Don’t owe anyone anything, with the exception of love to one another—that is a debt which never ends—because the person who loves others has fulfilled the law. The commands given to you in the Scriptures—do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not take what is not yours, do not covet—and any other command you have heard are summarized in God’s instruction: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Does love hurt anyone? Absolutely not. In fact, love achieves everything the law requires. (Romans 13:8-10, The Voice)

“Love God and Sin Boldly.” Ever heard this statement before?

No, it is not from a proponent of cheap grace who mistakenly proclaims that the gospel gives one permission to live as they please, because grace covers it all.

St. Augustine and Martin Luther are both given credit for these words, among others.

Matters not who gets the credit (or the blame!), let’s examine why any Christian leader would make such a statement.

The passage from Romans 13 cited above gives us a clue.

Paul proposes a simple principle by which followers of Jesus should live. Simply put, it involves asking one simple question:

“Does my action have the potential to hurt someone?” If Yes, it is not love. If No, it is love. Because love does not hurt anyone.

(By the way, the word “hurt” needs to be clarified. Many translations use the expression “do no harm/wrong” to convey the original meaning of the Greek words which can be literally translated: “work no evil.”)

Let’s apply this criterion to the first commandment listed in this passage: “Do not commit adultery.”

It should not surprise you to know that in 31 plus years of ordained ministry, I have met with those who have broken this commandment on occasion.

Of course, in every instance, the offending party came up with all sorts of reasons why they did what they very well knew they ought not to have done—everything from “I don’t love my wife anymore” to “He did it to me, so I did it to get back at him” to “It seemed like the right thing to do at the time” to “Things just got out of hand” to “I have no idea why…I was under too much stress to think properly.”

You may have noticed that none of them gave any indication that they had paused to consider how their intended act of disobedience would do harm to those around them.

If they had only taken the time to ask: “Does my action have the potential to hurt someone?” and wait for an answer (my spouse, my children, my extended family, my church), would they have still proceeded to commit adultery?

Chances are not…unless they deliberately wanted to hurt someone in the process.

Take a moment and apply this principle to any other situation in which you may be tempted to sin.

Ask: “Does my action have the potential to hurt someone?”

If the answer is Yes, then you are not loving your neighbour as God has commanded.  Since Jesus tied the commandment to love God inextricably with the commandment to love our neighbour, by extension, you are not loving God either.

On the other hand, if you are sure that no one is being hurt by what you are contemplating, then you have clearly passed The Love-Hurt Test. You are indeed loving your neighbour and God.

Try to sin now…it is impossible 

No wonder St. Augustine or Martin Luther or whoever else could say: “Love God and Sin Boldly!”

Dear DWOD friend, may this simple principle/test be of help to you as you advance toward your destiny.