THE NATURE OF SIN

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A. The Modern View of Sin.

1. Society Calls It Indiscretion.
2. Scholars Label It Ignorance.
3. Evolutionists Say it is the Trait of the Beast.
4. Christian Scientists Teach It Is the Absence From Good.
5. The Fleshly Man Excuses It As Amiable Weakness.
6. The New Theologians Declare It Is Merely Selfishness.

B. The Biblical View of Sin.

1. Sin Is Missing the Mark.

“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). See also Romans 5:12. Sin means “to miss the divine aim of God.”

2. Sin Is Transgression.

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (I John 3:4). Transgression of the law may be deliberate or unintentional. Either is sin. There was sin before the law, but there was no transgression. See Numbers 4:15; Joshua 7:11, 15; Isaiah 24:5; Daniel 9:11; Hosea 6:7;8:1.

3. Sin Is Bending of That Which Is Right.

“Righteous” means straight. Sin is the bending of that which was once straight. “David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house” (II Sam. 24:17). See also Romans 1:18; 6:13; II Thessalonians 2:12; II Peter 2:15; I John 5:17.

4. Sin Is Rebellion Against God.

“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me” (Is. 1:2). See also II Thessalonians 2:4, 8.

5. Sin Is a Debt.

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). See also Luke 11:4. The words “duty” (Luke 17:10), “ought” (John 13:14) and “bound” (II Thess. 2:13) are all from the same Greek word denoting debt.

6. Sin Is Disobedience.

Sin is a lack of response to God. “In time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). See also Ephesians 5:6; John 3:36, R. V.

7. Sin Is a Deviation From God’s Requirement.

This means a fall; every offense against God is a fall. Sin is always a fall that hurts. “If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matt. 6:14). See also Galatians 6:1; Romans 5:15-20.

8. Sin Is Unbelief.

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son” (I John 5:10).

9. Sin Is Impiety, or Ungodliness.

“To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). See also I Timothy 1:9; I Peter 4:18; II Peter 2:5, 7; Jude 4, 15.

10. Sin Is Iniquity.

By this we mean a wrong doing to the moral order of the universe. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they that do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). See also Colossians 3:5-9; Mark 7:19, 20.

C. The Scriptural Statement of Sin.

“All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death” (I John 5:17). See also I John 3:4; Proverbs 14:21; 21:4; 24:9; Romans 3:23; 6:23; I Samuel 15:23; Jeremiah 3:25; 14:7; James 2:9; 4:17; Romans 14:23.

D. The Theological Definitions of Sin.

1. Sin is the transgression of, or lack of conforming to the law of God.
2. Sin is deficiency of love to God and man.
3. Sin is preference of self to God.
4. Sin is insubordination.
5. Sin is lack of conformity with God or His moral law in act, disposition, or state.
6. Sin is that which ought not to be.

1. Toward God.

a. Rebellion.

“Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (I Sam. 15:23a).

b. Failure to Love God Supremely.

“Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. 6:5).

2. Toward the Divine Law.

a. Willful Transgression.

“The soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people” (Num. 15:30).

b. Violation Through Ignorance.

“If any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering” (Num. 15:27). See also Hebrews 9:7.

3. Toward Man.

a. Injustice.

“Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning” (Lev. 19:13).

b. Failure to Love Him as One’s Self.

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:18).

4. Toward Self.

a. Selfishness.

“What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:26).

b. Corruption.

“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5).

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