Sin.

Sin is something to which I have referred in a number of posts. It is not a particularly popular topic - but it is a very important one! I plan, DV, to look at the subject in this, and the next two (or three!) posts. Budding preachers may even discern a little three-alliterated-point sermon!

In this post, I want to look, briefly, at the reality of sin. This involves asking the question "What is it?" The answer provided by the authors of the Westminster Shorter Catechism (on which, with my Presbyterian background, I was raised!) is that: "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God." (Q.14). In other words, sin is not simply committing a crime. Of course, in most countries, that which is considered to be a crime is, indeed, a sin. If I murder someone, I have broken the law; committed a crime - and I have also sinned. However, the Lord Jesus says "... that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment;" (Matt 5:22) - and He makes that statement in the context of the sixth commandment. Yet I will not be arrested for being angry with anyone - it is not a chargeable offence.

Teasing out the Catechism definition, it is saying that if I fail to live up to God's law, or  in any way disobey it, then I have sinned. The reality is that not one of us meets those criteria. Every day; every hour; I let God down in one way, or another! Whether, or not, I like the idea, I am a sinner in His sight! And worse - I can do nothing about it! I am not a sinner because I sin - I sin because I am a sinner!

How is this so? Well we have to go right back to the beginning. In his letter to the early church on the great metropolis of Rome, Paul writes: "... sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned." (Rom 5:12). You may read the story (if you don't already know it) in Genesis 3 - read the whole chapter! We see, in the opening verses, the devil's strategy. He starts by sewing the seeds of doubt: "Did God say …" (v.1) He then goes on to "put words in God's mouth: "... You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" Now, it is true that, at this point, the woman puts the devil right. (vs.2-3).  However, the devil moves on in his strategy by denying God's Word (vs 4-5). This leads to the woman's defection from the command of Almighty God, and her drawing her husband into the devil's scheme. (v.6).

Note the progression - the woman saw; she took; she ate; she gave. That is the sad progression of defection - and it is a pattern that has been followed ever since. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, brought sin into the perfect world that had been created ("And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." [Gen 1:31]), and it has been a part of each of us ever since. The psalmist-king of Israel, David, wrote: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Ps 51:5). Now let me emphasise that David, writing under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, was not condemning the act of sexual intercourse which, between a man and a woman in a marital relationship, is God's way of fulfilling His command in Gen.1:28. What David is saying is that from the moment of our conception, we are sinners! 

So that is the reality of sin - it is inherited by each one of us. If David were writing today, he might simply say that it is "in our DNA", and we cannot get rid of it. That is why Paul can state, quite categorically, that "... all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"(Rom 3:23). And, if we look at ourselves, honestly, we know that that is true. You are a sinner; I am a sinner; every human being on the face of the planet is a sinner. There's no getting away from it. And, says Paul, "... the wages of sin is death," (Rom 6:23).

But that is leading on to the next post when, DV, we shall look at the results of sin.