:
The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
God was in control over how much Satan could do to Job.
2. How about Psalm 105:25...I'll let it speak for itself:
He [God] turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
3. Herod and Pilate, who had Jesus killed were destined to do so, just as Judas was to betray Him.
It says in Acts 4:27–28, “Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
4. There's a story of a man named Joseph, in the book of Genesis, whose brothers sold him into slavery, leading to a future false accusation of rape and then prison and would sit captive a total of 22 years. At the end of it all, Joseph is released and was able to save the entire nation from famine. This only could have happened had he been at the right place at the right time. He then tells his brothers, as he gives them food and saves their lives, that “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God MEANT it for good.” He doesn’t say, “God used it for good.” His brothers had a meaning; an evil meaning. But God had a meaning too; it was a good meaning. And he brought salvation for the people. So, yes, God was controlling, governing, bringing about what happened there.
But the question remains, what benefits are there to sin. Before I answer that, let me place a serious disclaimer here: Because there are definite benefits to sin, that does not give license to sin. Paul reminds us that we are not to continue in sin simply because grace abounds to us (Romans 6:1-2). But we should, at the same time, realize that our sin has played an enormous role in how and who we are currently, and should drive us away from continuing in it.
Back to the question. How do we benefit from sin? Let me give 3 quick benefits
1. By our sin we see our sickness
No one would/should take medicine from a random stranger. But should your doctor tell you that you have cancer, you then would take the meds prescribed so that you will be made well. Furthermore, cancer doesn't often show itself as cancer, but you find it as a result of having other symptoms show up. Our sin is the same way. We are often unaware of how detrimental it is to our eternal well-being, until the symptoms of it manifest. A husband may not think that he is sinful because he has lustful thoughts about a coworker, but as he begins to "work late" with her, he may realize that it is sin in him making excuses to be around her more, and not responsibility that is driving him. Once he realizes that his lustful thoughts are beginning to control his actions, he may be able to rescue himself from potential peril that may lie ahead.
2. Our sin can make us humble
I can remember a day I was driving to my job at a Christian book store, over a decade ago, and was running late. A car pulled out in front of me and did not go the speed that I had determined was appropriate for getting to work on time. I laid on my horn, yelling, as if they could hear me, and flashing my headlights at them. Barely making it to work at a reasonable time, I ran in clocked in and headed to the register to help the "poor souls" who came in looking for help to find a book on handling their struggles. And guess who walked in. Yep. The lady I yelled and honked at on my way in. Now, while I did run to the back and hide and get someone else to help her, I learned a valuable lesson and it was my shortcomings that made it clear. God use my flaw to reveal his grace, and also reveal what not to do.
3. Our sin serves to reveal God's goodness
Some people think it is unfair that some will go to heaven and some will not. The truth is, it is unfair that any should get to go to heaven at all. The question should be, "why would God allow any into heaven?" Our sin is against an infinite God so the punishment must be infinite. If I hit my sister, I might get a spanking. If I hit my principal, I might get expelled. If I hit the president, I might get shot. See, the offense was the same in each instance, but who the offense was against determined the punishment. So god owes each of us death as Romans tells us that the punishment for sin is death and that everyone has sinned. But God so loved the world that He sent His only Son that we might be saved through faith in His finished work on our behalf (John 3:16). We can see more clearly God's goodness because it is contrasted against the backdrop of our badness.
So God did an incredibly loving thing by giving the law so that by it we might see that we can never live up to perfection required to be in the presence of God. He revealed our need for Him.
I once saw my daughter, at the age of two, falling from the mattresses we had on the floor. I had plenty of time to catch her, but in that moment, I decided to let her fall. She did. And then she began crying. Why would I have let her fall, you may ask. Well, we also have a bookshelf that is about six feet tall. I knew that if I caught her that she would expect I would always catch her and my try and climb the bookshelf. As it was, she now knew that falling is scary and can hurt. Not once has she ever climbed that bookshelf!