‘’What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means’’ Romans 6:1

Do you know a brother or a sister in Christ including ourselves who seems blessed unconditionally by God even though such a person is consistently linked to a particular sin deliberately and does not mind about it? If yes, you will then agree with me that the excuse we often provide to continue in such an attitude is the passage of Romans 5:20 (where sin increased, grace increased all the more). Even though such a verse is true, it is in our interest to read chapter 6 which is a warning against the danger of abusing the previous chapter. Let’s illustrate this warning with the Book of Judges.

In Judges, we are all amazed by the strength God gave to Samson. However, Samson seemed to neglect his relationship with the person who gave him that strength by continuing living deliberately in sin and disobeying God. He had disobeyed God in many ways including disobeying the order God made in Deuteronomy 7: 3 to not intermarry with pagan women. Samson even loved these women. The woman he married in Judges 14 was a philistine and the prostitute he spent the night with in Gaza was a philistine (Judge 16). As these disobediences have never affected his power, Samson continued his adventure with women until he met Delilah. Unfortunately, Samson thought God would still be with him no matter the situation. Such a thinking can be reflected in Judges 16 where he was convinced he could kill again the philistines even after Delilah had caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. Samson did not know that God had departed away from him and he had such a thinking because he was used to disobeying God and nothing happened to him in the past. Remember this, apart from his weakness with foreign women, he had violated two (no wine; no touch or even go near a dead body) of the three-part vow of a Nazarite mentioned in Numbers 6:1-21 and saw no consequence for such acts.

Some of us are deliberately abusing God’s grace and do not mind because we have not seen any consequences. I hope the story of Samson will ring a belt into our minds. In case you believe that Samson was in the old covenant and you are in the new covenant, please read the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11.