And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8
Once upon a time when my sister and I were very young, she asked to be excused from the supper table to go to the bathroom. Her plan was to sneak the rest of her hamburger, which she didn’t want to eat, into the bathroom and and hide it in the wastebasket. In fact she carried out this very plan, but was discovered about two seconds later by our very astute and observant mother. I don’t recall exactly how she was disciplined, but I’m sure I found it all very entertaining.
I remembered this story recently when I was thinking about how we try to hide our sins. We may successfully hide them from others, but hiding sins from God never works. Adam and Eve tried it. Achan tried it. Ananias and Sapphira tried it.
I’m sure I’ve tried it too. Have you? It’s safe to say that even if we think we’ve gotten away with it, we haven’t.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13
We’ve all had that dream where we can’t cover our nakedness in front of a crowd. When Adam and Eve realized they were naked, they immediately tried to cover up with fig leaves and to hide themselves from God (Genesis 3:7-8). When we sin, we feel a similar kind of shame, and our instinct is usually to try to cover it up.
Yet when it comes to other people’s sins, sometimes we’re rather in a hurry to expose them.
There are New Testament examples of people being “called out” in public for their sin (e.g. Galatians 2:14). There are also examples of people being taken aside and corrected privately (e.g. Acts 18:26).
Last summer I heard a sermon titled, “Covering a Multitude of Sins,” but at the beginning the preacher was talking about how in some cases we have a responsibility to expose sin. I was thinking: is this a sermon about covering sin or exposing it? The answer was: both.
First of all, we can see from Matthew 18:15-17 that if a sin isn’t publicly known, the ideal would be to keep it that way.
If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. (v. 15a, NLT)
We’re to point it out to the one in error, but keep it covered from public view. Expose and cover.
But Paul’s first letter to Corinth teaches that sin already exposed to the public eye has to be dealt with publicly (see 5:1-7). Otherwise sin will spread through the whole church like yeast spreads through a lump of dough.
How public a rebuke should be requires a lot of wisdom. People’s souls are at stake, and so is the reputation of Christ’s body. But as the preacher said that night, sin must be addressed because God already knows. This is true whether it’s public, just between two people, or secret sin that no one else knows about. It’s all already completely exposed before our omniscient Creator.
Yet, our sins do need a covering. It’s just not something we can provide for ourselves.
For Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
Just as Adam and Eve’s efforts to cover their physical nakedness in the garden fell short, any efforts to cover up our own sin will ultimately fail— as surely as my sister’s attempt to hide her supper in the trash failed— and may even make things worse. Until we’re willing to acknowledge that without God we are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked,” (Revelation 3:17), we cannot have the covering that we need. The only kind of covering that will really take care of sin is the blood of Christ.
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness… Isaiah 61:10
by Christie Cole Atkins
Dear God, I confess that I am powerless to cover my own sins or to remove their effects. Help me to submit to You and Your plan for dealing with my sin as I know it is the only way. Also please grant me love and wisdom when I am affected by the sins of others. You have the words of eternal life. May I ever listen and obey. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
—Much thanks to Colin Lempley of Marshfield, Missouri, for the sermon that prompted these thoughts.—
Related Reading:
Walk Worthy 