Are there sins that God’s love and forgiveness cannot cover? How can we appropriately wrestle with sin in light of gospel hope and in the context of community? In this video, Rosaria Butterfield offers an explanation for why no sin is larger than God’s love, and how we can battle sin with God’s help. Any battle against sin begins with a recognition of the hope of the gospel – namely, there is no sin that exceeds the mercy and love of God. Even though God graciously offers gospel hope to sinners, Rosaria Butterfield simultaneously points out that God uses struggles in our conscience to convict us of sin. When believers struggle – or know someone who is struggling – the importance of community cannot be underestimated. Wrestling through issues of sin and conscience in community can remind us that our sins cannot exceed God’s love, and remind us of gospel hope.
- Recognition of Gospel Hope
- Struggle as a Gift
- Conscience as a Gift
- Importance of Community
Is There a Sin Larger than God’s Love?
Well, the hope is in the gospel. So, there is no sin that is larger than God’s love, first of all. When I’m dealing or talking with an unbeliever, I want to share the gospel. I don’t need to know the details of anybody’s sin pattern because it’s only through the gospel that you can really deal rightly with a sin pattern. But I would say that if you’re an unbeliever and you are struggling, then that itself shows the sign of a conscience that’s tender to the Lord. So, our struggle is a gift. God gave us a conscience to draw near to Him. So, that is where I would begin.
God’s Love
But I wouldn’t end there. I would then move to friendship because it’s lonely and it’s impossible to battle with any kind of sin where your conscience is struggling and weighted down alone. And there is no reason in the world why any of us needs to be alone. God did not intend that. So, I would want to invite that person over for dinner and invite that person into my friendship circle. And when appropriate, invite that person to church. But for some time, it may be that I will need to bring the church to you, and that’s okay. We have a long time for this conversation to unfold.
Rosaria Butterfield is a former tenured professor of English at Syracuse University and author of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert (Crown & Covenant, 2012) and Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ (Crown & Covenant, 2015). Her new book is The Gospel Comes with a House Key (Crossway, 2018).
