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Today’s post examines the Bible’s view of “sin.”
In the Old testament, the Hebrew word hhata is most frequently used for “sin.” The literal meaning of “hhata” is “miss the mark.” This is best understood from the perspective of a nomadic people; it means deviating from the true path. The Old Testament Hebrews understood two types of sin: inadvertent and purposeful. Sometimes one wanders off the right track, sees one is going the wrong way and corrects the path. However, if you are going down the wrong path and you continue to do so, sin is no longer inadvertent, but it is purposeful. The Old testament is full of instances of purposive sin, most often rebellion by the Israelites.
In the New testament The Greek word for sin is “hamartano,” and it has the same meaning as the Hebrew, “to miss or wander from the path of righteousness and honor.” Both the Old Testament and the New hold that all men and women are sinners. We have a sin nature that naturally bends toward pride, lust and rebellion. Isaiah wrote: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) and Paul said in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Sin of any kind, even, for example, a white lie, will distance us from God. Remember, Jesus condemned even evil desires such as lust.
We are called “to be holy as I (God) am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2).
This is an incredibly impossible standard. Read, for example, Paul’s remarkable dialogue with himself in Romans 7:14-20:
We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Before I became a Christian, I had a major problem with idea that I was a sinner. I was, after all, a better person than most. I couldn’t understand, couldn’t relate to passages such as this one from Isaiah: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2), or this one from 1 John: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:8-10).
At some point when I was still a seeker, a pastor said to me we are all like distance swimmers; some can swim one mile, some several miles, some can even swim across the English Channel. But God’s standard requires us to swim to Hawaii, so no matter how good a swimmer you are, you will fail completely to meet that standard. “All have sinned…”
Thank God that he has made provision for us sinners to obtain forgiveness.
What should we do when we sin, as we’re bound to do? First, recognize that we’re on the wrong track; second, repent (think again) and ask Jesus for forgiveness; and third, get back on the true path. However to obtain forgiveness we must understand that we’ve missed the mark. You cannot have this understanding if the very idea of “sin” no longer has resonance with you. What happens when the culture no longer understands or accepts the idea that we are sinners? That’s the subject of the next post.