Sin exists.
Sin is bad. It’s important that you understand my position on sin. It exists, and it is bad. It should be avoided by Christians. Non-Christians, of course, cannot avoid sin. They are slaves to it and obey sin. So, to avoid sin you have to first be a Christian. That’s easy. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”, Paul said to the Philippian jailer. That seems pretty straightforward to me, but some others disagree. Let’s look at that some other time, OK? This is about sin, not salvation, even though the two concepts are so closely related it’s hard to talk about one without the other. What is Sin? This question seems to me to be the real crux of the issue. Current Christian thinking about sin seems to run along the lines of Murphy’s Law: If anything can be considered sin, it is sin. A woman who does not cover her hair is sinful, according to some Christian groups and 1 Corinthians 11:6. Looking at a member of the other sex is sin (or maybe it’s just men looking at women, since those are Jesus’ exact words in Matthew 5:28). Of course, there’s also the Big Ten. Again, Jesus Himself cited these when the rich young ruler came up to Him and asked how to gain eternal life. So at a minimum, it seems violating those should be considered sin. That would be fine if Acts chapter 15 were not in the Bible. The whole point of this chapter is that Old Testament law does not apply to Gentile believers. This is Paul’s point to the Galatians in chapter 2: 15 running through 3:6. The idea that we grow in Christ by obeying the law after receiving Him through faith seems to strike Paul as utterly ridiculous. He repeats this thought in Romans 6:14 and 1 Corinthians 10:23, and applies it to everyone - not just Gentiles – in Romans 10:12. It is difficult to argue law in the context of all these verses. Paul Defines Sin It seems abundantly clear that Paul has a very different understanding of sin than most Christians. Sin exists, and sin is bad, but if Christians are not under the law then what is sin under the New Covenant? Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 10:13) defines it for us in that same epistle at chapter 14:23 as “whatever does not proceed from faith”. Not just the things covered by the law, mind you, but “whatever”. Sin encompasses a laundry list of behaviors that is simply staggering. Any reliance on our own behavior, or confidence in our own abilities, is sin. For example, trying to obey the law can be sin if the law-abiding Christian is depending on that instead of depending on the finished work of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul says in the cited passage from Galatians that trying to keep the law makes him a transgressor of the law. Step outside the confines of a legal understanding and this definition of sin makes perfect sense. God is love, right? God knows how to give good things to His kids, right? So depending on ourselves instead of on God for anything is tantamount to saying “I don’t need you God.” Of course, we would not use those words, but the lack of faith in God’s provision is expressed in the action itself. NOT a New Idea As surprising as this idea might seem to some, the simple fact is that this definition of sin applies throughout all of Scripture. Adam and Eve did not have faith that God wanted what was best for them when He said not to eat that fruit. On the other side of this coin is Abraham who was considered righteous by faith alone (Genesis 15:6). Of course, the entire chapter of Hebrews 11 addresses this precise issue. This idea has its roots all the way back in Deuteronomy 28. God says to Israel in that He will bless them with incredible blessings if they do what He says, and curse them with terrible curses if they don’t do what He says. Incredible blessings are clearly preferable, so Israelites breaking the law were simply acting out a lack of faith in God. The Mosaic Law simply gave them ways to demonstrate faith. By the way, this broad concept of sin explains why the writer of Hebrews follows chapter 11 with an admonition (12:1) to set aside “the sin” that so easily entangles us. The Greek text includes the definite article and the noun is singular. Any action that demonstrates a lack of faith in God is sin, and I know for myself that it is stunningly easy to doubt God and fail to take Him at His word. Slaves to Sin? Of course, non-Christians do this all day and all night long. A lack of faith defines who they are. The citizens of Nazareth astonished Jesus with their lack of faith (Mark 6:6) and a Roman Centurion astonished Him with faith (Matthew 8:10), demonstrating that without faith it is impossible to please God (already cited in Hebrews 11:6). Faith is the defining characteristic of the disciple of Jesus Christ. This is why John writes such encouraging words in 1 John 3:9. Modern translations add the modifier “practice” to the statement that Christians do not sin, but if a lack of faith in His Son is the definition of “sin”, it is easy to rest in the assurance that if we have accepted Jesus as the Son of God, we do not sin. We may have some doubts on a variety of issues, but on this point at least God is perfectly pleased with us.
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