My grandson, the piper, playing the prelude for my wife's memorial service: Highland Cathedral, Going Home, Skye Boat Song, and Amazing Grace

February 13, 2024 / 0 comments

Free from the Slavery of Sin

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

  • 1 John 1:5-10

Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

  • John 8:34-36

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

  • Isaiah 64:6

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

  • Isaiah 1:18

“ ‘Even after we are reborn, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth of God is not in us. It is therefore essential for us to lay hold on Christ Jesus, in his righteousness and his atonement, since he is the end and consummation of the Law and since it is by him that we are set at liberty so that the curse of God may not fall upon us, even though we do not fulfill the Law in all points. For as God the Father beholds us in the body of his Son Christ Jesus, he accepts our imperfect obedience as if it were perfect, and covers our works, which are defiled with many stains, with the righteousness of his Son.’ (Scots Confession 15).”

  • Tony Lane, A Concise History of Christian Thought

John Knox (1514-1574) was a leader in the Scottish reformation.  He also preached in England and Geneva, Switzerland while on various exiles.  While Cranmer was killed by Bloody Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, John Knox went into exile.  His first exile was being consigned to French Galleys.  He then spent time in England before moving to Geneva where he worked with John Calvin.  While in Geneva, he wrote a scathing letter regarding women who reign over countries.  Mary of Guise, the Queen Regent and mother of Mary Queen of Scots, ignored his letter to consider a formalization of the reformed church in Scotland.  Mary Queen of Scots was the woman who might kill him if he returned to Scotland, but by the time he returned, a protestant was queen of England, Elizabeth I.  In his letter, his broad stroke of the pen also insulted her, and his return was delayed due to her refusal to allow him a passport to travel through England to get to Scotland.  Reports say she never forgave him.  But he returned to Scotland and, with a few other elders named “John,” wrote the Scots Confession.  John Knox was the most influential of the “Six Johns,” and they wrote the confession in four days, the quote above being only a portion of one of the twenty-five paragraphs of the confession.  John Knox is the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

But in this short portion of paragraph 15 of the Scots Confession, The Perfection of the Law and the Imperfection of Man, we see statements easily supported by Scripture.  It starts with a rough paraphrase of 1 John 1:10.  Then, it speaks of our sin nature, but it beautifully speaks of righteousness of Jesus Christ and how He sees our imperfect obedience as perfect, as God sees us with our sins washed away.

We are free, free indeed.  But it is nothing that we have done.  It is through that righteousness of Jesus Christ that we might be made right with God.  This is foundational truth of our Christian faith, the aim of the Scots Confessions, to state that fundamental truth clearly to the congregations.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.

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