9/27- Seven Deadly Sins?

Devotional using scripture, quote from John Calvin and thoughts for the day each day- on the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23) Whoever breaks one of these commands and teaches others to do so will be least in the kingdom of heaven. (Mt. 5;19). "The soul that sins shall surely die." (Ezekiel 18:4,20).

Calvin: God’s curse ever presses upon the transgression of the law. There is no reason, then, for us to exempt any covetings, however light, from the judgment of death. Augustine says: In weighing sins “let us not bring forward false balances to weigh what we please and as we please, according to our own opinion, saying, ‘This is
heavy’; ‘This is light.’ But let us bring forward the divine balance of the
Holy Scriptures, as from the Lord’s treasury, and in that balance let us
weigh what is heavier. No — not weigh; rather, let us recognize what the
Lord has already weighed.”

Thoughts: [This is a departure for the day from Disciple's gospel studies]. In my Sunday School class we are studying Richard Foster's book, "Longing for God." Today we study Evagrius Ponticus and his 8 cardinal sins and 8 cardinal virtues. I am sure he is trying to distinguish in order to help us understand temptation and virtue. Gregory the Great (540-604) came up with the idea of 7 mortal sins versus venial sins. But Calvin in his commentary on the last commandment (Thou shalt not covet), reminds us that all sins lead to death and away from God's presence. The seven deadly sins are pride, anger, envy, sloth, lust, covetousness, gluttony. We downplay how much God hates sin. In doing so we miss the cost of the sacrifice of Christ, the worth of our salvation, and the sheer grace of God. While some sins affect others- spreading even more sin, yet every sin is worthy of death.

Prayer: Help us to see how great our need is for your grace, O Lord. We confess our sins to you, knowing you freely forgive us, and we thank you for that!