What is Sin?

This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm not sure what got me thinking about it. I talked a little bit about this in Junior High a while back (the 2008 Fall Retreat, I think...), but now that we're going through Romans in Sr. High it's really been on my heart. I want to talk about what sin is, because understanding sin can help us understand God's grace.

The problem with most people's definition of sin is that it doesn't explain some of the things the Bible says about sin. A common definition for sin is "missing the mark" (IE falling short). That's because the word sin is an archers term. They'd probably cite Romans 2:12. They'd be right, too. I think, though, that the problem is that most people don't understand what the mark is.

I mean, your common definition of sin is not to bad on the surface. When you've shot your arrow and hit an observer or a passer-by, you can be pretty sure you've missed the mark. If someone were to ask you, though, what hitting the mark would look like... how would you answer?

People throw around ideas like "perfection" and "Christ-like" (Christan buzz words), without really knowing exactly what that would look like. This leads to uncertainty about moral issues. Problems like abortion, or homosexuality (more Christian buzz words) come up and some Christians take the wrong side; sometimes it's far more subtle, though. I think this is at least partially because their definition of 'sin' is incomplete.

I think we tend to side with the world in our definition of 'sin'. Most people in the world would say that sin (or wrong-doing) is doing harm to others. I've talked with a few people who say that their moral standard is to "do no harm". This works well in society, I think, because it keeps people from stealing from and killing each other. How does it stand up to God's standard, though?

See, the thing about the world's definition of sin is that it leaves room for people to do things that aren't sinful. T­­­he Bible tells us that there's nothing an unsaved person can do to please God (Romans 8:7-8), that everything they do is sin (Proverbs 21:4, Romans 8:8, Romans 14:23), and that even the 'good' things that they do are disgusting to Him (Isaiah 64:6).

So the problem is that the world sees a man who runs into a burning building to save a child as a good deed. Now, I'm not saying that what he's doing isn't helpful, or that it didn't have a good outcome. I'm saying that he has done nothing to help his standing before God; that it even gives God further reason to punish him because what he did was a sin. That's not going to make sense if you're defining sin like the world does. Let's take a look at how God defines sin.

David's life is a really good example of how God seems to have a different definition of sin than people do. You guys probably already know the story. David basically lusts, commits adultery, lies, murders, takes another man's wife, then ignores his sin for months.

In Psalm 51, David repents. His confession (Psalm 51:4) is really strange, though. He doesn't tell God that he has sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah. He tells God that he's sinned against Him. Then he doesn't go on to explain that his sin was also against others. He tells God that his sin was against only God.

I kind of wondered if this was one of those times where David wasn't right. Like maybe he didn't quite get what he had done yet. Or maybe there was another sin where David describes his sin as being against others and I simply hadn't read it. The thing is, though, that God's prophet Nathan seems to agree with David.

2 Samuel 12:9-10

Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.'

2 Samuel 12:13-14

David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die."

It seems like God, Nathan, and David are in agreement. The sin was against God. So how did David sin against God? Well, for one thing he disregarded God's law. He ordinarily loves God's law (read Psalm 119), but in this case he's made it clear that his desire for Bathsheba was greater than his desire for God. His actions made it seem to others around him like sin is better (worth more) than God. This could pretty accurately be described as idolatry.

That's what I talked about with the Jr. Highers. If even David's murdering someone was counted as a sin against God, then I think it's safe to say that all sins are against God. For more clarity let's see what Romans 1 has to say about sin.

Romans 1:18-25

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. ²⁴ Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Sin here is described as what the wrath of God is against. Romans 1:17 talks about how the gospel is God's righteousness being revealed through faith. The "for" in verse 18 means that the gospel is necessary because of God's wrath being revealed against sin (ungodliness and unrighteousness of men), and then the rest goes on to explain what the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men is.

Verse 25 sums it up the best, I think, but I included the rest of it to preserve the flow. Sin is when we exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature (or creation, it's the same Greek word from what I can tell) rather than the Creator.

I don't know if you caught it or not, but this is also idolatry. It seems like it all comes down to who were worshiping and serving. Jesus tells us that the most important commandment is to love God. So you could probably tack that onto the list.

We're not just called to serve God, but we're required to serve Him with joyfulness and gladness of heart (Deuteronomy 28:47). It sounds like God wants us to actually like serving Him. So much of the time we get this picture of God as someone who requires obedience whether we like it or not. That's no Him.

He expects us to look at every good thing we've ever had and to love Him and thank Him for it. He expects us to look at creation and see His glory in it. He expects us not to worship the things that He gives us, but to worship Him for it. We have to be willing to look at things and say "God if you want to give these things to me that's great, but I really want You. Don't ever give me anything that leads me from You."

That's how He gets glory from His creation. He doesn't get glory when a man goes into rescue a kid from a burning building because he loves the kid. He doesn't get glory when the man does it because he loves humanity. He definitely doesn't get it when the man does it because he loves himself. He gets glory when it's done gladly for the love of Him and His glory.

The trouble is that we're all blind. We're all deaf. We're all dead in sin. No one has ever, out of the 'goodness' of their heart done anything good. People are driven away from God because they want the things He's provided, not God Himself (Deuteronomy 28:47). They're driven by their own iniquity away from the Fountain of Living Waters to the empty cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13).

This post is getting long. I want to address the issue of why sin matters (especially if everyone is doing it). I don't have space. I'll cover with it in a future post and link here when it's written. Right now I just want to end this on a positive note. God says it better than I do, though.

Ephesians 2:4-10

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.