What crimes qualify as ungodly?

Christian perspective.

We tend to think of being “ungodly" in terms of committing acts of sin alone but “ungodly" simply means “not like God.”

Breaking the law, a pimple on somebody's face, bad breath, sickness, poverty, lack, bad thoughts, addictions, use of foul language- any deviation from utter perfection is ungodliness. All of these things are a product of having the sin nature that Adam passed on to all of his descendants-

“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19.

The key characteristic of the ungodly is that they are trying to save themselves from their situation and become godly (be like God) by human effort aka arm of flesh that will fail, just as Adam and Eve were deceived into doing in Eden.

The one who believes that he has Christ as his righteousness is eternally godly/righteous in God's sight. But the spirit of the antichrist rejects the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes godly/righteous, even though it professes to be for God- like the religious Pharisees whose lives were all about obeying God's law; they hated and sought to quell the Message of Christ.

Isaiah prophesied of Christ's suffering for us in Isaiah 53. See the result of His decease which He accomplished at Jerusalem in Isaiah 53:11-

"After He has suffered, He will see the light of life. And He will be satisfied. My godly servant will make many people godly because of what He will accomplish. He will be punished for their sins."

Christ suffered and died to make us godly. The lives of Adam and Eve make it plain that no one can ever attain godliness (be like God) by human striving at doing.

Romans 5:9 too tells us how God sees all who believe in His Son Jesus Christ-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

But many churchgoers reject Christ's sacrifice to make them godly and are still trying to make God like them by depending on the law to make them right with God. Such are cut off from Christ-

“For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the Law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace.” Galatians 5:4.

Saviour from sins is Christ's job description. See Matthew 1:21-

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

But just as Adam and Eve tried to do, many churchgoers are depending on their will-power (arm of flesh) to keep the law to make them godly aka like God aka sin-free. The law that many churchgoers try so hard to keep only arouses sinful passions and gives rise to more sins-

5 “When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.” Romans 7:5

The old nature is the sin nature that Adam passed on to all of his descendants-

“By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19.

The one with the old/sin nature is not a new creation in Christ Jesus. He does not believe that he has been made righteous/godly by Christ's obedience. He is still striving to be godly (be like God) by keeping the letter (law) which gives the knowledge of good and evil and which kills like the tree of the same name.

Satan's tactic has not changed since Eden. Satan obviously does not want God's people to live in triumph over sin and death (lack, commiting sins, sickness and all earthly ills are "death begun" and forms of ungodliness because these are not and can never be characteristics of God.) So Satan does his best to keep churchgoers focused on striving to be righteous/godly (be like God) by keeping the Law which gives "the knowledge of good and evil." This is the same strategy that Satan used to deceive Eve in the garden of Eden when he told her she could be godly by human effort at doing something (eating from the tree of "the knowledge of good and evil.") See the forbidden fruit as a picture of the Law that many are trying to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7:8-12 (MSG) -

"Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me."

Through his pastors who are manning some pulpits, Satan is still deceiving people who desire to be godly into trying to attain godliness by human striving at keeping the law. Satan knows that the arm of flesh (human effort at being godly- like God) will fail and when it does, as it did with Peter who denied Christ after trusting in his ability to not break the Ninth Commandment (You shall not bear false witness…,) those suppressed sinful desires will explode in a volcanic eruption of sins that lead to death-

“When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.” Romans 7:5

Also Romans 6:14- “For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace.”

But see God's counsel to us concerning this matter of salvation, even salvation from ungodliness, in Isaiah 30:15-

“For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says: Only in returning to Me and waiting for Me will you be saved; in quietness and confidence is your strength; but you’ll have none of this.”

See the MSG-

“God, the Master, The Holy of Israel,

 has this solemn counsel:

“Your salvation requires you to turn back to Me

 and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.

Your strength will come from settling down

 in complete dependence on Me—

The very thing

 you’ve been unwilling to do.”

So much more in this chapter- Bible Gateway passage: Isaiah 30:15-22 - The Message

Only by following God's counsel for us to stop our silly efforts to keep the law from being broken like Uzzah did and receiving/utterly depending on God's super-abounding Grace and His gift of righteousness do we get to live in triumph over sin and death through Jesus Christ: Romans 5:16-17:

16 “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.”

This is the word of God whose thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than man's. But antichrist preachers prey on man's tendency to look for human logic/reason in God's word concerning how we get to reign over sin and death (ungodliness.) Such exalt themselves against the knowledge of God by saying that receiving God's abundance of Grace and His gift of Righteousness to us in Christ will not cause us to live in triumph over sin and death as it is written in God's word. Instead, they say it will make believers want to go on sinning sprees and preach the same horrid doctrine that Satan preached to Eve in Eden-

• that you whom, through Christ, God has made to be godly/righteous like Himself are not like God. Recall Adam and Eve were made in God's likeness
• that man can be godly (be like God) by human striving at keeping the law which gives the knowledge of good and evil and kills, like the tree of the same name.

Beloved of God, let's not fall for that seemingly good but antichrist doctrine which preys on man's desire to see human logic in the word of God whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man's-

“For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:18.

These false preachers say things like:

“Yes we know you are saved by Grace but one should “at least try" to live a godly life by obeying the law as best as one can.”

But recall Adam and Eve did not eat the entire tree which is a picture of the law. Even an iota of dependence on the law (human effort at being like God) kills. But the Spirit gives life. And with the Spirit of the Lord, it is neither by human might nor power.

Never trust yourself. Trust in Christ who says you will live in triumph over sin and death when you stop your silly efforts to save yourself- just like the woman with the issue of blood (a picture of the church) who could not have children (bear fruit to God) in her bleeding state. The law separated her from Christ. She abandoned her works of the law and looked utterly to Christ for salvation from her uncleanness (ungodliness) and her bleeding stopped. Likewise, only through the power of Christ in us do we stop haemorraging ungodliness (dead works and sins) and become godly. Only through the power of Christ in us do we get to bear fruit to God.

Right believing always produces right living.