Sin

Two Definitions

Sin is often defined according to the English word, which was an archery term meaning “to miss the mark.” While I do think that’s a valid interpretation, I don’t think it fully embodies the meaning from Scripture. My personal definition is that which can be found in the Bible itself: sin is transgression of the law.

1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

What’s the difference?

I think the primary difference is that “missing the mark” implies an accident or just a straight up failure where transgression of the law can be purposeful or accidental. Further, transgression of the law gives us a standard (the “mark”) while messing up does not define clearly what the mark was, only that there was one. While this is splitting hairs quite a bit, I do think the distinction is useful.

Why does it Matter?

Primarily, I think it’s important to have an explicit goal that we can strive for. While I understand that sin is a reality of life, it should never be normalized and almost all sacrifices in the Old Testament are only used to cover accidental sin, where I think “missing the mark” downplays the serious nature of sin, making it feel more like a white lie than the brutal breach of trust between God and ourselves, severing our relationship with him. While God can heal, grace should never be used as a washing machine.

Perhaps more importantly, I think an explicit measure for sin matters because we, as sinners, need to know what sin is in order to stop sinning. If the definition of sin is left up to us, we can easily define evil as good and righteousness as transgression. Played all the way out, if there is no law at all we have no need for salvation. That is, if the salvation that Jesus offers us is salvation from the law of sin and death - as is laid out in Romans, and there is no sin, there is no punishment required and, therefore, no need for rescue from that punishment.

Why does God Punish Sin?

I think that many of us can get this backwards. God reminds us several times throughout Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah that he’s not the one on trial, we are. God raised us from less than nothing (literal mud) to be his special possession, only to be insulted continually by us.

Eccles 3:20 [ESV] All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ps 94:14 [NLT] The LORD will not reject his people;
he will not abandon his special possession.

Isa 65:1-3a,5 [ESV] I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually[…]; who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.

Jer 2:10-11 [ESV] For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death. In less of a bible-speak way, that means that if you were to go to the store and buy yourself some sin, the price at the register would ring up as “your own death.” That means anything less than an immediate death as soon as we sin - a white lie, lust, working on the Sabbath, envying what a co-worker has, publicly dishonoring your parents - is mercy. It is a very compassionate, human emotion to be outraged when we see stories of God punishing sin; like Lev 10:1-7, where God kills Aaron’s sons and then commands him not to mourn. That feels downright mean! However, viewing this from God’s perspective, he had knit these kids together, entrusted them to a God-fearing man, raised these children out of the oppression of Egypt with amazing signs and miracles, and commanded meticulously how and when they were to properly approach him - the God of all creation. Then they disobeyed. They spat in his face. They thought they knew better. As discussed previously, sin is breaking the law and they broke the law. That is sin and the price of sin is immediate, uncaring death. It is up to God if he wants to collect payment at the point of sale or if he exercises mercy and allows that sin to continue. In the case of Aaron’s sons, he decided that the sin must not continue as it devalued him as king and God over the people only months after he moved heaven and earth to reclaim them as his people. God would not allow the disrespect and “a small sin” costs just as much as a large one. Think of it like an extreme version of diet and exercise: do the things you should, and you’ll be blessed with energy, physique, and life. “Disobey” by eating junk food and rarely being active and the consequences are depression, low-energy, disease, and early death. God’s preference has always been that we would not sin to start with - just be healthy versus having to lose all that fat! He sent the prophets time and again to remind us to stop swiping the credit card! God’s grace empowers us to choose life and his mercy stretches the death we owe beyond anything we deserve. Calling God mean for allowing sin to continue and then finally drawing a line is like being upset when a ref calls foul only after having first watched 10 of them play out for the world to see. You don’t have to like it, but when the debt is called, the penalty is owed. God, however, loved us enough that he sent his own child, Jesus, to bear that penalty in our place. Jesus himself tells this in John 3:16-18! We all know the first verse but it came in the context that the world is already condemned!

John 3:16-18 [ESV] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God is long suffering and I am grateful that he didn’t call my debt before it was too late for Jesus to pay it for me. Without Jesus, I only had filthy rags to offer as payment and the bounty was worth thousands of lives.

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