What is sin? Someone asked me that the other day. As I thought about it, I realized that it is really not a silly question. Many people grapple with it and opinions vary considerably. I spent much of my career working in Kentucky and West Virginia, an area you might call the gateway to the famous Bible Belt. The workers there belonged to quite a cadre of different fundamentalist churches. I remember we had a manager transferred from New Jersey and they were all eager to share their faith. After ignoring them for some time, he finally said, “Look. I can line all of you up against that wall and none of you will agree on anything.” That was perceptive. He was right.
So what is sin? Drink’n, swear’n, and smok’n are staples on the Baptists’ list. The Catholics have a list of venial and mortal sins too numerous to mention. Of course we all know the famous seven deadly sins–lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. And let’s not forget Paul’s litany –sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, homosexuality, thievery, greed, adultery and the list goes on.
Wow! That’s a wide net. Did we miss anyone . . . uh, I mean anything? It is amazing the pedantic interest in these behaviors that in themselves are nothing more than symptomatic of a deeper disorder that seems to evade our understanding. Focusing on “sins” is looking at it through the wrong end of the telescope. We have to get out of the weeds and understand where sins have their source. To do that, we need to start with the fifty thousand foot level definition of sin:
Sin is Lawlessness (1 John 3:4)
Now, I doubt anyone is going to say, “Ahhh, I see. I get it.” No. They are going to say you’re quoting some esoteric scripture that sounds lofty and all, but what does it mean to me? Well, you have to understand what the law is really all about. You remember that God gave the original law to Moses, then added several more rules and regulations, and then man in his eternal desire to be like God added a bunch more. We became a nation of laws. We operate under the so-called Rule of Law.
So now we are civilized people. We are good people. Why do we think that? Because we, more or less, observe the law or at least most try. We feel pretty good about it. There is just one problem with all these laws– Laws are for the lawless! They wouldn’t exist if man’s nature was always to do the right thing, to live for others and not for self which is the nature of God. No, they are there because man’s innate nature is to do the opposite. Their existence is an indictment against mankind! That may sound quite simplistic but this is your first clue to the problem!
You see, the external law does not address the source. It doesn’t cure the disease. It was never meant to. The law, as we know it, is a dumbed down version for human consumption to show us something spiritual and something about ourselves. It’s an earthly replica of something in heaven.
Before we get into the weeds again, let’s get back up to the fifty thousand foot level to understand what the Law really is. It was given to man for two reasons. One was to reveal the true nature of God which is Love (1John 4:8). God is Love and God is the Law. We know that the only thing that fulfills the Law is Love (Rom 13:10). The Law and Love are two sides of the same coin.
The second reason it was given was not to make us better people. It was to reveal our true nature; to reveal the truth about ourselves that we do not have the Law in our hearts and therefore do not have love in our hearts. It was given so that we would recognize our fallen condition and realize our total helplessness and our need for God to save us. Not to save us from “sins,” but to save us from Sin which dwells in our hearts because of the original fall in the garden.
So back to the question. All this discussion about sin and what constitutes a sin is much ado about nothing. Now you can sit and debate and parse what is and what isn’t sin but I am going to make this very simple– everything is sin, even all your “good” works because unless the Word of God dwells in you, everything you do is for self. We are driven by the self for self sin nature we were born with. No exceptions. No escape. It is who we are when we enter this world.
John 8: 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Now, there are some who deny this. They say, “We were born this way. We had no choice, so how could what we do be a sin?” That’s a good question. It has been answered.
Rom 9: 19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
The fact is we are all the same–born in Sin. I am no different than you and you are no different than me. None of us had a choice. There are no exceptions.
Psalm 51: 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Now I am going to really make it simple. There is really only ONE sin! The only sin is unbelief–not believing in the one whom he has sent–Jesus Christ.
John 5: 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
The truth is that even though we had no choice in the condition in which we were born, afterwards we do have a choice. We can remain where we are and make excuses or we can choose the free gift of grace offered to us in Jesus Christ and then our Sin nature is replaced by God’s nature which is love.
Heb 10: 15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 “This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
When we believe in Christ and receive him as Lord, He comes and dwells in our hearts. The law becomes a spontaneous part of us and we now exhibit God’s nature which is love–self for others. This is what Paul referred to as the mystery which is Christ in us. We no longer need an external set of laws. We ARE the law. We ARE love because we are joined to God through Jesus Christ and become ONE with Him (1 Cor 6:17).
Now does that mean that Christians don’t sin? No. It just means that it is no longer their nature to sin. Most do not fully understand this principle and those that do can still forget who they are in Christ and step out on their own only to be lured into submitting themselves back under the external law which ends in failure. Read Then Why Do We Sin? to understand more.
The Lost Coin by Samuel Hayes Sherwood is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all other outlets. Unravel the mystery which is Christ in us.
