Sin?

Definition

I love language! As one given the gift of gab, I love words. Language gives us all kinds of powerful avenues of expression and nuance. One of the elements that is especially important in our communication is the concept of precision in language. Our use of vocabulary and syntax should allow for clear communication of complex ideas that illustrations and even examples cannot define. Our God is a deity who speaks! And He has spoken in a clear and cogent fashion in His word.

One concept that it is important for us to understand clearly is the definition of sin. In 1964, Justice Stewart of the Supreme Court of the United States stated, in an effort to define obscenity, “I know it when I see.” I think that most people, especially professing Christians, have an idea about what they believe sin is. However, too often it seems that our definitions are sentimental and subjective rather than objective and absolute. What I would like to do is deal with a couple false notions about what sin is and then seek to find a Biblical definition for the term.

More than Intention

Many people believe that for an error to be considered a sin it requires a level of intentionality. But the Bible is clear that sins can be both intentional and unintentional. In the Law of God the covenant people were told to make sacrifices for unintentional sins (Lev. 5:15). The only reason that people would need to make the sacrifice is if their mistake was actually sin and brought about real guilt. As morally accountable beings that alone exist as those made in the image of God, humans are capable of both sins of omission and commission. Sins of omission are the failure to do things that we should do and sins of commission are the active involvement in things that we should not do.  In both of these cases our intent is not what makes the action or inaction a sin. The old adage “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” is partially true. Even in Matthew 7 Jesus says that many will say to Him “Lord, Lord” but will not prove to be true believers. They will appeal to many works that they thought were righteous but they were actually sin. 

More than Harm

Also many people in our culture believe that harm must be done for sin to be committed. While I would argue that harm is always done when sin is committed even if the harm is to the sinner themselves, harm is not necessary for sin to be sin. In our culture consent has become the arbiter of right and wrong. This is really an idolization of personal autonomy. But consent does not make an unrighteous action into a righteous one. In our society, a mugger who inadvertently kills an unborn baby is guilty but a abortion doctor is innocent. Or a sex trafficker is guilty but pornography producer is innocent. Or a rapist is guilty but unmarried consenting adults have done nothing wrong. But the reality is that Scripture defines all of these as sin. The issue of consent may change who is guilty and what they are guilty of but sin is still sin regardless of consent.

We live in a victim culture. However, the truth is that while we have all been the victims of someone else’s sin, we are also all the perpetrators of sin. We are victimizers. No one is innocent. No one is sinless. We all like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and none is righteous not even one (Romans 3). Victimhood does not absolve us of our guilt. Often in our culture the criminal is labeled as a patient in need of care rather than a sinner in need of repentance. The truly tragic part about this is that the therapeutic approach can label and explain but it cannot heal the brokenness. Only grace can do that!

Only God

Ultimately our actions are sinful because they are offensive to the objective holiness of God. The Law of God is not an arbitrary list of allowances and transgressions. Instead God’s law is an expression of His holy nature and goodness. The Law of God is the expression of the distinction of His covenant people meaning it displays His love and blessing. And the Law of God is a beacon of beauty to show us that we are desperately deformed and in need of radical transformation. When we sin it is not simply God’s rules that we break but His heart. By referring to breaking His heart I mean that we transgress His holiness, goodness, grace and love. Many people ask how a loving God could send sinners to hell, but the real question is how could he not? But that is the beauty of the gospel. Our holy and loving God takes our guilt and our shame and places it on Christ who bears away the offense against His holiness and glory.

Ultimately our actions are sinful because of our existence as image bearers of God. you see we are not like the animals or angels because we bear God’s image. This means that our actions are meant to display something about God.  The heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1), but we display His image. The problem is that in Adam we all display that image mangled by the effects of sin. However, in Christ, the image is restored for He is the perfect radiance of the Father (Heb 1:1-4).

Ultimately our actions are sinful because everything not done in faith (reliance on God) is sin! Even our righteous deeds are filthy rags (Is 64:6) so that without faith we cannot please God (Heb 11:6). It matters both what we do and why we do it. Sin is anytime and all the time when we don’t do the right thing for the right reason and the right reason is trust in God. Oftentimes atheists or anti-theists will scoff that they don’t need God to be good or do good things. The usual apologetic against this is that they can do good things but they just can’t give a good reason. But in reality without faith even those ‘good things’ are tainted, because whatever does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23)!

---