The Seven Deadly Sins

Have you heard of 'the seven deadly sins'?

The bible doesn’t talk of ‘seven deadly sins’ but, briefly, history shows the list began after a fourth century monk categorised sins into a list of seven that headed all other sins. After his first list, a student of his revised it slightly before Pope Gregory I revised it again in AD 590. And so it became what is known today in Catholicism and some Christian denominations as 'the seven deadly sins': pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed. Pride is thought to be the head of all the seven deadly sins – the worst of all sin ^{(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins)}.

C.S. Lewis calls it the anti-God state of mind because pride caused Lucifer to fall first. His was the original sin.

All sin is, essentially, deadly.

All and any sin is a vice or a stronghold that grabs a hold of our nature to do what feels good in the moment and blocks our desire to be fulfilled in a clean, unobstructed relationship with the living God. Sin makes us a slave to our pleasures and sucks us into a spiritual vacuum called destruction, whether it's obvious sin, like any of the 'seven deadly sins' or an associated sin, like self-pity.

Sin is wrong because it, basically, positions us in a seat that doesn't trust in the goodness or provision of God and, therefore, leads us away from Him.

John 8:34 (NLT)

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Proverbs 16:18 (NCV)

Pride leads to destruction; a proud attitude brings ruin.

Doing a brief study on the seven deadly sins from a historical context is a helpful little exercise. For instance, I found it interesting to learn (thanks Wikipedia) that the sin of sloth (scriptures in the old and new testament warn against it) isn’t only about being lazy. The original translation of sloth into Latin is without care but includes the physical, mental and spiritual states while not being limited to that. Here’s what’s most interesting to me. It is thought to be most accurately translated as self-pity, so "conveys both the melancholy of the condition and self-centeredness upon which it is founded", ^{(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth_(deadly_sin)}. Would you have thought of slothfulness as the basis for self-pity? Would you recognise self-pity as sin?

We know that pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, lust, sloth and greed are sinful but should we care to study each one in more detail if we don’t want them to enslave us in the way Christ spoke of?

I look at the list and consider how we rarely bring gluttony up in discourse, either as a sin or even as an addiction. There seems to be a blinkered leniency toward laziness or gluttony that isn’t so apparent with other sins but they are still sins. Deadly sins.

So, as a next little exercise, let’s look at gluttony.

Gluttony is:

The overindulgence and overconsumption of something to the point of excess ^{(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluttony)}.

Habitual greed or excess in eating ^{(Oxford Languages Dictionary)}.

What does the bible say about gluttony?

Proverbs 23:20-21 (ESV)

Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

Be not among – don’t hang out with others who go out to get drunk; don’t be among others who seek to fill their bellies and gorge on their physical desires. We allow influence from the people we hang out with.

Slumber will clothe them with rags – slumber, because of a full belly and intoxicated brain, will prevent us from remaining alert, from fulfilling our obligations, working and being productive; we become careless about what we ought to be careful about and focused on our next fix, whatever that is.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (ESV)

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

If anyone destroys God’s temple – if we feed our body with things that cause our body to become sick, or to prematurely deteriorate; if we treat our body like a garbage bin and consume what is unhealthy; if we are disrespectful to what God has created, He will allow it to destroy us. If we have been doing that, repentance will help us learn how to respect our bodies as God’s own Spirit indwells us.

Philippians 3:19 (ESV)

Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

If we idolise what we consume and have no self-control, it is not good for us, nor does it glorify God.

Romans 13:14 (ESV)

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Instead of looking to be satisfied by the temporary gratification of our bellies, our taste buds, or to medicate pain with substance abuse or any other provision for the flesh, be covered by, and become accustomed to, the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we have to starve out what is not good for us and get used to the taste and the benefits of what is good.

Psalm 34:8 (CEB)

Taste and see how good the Lord is! The one who takes refuge in him is truly happy!

Pure goodness is a different taste that we have to get used to and learn to esteem.

How can we learn to enjoy what the Lord offers and stop looking to earthly things?

The more time we spend studying the Word of God and sitting in His presence, we come to delight ourselves in God and His goodness. We can’t look to appease our desires in the same way when we seek satisfaction in Him.

Ephesians 5:15-20 (NIV)

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Making the most of every opportunity – don’t delay. Begin immediately to fix our gaze on Him and take every opportunity to seek Him, to worship Him from our heart, so much so that we can’t help but express it, even through our consumption and respecting the bodies He created.

Sin is deadly. We either focus on sin that enslaves us or we focus on the God who saves us.

Being aware and repentant of our sin isn't living condemned, it's living loved by a God who cares.