Day 118 – Sins of Omission

Today’s reading: James 4

Just in case you didn’t understand what Saint James said in the previous chapters, today, in the last line of Chapter 4, he makes it as clear as he can:

Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

So failing to DO what is RIGHT (or Good) is a SIN.  What does this show us?

First, works do not spring forth from faith as evidence of faith.  If faith just automatically produced works, James would not have to tell his readers that failure to do them is a sin.

Second, we have free will.  James is writing to converts.  They are Christians but clearly, they can still choose to not do what is right.

Third, if the failure to do the right thing is a sin, it follows that intentionally doing wrong is also a sin.

Fourth, you can commit sin after your conversion.  Here we should stop and ask, “what is sin?”  The short answer is that it is an offense against the will of God’s will.  A sin something you do that goes against God’s will or fails to follow God’s will.  That raises the question if you go against God’s will, are you saved?  The obvious answer is “No”.  Thus, the idea of, “once saved, always saved” is not supported.

Tomorrow: James 5