Sin: Bad Habit or Spiritual Death

SIN

Bad habit or spiritual death?

Copyright © 2014 John K. Leonard

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ISBN: 978-1-312-23937-1

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Introduction

In thinking about this book there were a lot of ideas and directions in which one could take the doctrine of sin. My focus leans toward wanting to give a down to earth understanding of the doctrine in its systematic relation to other teachings of Scripture. No one doctrine stands alone. We must understand that the way we interpret the doctrine of sin, affects the whole of our belief system concerning God, salvation and everyday life.

So I didn’t want to give a dry regurgitation of the doctrine, like so many other books do, but to get right to the point of how someone’s understanding of sin directly impacts all areas of the Christian’s beliefs and walk. I hope this will be a convincing look at the reformed position on the doctrine of sin as a biblical and systematic key point or argument for other areas of theology. I have been hard pressed in many debates, yet no matter what the topic was, the discussion hinged on the nature of sin. It is thus my goal to get this information into the hands of church members everywhere so as to be prepared with critical thinking surrounding this unpopular topic. 

Following a medical illustration, if a doctor diagnoses a disease incorrectly, the cure he/she will prescribe will only correspond to the severity of that disease or possibly just the symptoms. The majority of theological positions held in churches or by individual Christians begin with Christ, and start their apologetic at the cross. These positions vary in degree significantly as to what exactly Christ accomplished. What is usually overlooked or taken for granted, given its unpopular nature, is the doctrine of sin. Offering the victim of a car accident the options of counseling, a band aid, a tourniquet or resurrection (if dead) are vastly different options (the last option being against his ability to choose). It is the status of the victim that warrants which of the options is appropriate. Believing what Christ accomplished will greatly influence the teaching and preaching of any church and therefore the witness carried out by the congregation.

This book will dig into the variations of assumptions made when Christians discuss sin and flesh out what it is, from everyday aspects to how sin applies within the most common theological frameworks in use today.

Chapter 1: Sin and Scripture (defining Sin)

When talking about sin with fellow Christians, it is common for one party, if not both parties, within the conversation to make the statement, I’m just going by what the Bible says. In a debate situation, this is an accusing and degrading comment that assumes your opponent is not referencing a Bible for their position, and you are. Yet the Scriptures are the exact place to start and end any issue we face within the Church. Holy Scripture is the ultimate source of authority within the Church.

The Westminster Confession of Faith states:

The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

Therefore when something is found clearly spelled out within Scripture we must conform to its teaching accepting it as the revealed word of God. The minute a word is spoken against Scripture we should be wary of what is said. It usually sounds something like, I know the Bible says that, but __ (You can fill in the blank with whatever truth you have heard denied by some).

Now using the Bible as a starting point may not be convenient when discussing the matter of sin with unbelievers. A bit more discussion may need to be had as to why the Bible is authoritative at all. Yet for our discussion of sin within a Christian context, we will use the Bible throughout as our ultimate authority, to which all other’s opinions and doctrines must be tried.

What is sin?

In making use of the Scriptures we want to define just what sin is. There are a variety of words used in the Bible giving us insight into this popular church word. Although the list may look familiar to you, if you by chance have conducted such a study before, I ask that you review these words carefully as seeing how they overlap and give insight into the character of sin. 

Sin – as a term is usually understood by the definition of missing the mark. In circles I grew up in, this definition conjured up the picture of a target with the little bull’s-eye in the middle. We did our best to reach the bull’s-eye but we don’t hit it, because of sin. Our deficiency then was made up by Christ, who got us the rest of the way. This is not the correct way to interpret this term.  It is rather the character of the archer that is problematic. It is not that you tried and got close and fell short, but that you were created to be an expert archer who was never to miss the mark. A close comparison would be for a gunsmith to create the most accurate sniper rifle, and yet that weapon can never hit its intended target. It is defective. The defect manifests itself in actions, and yet the faulty actions are derived from the defect it bears in and of itself. This then has reference to the nature of the thing created or more specifically the corruption of it. I reflect on this quote from the Christian theologian G.C. Berkouwer often when thinking about sin:

Sin is not but wants to be; it has no true reality and never attains any. It is a lie in its inception and a lie in its end.[1]

Sin’s only intent is to lay hold of creation and corrupt it. It has nothing of its own by which it can create anything so its creation comes from destroying what God made. As a lie it is a false representation of the truth. So to conceive of a sin is to corrupt something of God’s and yet still proclaim it to be the true form. It is to call light darkness and darkness light (John 3:19; Acts 26:18). 

Iniquity – Is a gross perversity in relation to morality and law. In Psalm 51:5 David laments,Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.He is not placing the blame for his murderous ways and adultery upon his mother. Instead he is stating, by divine inspiration, that no matter how far back in life he may travel, he finds his life is grossly perverted. These desires and motives of our heart are corrupted by sin. What would be a love for beauty becomes adultery in his mind, and murder upon his hands. We recoil at the steps taken by David in his sin, and yet so many commit adultery in our day and age, perverting what is good, and seeing our own selfish ambitions. If we were judged for our thoughts alone, we have committed the acts of David a thousand times over each year. We also see from within this term that Christ is the solution to such perversion of thoughts, words and deeds. Isaiah 53:6b reminds us that …the LORD has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all. Some of us have been around a while, and know our lives to be not so bad. Yet God’s word tells us that we are not the people we should be, we are gross perversions of the very good man started out as (Genesis 1:31).  

