At our Wednesday evening services we have been periodically (i.e., except during Advent, Lent, or when a minor festival falls on or close to a Wednesday) working through the Psalter. I wasn’t going to publish the one from January 27 on Psalm 36, partly because I wasn’t quite finished with my manuscript, and partly because I felt my language was not as precise as it ought to be. I publish it here at the request of a reader, advising you to (as always) compare carefully what I have written with Holy Scripture and follow the Word of God, not my writing, if I have deviated from the Scriptures in any respect.
LXX begins, “Planning sin, the lawless man converses within himself; there is no fear of God before his eyes.”
The lawless man doesn’t just sin. He plans it, intends to perform what is contrary to God’s Law, and he does it without fear, without respect for God.
Having the forgiveness of sins, we have freedom in the Gospel. But Holy Scripture warns us, “Do not use your liberty as a cloak for vice.”
Daily we commit sins of impulse, too numerous to track. Some of our sins we ourselves are not aware of. All sin is against God’s Law, and deserving of punishment, but there is a particularly horrible kind of sin that damages our souls: the planned sin. It is when we have opportunity to consider what God’s Word says, to know that a particular word or deed is against the Commandments, but to proceed with it anyway.
So there are two kinds of sin: that proceeding from the weakness of our flesh, and that proceeding from the rebellion in our souls. Our flesh will always assail us, but we must work to subdue it, chasten it through a disciplined life. In our weakness we sometimes stumble, but rebellion stumbles deliberately, not acknowledging sin as sin, not repenting, not seeking amendment.
We can learn what we need by looking at what the lawless, wicked man does not have: the fear of God.
We cannot manufacture this holy fear, conjure it up through spiritual experiences.
It comes from God’s mercy, which the ESV translates as “steadfast love.”
“Your steadfast love [mercy], O LORD, extends to the heavens…. How precious is your steadfast love [mercy], O God! … Oh, continue your steadfast love [mercy] to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart!”
God’s mercy, His deep and abiding love, manifested to us in the cross of Jesus, is the only remedy and cure for our corrupt, perverted souls.
And let us make no mistake: the lawless man, the wicked man who plans sin, is us. We do not have to search through the tabloids or the cable channels to find the lawless man. He resides deep within us, the part of even us regenerated, newborn ones that is rebellious, lawless, lacking the fear of God. That is what we mean when we say that we are simul iustus et peccator, simultaneously saint and sinner.
Let us petition our merciful Lord to quench within us the fire of rebellion and help us, when planning sin, to instead turn away from it and flee to God for mercy.
