Have you ever read in the Bible that God overlooked Solomon and the Jews when they had many wives and took concubines? The question is: can God wink at sin? Let us take a tour through the Bible and find out whether God ever closed His eyes when people stole, lied, robbed, and killed. No — God can never close His eyes to sin. As the wages of sin is death, let us find out five reasons why God cannot wink at sin.
1. Why God Cannot Wink at Sin — For Biting a Fruit, the Earth Was Cursed.
We see that God cannot wink at sin, because sin is deeply offensive to Him. Sin cost the life of His own Son, Jesus. Romans 5:12 says: “By one man sin entered into the world.” Just because of one sin — can you imagine all the trouble and suffering that has happened on earth, and the terrible curse and evil that has been going on for six thousand years? It is quite incredible to see the result of sin upon this earth.
When people say that God winked at Solomon having many wives, we need to understand that it was indeed a sin — and that it is no longer lawful for us to have more than one wife. I am not entering into the topics of sex outside of marriage or whether nudity is a sin in this post. I have yet to write a post on whether it is lawful for a man to have more than one wife.
True knowledge comes only through the Holy Spirit teaching us. Man cannot arrive at truth by himself. Yet we know that God cannot wink at sin, because sin has terrible consequences. We can prove this by observing that God did not directly rebuke Solomon for having seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
A modern word for concubine would be a girlfriend, though a concubine is more specifically a sexual partner. We can honestly conclude, therefore, that Solomon’s sexual practices in that regard were not classified as sin. You may say that God rebuked Solomon — and yes, He did. But God did not rebuke Solomon for having many wives. God rebuked Solomon because he had taken unconverted, pagan women who led his heart away to evil.
For God to wink at sin is impossible. So if God overlooks something, it is not a sin — though it may not be a good practice either.
2. Why God Cannot Wink at Sin — For Refusing to Enter the Ark, God Cursed the Earth.
We also see that God judged the entire earth for one reason — the people refused to enter the ark. It is important to note something extremely significant here: God did not ask the people to repent. God simply told them to enter the ark, and they refused.
This shows that lack of faith and lack of repentance go hand in hand. God knew that those who would not repent would also refuse to enter the ark and would not believe. God cannot wink at sin, and we see that He destroyed what were very likely millions of people because of their incredible sinfulness.
Genesis 6:11-13: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way before God. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh is come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Did God wink at sin here? No — God destroyed all living flesh. God cannot wink at sin because that would be excusing sin. And if God could wink at sin, it would mean that:
- The death of Jesus is void.
- The penalty for sin being death is void.
- The plan to redeem humanity would be a waste of time.
But the wages of sin is death — Romans 6:23. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says: “For as in Adam all die.” The call to accept Jesus would be meaningless if God could simply excuse sin whenever He chose. There would be no need for Jesus to pay the penalty of sin, which is death. God does not wink at sin, and the flood is a powerful example of that — because millions died because God cannot and will not excuse sin.
As much as God loves us, God must punish sin and allow the consequences of our transgressions to follow. Even after someone repents of stealing, it is not entirely over — the Bible says they must make restitution, and in some cases return sevenfold what was stolen.
3. Why God Cannot Wink at Sin — God Never Winked at Sin Throughout Scripture.
All throughout the Bible we see that God cannot wink at sin. When Israel sinned, God sent the Assyrians and Israel was deported. When Judah sinned, God sent the Babylonians and Judah was deported. When Babylon sinned, God destroyed her. When the papacy sins, God will destroy her, and all nations will see the results of sin.
2 Kings 17:18: “Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.”
2 Kings 24:14: “Then He led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor — ten thousand captives — and all the craftsmen and all the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.”
When Jesus was crucified, for thirty years nothing visibly happened — no immediate judgment, no punishment, no outward sign of God’s anger. But in 70 AD, Titus came to Jerusalem and one million Jews were killed. God’s retributive judgments fell. It took time, but they did fall. Often God’s punishments do not fall immediately, but they will fall — especially when the person does not repent and change course.
Luke 21:20: “And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near.”
4. Why God Cannot Wink at Sin — God Did Not Wink at Sex Outside of Marriage as a Sin.
Based on prior posts — on whether fornication or sex outside of marriage is a sin, and whether nudity is a sin in the Bible — we can conclude that since God cannot wink at sin, the so-called sins of Solomon were not actually sins. Solomon did sin in marrying pagan women. But Solomon did not sin by having many wives, as it was a common practice — even if pagan in origin — and it was not classified as a sin.
We see that Moses had two wives — one from Cush in Ethiopia, and one from Midian in Arabia. Yet God inspired Moses to write: “You shall not commit adultery.” To have sexual relations with a married woman outside of your own wife is adultery. To take another wife — a single woman — is not classified as a sin in Scripture.
Leviticus 15:18: “The woman also with whom a man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water and be unclean until evening.”
Sex outside of marriage is not a sin in the biblical sense — it is an impurity. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:9: “It is better to marry.” If marriage is better than sex outside of marriage, then sex outside of marriage is still good — simply not the best option, according to modern Christian interpretation.
Furthermore, the Greek word translated as “fornication” — porneia — never means sex outside of marriage in the Bible. The word fornication carries the meaning used by the 1611 King James Bible writers, not the twenty-first century meaning applied by modern Christianity.
God cannot wink at sin — because to do so would be to excuse sin, and sin would carry no weight and could be erased without a penalty. We never see that in the Bible. People all over the world must repent — and even repentance itself is a gift from God — and we see terrible consequences for sin all around us.
5. Why God Cannot Wink at Sin — Sex Outside of Marriage Is Not a Sin.
Porneia means spiritual idolatry. The Corinthians used to go to prostitutes at the tops of mountains, worship Satan, and seek favors from him. This is the true meaning of fornication — spiritual idolatry involving Satan, with sexual acts involved. The sins classified as fornication are found in Leviticus chapters 15 through 18. They are homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, and adultery. They are never simply defined as sex outside of marriage.
God cannot wink at sin. God overlooked Jews for thousands of years having multiple wives. Yet for the woman, 1 Corinthians 7:39 says: “A woman is bound by law for as long as her husband lives.”
Can something be acceptable one moment and then suddenly become sin? Why would sexual practices that were considered normal right up until the cross suddenly become repulsive and deeply evil the moment after the cross? Or is this something our society fabricated — something not found in the Bible? Our society fabricated this standard. Sin never changes. Sin can never become acceptable one day and then become sin again. Lying, stealing, adultery, selfishness, pride, and apathy have always been sin and will always be sin.
If you liked this post, why not ask Jesus into your heart right now? We have seen the discrepancies between today’s Christianity and the Bible.
Repeat after me:
Father God, help us to follow You and the truth. Provide for all our needs. I ask that those who are reading this be blessed. Provide for all their needs. Grant them the desires of their hearts according to Your will. May they be faithful until Jesus comes, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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