Transgression – is rebellion, going against, going past or over set boundaries. Author David Tripp informs us that, To transgress means to acknowledge the boundaries and to step willingly over them.[2] Thus the idea of transgression is rather simple and not hard to miss. It is walking on the grass when there is a stay off the grass sign posted. But it may also be something done willingly or in ignorance, as it still breaks the law of God, an established standard. We see the link between sin and transgressing as stated in the Westminster Shorter Catechism when it defines sin in the following manner. Sin is any want (lack) of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God. So whereas the transgression is overstepping a boundary of God, so too is it sin for mankind not to conform to the perfection He expects of His creation. Our lack of conformity to the law signifies our lack of conformity to the character of God and what it looks like in Christ. If you want to know just how far you missed the mark, stand next to the law of God’s character and measure away and you will see what you lack in righteousness. If you want something you therefore lack it or are found wanting. Christian author, Tom Wells bring this point home in his book Faith, the Gift of God. [3] If love is seeking someone’s benefit, aiming to help someone, it might seem that hate would be seeking someone’s harm, aiming to injure him. In that case there would be a third option, to do neither. But that is not the way God sees it. In God’s view hatred is failing to seek the other person’s benefit, failing to aim at helping him.

Thus some circles speak of this by way of sins of omission and commission, or in simpler terms, sins that we do in action, and sins that we commit by not taking action (things we leave undone). It is a sin to murder (commission), just as it is a sin to leave your neighbor suffering when you know you have the means to help them (omission). There is a tendency to speak of sins only in terms of actions performed against God or others. We feel far less repentant of our sins of not rendering service when we have the ability. It’s easy to not stop and render aid to the person stuck on the side of the road because of fears about being overtaken or scammed; also for women it is just prudent. It is just as easy to neglect nursery service because that is not your gift. Yet there is no gift of nursery work, but it is a service we should render our Christian neighbors of our church so as to ensure they have time in the worship of God. What a shame it is to see a family leave the church because they feel the burden of nursery work always upon them. Thus what a sin it was against them because their very church members omitted their service in turn.

It is important to pause and reflect on how I’m intermixing the terms for sin. There is not just any simple way to define sin straight out and contain it within a small box. It will never allow itself to be isolated as like some biological gene, yet to be discovered. It is complex and elusive; we can make attempts to describe it, and yet it is never so complete. Berkouwer laments that, "Sin can never be explained or casually interpreted but can only be confessed."[4]

1 John 3:4 tells us, Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. Again scripture is pointing out another feature or characteristic of sin. We have yet to get to a discussion of the nature of sin as it relates to man (chapter 5) but we see from these headings just how opposed to God it is. Sin just drips with disobedience. We might think of the child who constantly bucks against parent’s rules. We may look at out of our window and see things as quite civil in nature, and yet by God’s standard it is quite the chaos of sin running amuck throughout all mankind, to where God is more than just to evaluate mankind at any moment of history and judge that, the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).

Some may argue that we do not see outright lawlessness or chaos in the world; therefore sin is not as bad as I am using Scripture to make it out to be. Yet Christians accept that there is a morality in the world, which men adhere to. But this outward morality falls far short from the perfection of thought, word and deed we should exhibit. We must guard against the deceptiveness of sin that clouds our judgment as sinners to cover over sin as if things are not so bad. Sin will mask itself by other sins so that we might weigh them out in our fallen minds and excuse ourselves.  The Bible teaches us this about the nature of sin also that, the heart is deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9a) and, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one (Job 14:4). So how is it that we believe we have judged our world correctly when out of our fallen minds we make deceitful proclamations about the condition of things? This is why we return time and again to God’s word to gain His perspective (the only correct perspective) on the condition of man.

What’s the problem?

When we contemplate sin we begin to ponder the question God is asking us in His revealed word. We are so busy at times attempting to get God to answer to us or provide for us, we rarely see the focus of the Bible. As in the Garden, God is asking us where we are (Genesis 3:9). In worship God calls us into His presence. In reverence and awe we should have the notion to humble ourselves, confess our faults and ask mercy as our only recourse for what we are in sin. Adam shuddered at the question and attempted to hide. Some in our day shrug off the question entirely, and get right to their own selfish demands. I believe there is now a generation within the church that does not know its sin, because it was brought into the church and raised upon the premise of entitlement. God loves you anyway, is the motto, thus all that’s left is to just lay claim to what is rightfully yours. But the Bible seeks to solve the problem God is trying to address, not the questions we want to ask.

Michael Horton, on the radio program The White Horse Inn, frequently makes reference to a bumper sticker that asks, If Jesus is the answer then what’s the question? Christ sets us free, but free from what? What was the bondage I needed freedom from? Why could I not free myself from sin? Thus we must talk about sin and the implication it has upon us. The concept of sin becomes important when we think of it as a