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What is Sin?

For Israel sin was the breaking of the law that their ancestors had agreed to follow after coming out of Egypt. The English word “sin” is also used to translate the Greek word harmartia which means to miss the mark. The gospel of grace that Paul preached to the gentiles was without the law given to Israel. Of the 613 laws given to the nation of Israel, rabbinical scholars expanded them to thousands with the Mishnah and Talmud attempting to apply them to every aspect of life.

What the law demonstrated was that every aspect of life cannot be covered by a law. It also showed that we are incapable of perfecting ourselves so that we could keep the law (Gal 3:24). The gospel of grace illustrates that there is nothing in us that is correctable or perfectible. We have to be changed. The “sin” of the law was an approximation of the difference between human nature and what God desires. This difference can also be seen in what the gospel of grace describes as the flesh and the Spirit.

Sin is essentially selfishness. The opposite of sin is love, which is essentially selflessness. While Israel was to keep the law, Christians are exhorted to transition from walking by the flesh to walking by the Spirit. Sadly many Christians want to follow the law. They can give themselves comfort and assurance if they meet some criteria. Feeding a sense of personal achievement is the mistake that the Pharisees made. Vanity and pride can kill the humility that is essential to the faith needed to accept the gift of forgiveness of sins.

Those emotions that run loose such as anger, lust, coveting, etc. reflect our selfish state of infancy. We are all born in this state of selfish desires and only with parental instruction, bad experiences, and the wherewithal to see their consumptive and ultimately destructive ends do we occasionally recognize their need to be limited. As we begin to recognize the accumulation of damage that we have done to others and even ourselves, we can begin to see the need for a Savior who has paid the penalty for all our sins.

In a limited sense a sin is transgressing a law. In the wider sense, sin is that which falls short of what God would have for us. For Christians a growing awareness of truth, increasing in knowledge and understanding, and walking by the Spirit all contribute to an increasingly less sinful life. It is our nature to be selfish and self-seeking. However, when we are made a new creature, we have the opportunity to be free from the compelling force of our old nature (2Cor 5:17).

Satan has done a skillful job creating a world that appeals to the flesh and would keep us from that which God would have for us. The Christian life is about choices. In every thought, word, and deed we chose whether to draw closer to Jesus or indulge the flesh and follow the world.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:16-17

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