This essay argues that a sermon which diminishes the gravity of sin inevitably diminishes the glory of Christ, replacing Paul’s God-centred hamartiology with therapeutic moralism. By tracing Romans 7 through its exegetical, historical, rhetorical, and doctrinal contours, the study demonstrates that only a sin-serious reading can restore the holiness of God, the necessity of substitution, and the eschatological cry of the redeemed.

Any sermon that ignores confessional or covenantal theology must begin and end with anthropology. It will inevitably drift into moralism or therapeutic religion. In short, we have here another prime example of Pastor Ruthless for the Gospel’s semi-Pelagian theology on display from a foundational text to the whole Bible.

Last week, Woori Yallock Presbyterian Church heard a sermon from its minister on Genesis 1. Creation in six days was declared, and that is where the theological content began and finished. A lot can be said about the deficiencies of this sermon, but let us look at something below most disturbing.