The Ultimate Sin
R.J. Rushdoony
Basic to the ultimate sin is the desire to reform others and to conform them to our ideas and hopes. Too often in our day this sin is proclaimed as a virtue.What it means simply is that we try to play god and to change other people to suit ourselves.
People who are having problems getting along with their family, their fellow workers, or their community very often are guilty of this sin, which means they are trying to play god. You and I are not asked to change other people. Only God can do that. What we can do, by God’s grace, is to change ourselves to conform to His Word and calling. This means seeing the need to change in ourselves, rather than in others, and leaving the reformation of others toGod through the ministry of His Word.
Today, of course, this is unpopular. The common idea of a noble person, statesman, or religious figure is of a man who, by legislation and police power, with tax funds works day and night to change others, never himself.
The ultimate sin is anti-Christianity to the core. It places the power to change men in the hands of man, not God. It gives to man the supposed right to control his fellow men in terms of his ideas of social and personal reform.
We have no right to ask people to conform to our will and ideas. We do have the responsibility to summon them to conform to God’s Word and calling. GodHimself conforms us to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29), and requires us through St.Paul to “be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). By His sovereign grace, He makes us “conformable” unto the death of His Son (Phil.3:10). So that we die to our self-righteousness and our ideas of reforming the world, and are instead alive to the righteousness of God in Christ, and are conformed toHis Word.
The next time you hear a man propose to reform you, the state, the world, and everything in sight, look at him for what he is: the ultimate sinner, a would-be god, and a defiler of creation. And be careful, when you see such a man, that you do not spot him in your mirror.
– A Word in Season: Volume 1
Although Dr. R. J. Rushdoony is most known for his scholarly works on theology, history, philosophy, economics, education, and statecraft, A Word in Season reveals the intense, but simple, approach to applying one’s faith to every area of life and thought. This is all done in a format of bite-sized readings on the uncompromising faith.