Having understood some plain truths about Love and Forgiveness I turn my attention towards Sin. Why? Because it is what we deal with all our life as human. So what is Sin and how did the Bible define it? Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17
All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not to death. 1 John 5:17
We all were born sinners. There is not one exempt from the “Original Sin”. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. Billy Graham put it this way- It is the truth that we are all sinners, and we all have within us the tendency or inclination to do what is wrong. We aren’t just sinners by choice; we are sinners because our hearts are turned away from God. To put it another way, sin is like an inherited disease–a spiritual disease that weakens us and keeps us from doing what is right. Even when we want to do good, we find we can’t. “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19)
But the good news is that when we surrender our lives to the Lord we have a chance to die without sin- He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6 Jesus’ harsh denunciations of sin show that sin cannot be overlooked. It must be confronted, unpleasant as that may be. Otherwise, the sinner dies in his sins. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” James 8:24. For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, Hebrews 10:26
So how bad should one be to commit Sin. Is sin only when you do something as bad as say Murder. Jesus Answers us on that too. And his answer should come as a real awakening to all of us. And here is why- “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court.
Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill. Matthew 5:21-22
The Bible does go on to explain the cause and the outcome of Sin. But it is important to realise that sin is not in the magnitude of the act but rather in the intent. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19
Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” Matthew 15:17-20
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. James 1:14-15
God sets high standards for us in fighting and overcoming the sins that affect us. Ultimately, these definitions tell us that sin is anything that is contrary to the will of God or doesn’t express the holy character of God. That is the standard He has set for us, as seen by these definitions.
And the outcome of sin is nothing but suffering and death.
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Isaiah 59:2
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
And as we saw in the chapter on forgiveness one has to actively seek for their sins to be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16.
But even Jesus Christ goes on to say that there is one sin that can never be forgiven-
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Matthew 12:31-32
