Do You Trivialize Sin?
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. James 1:5
From Reader’s Digest: You must pay for your sins. If you have already paid, please disregard this notice.
There is some confusion as to what sin is. As a teenager, I learned this definition for sin: “missing the mark.” This is probably not a good definition. The first time the word occurs in God’s Holy Word is in Genesis 4:7. The Hebrew word literally means “an offence,” carrying with it the idea of “a penalty by the offender.” There is a second Hebrew word for sin and the first time it is used is in Genesis 39:9. The primitive root does have the meaning “to miss, or to sin, carrying with it a sense of “bearing the blame.”
In the New Testament, the first mention of the word appears in Matthew 12:31 and the Greek word is translated “an offence” or simply “sin.” It is this word that some have stated means “to miss the mark,” as might an archer missing his target. It is the most common word for “sin” in the New Testament. There are variations of this word that means “to err” or “to sin,” carrying with it the idea that a fault, offense or a trespass has been committed.
I John 3:4 states that sin is the transgression or violation of God’s law. I John 5:17 states: All unrighteousness is sin. James 4:17 reads: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Paul stated …for whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). None of these really indicates, “Missing the mark.”
The idea of missing the mark reveals a person who has tried their best and failed. Otherwise, what would it be that a person would miss? According to the Bible, you would have missed God’s will. Romans 3:23 states, “All have sinned, and COME SHORT of the glory of God.” We were created to glorify God (Isaiah 43:7) and we have been commanded to glorify Him (I Corinthians 6:19-20). Glorifying God is His will.
Our society today has so trivialized sin. People say, no one is perfect and everyone has good within them, so then it is not really sin. I did my best, but just missed the mark! Our society has totally failed to understand the seriousness of sin. Infants are murdered and homosexuality is an accepted alternative lifestyle and sinful mankind can give a list of many good reasons why these ought to be acceptable without ever giving thought to the fact that they are provoking their Creator.
The Children of Israel provoked God in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 9:7; Numbers 13-14) and brought upon themselves the wrath of God. God referred to their sin as rebellion which was punishable by death (Joshua 1:18).
We need to recognize the reality of sin and the seriousness of it. Not only do we need to keep short accounts with God, confessing our sin when we violate His holy law, but we also need to understand the suffering it causes if we are to be effective witnesses to the sinful world around us. We ought to praise God for taking pity on us as sinners and providing redemption. Recognize what our sin cost our Savior. We can never praise and thank Him enough.
For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. II Corinthians 5:21
One of the words for sin in both the Old and New Testaments is the word transgression. The dictionary defines the word as “a violation of the law, principle or duty, the exceeding of due bounds or limits, a breach of a law.” To transgress is to “step across” or “go beyond a set boundary.” Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4).
Romans 5:12 reveals that Adam brought sin to the human race by his disobedience. Ever since, all human beings are sinners by nature and all human beings have an inherent inclination to sin. When Adam sinned, his inner nature changed, bringing about spiritual death that would eventually lead to physical death. For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). King David said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5). We would refer to this as inherited sin.
There is also imputed sin. For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law (Romans 5:13). Even prior to the law, physical death bore witness to the presence of sin. After the giving of the Law, sins committed in violation of the Law were imputed or accounted to those who committed them. After the Law was given, mankind was subject to death for both inherited and imputed sin.
Imputation is a very important principle. God chose to use the same principle to bring mankind back into fellowship with Himself. When Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s cross, our sin was imputed to the account of Jesus Christ and His righteousness was imputed to all who are in Christ, those who have repented of their sin and trusted Him as Lord and Savior. On that cross, God treated our Savior as though He was a sinner, though He was not, for He did not inherit sin from Adam. He lived a totally righteous life, which was necessary or else He could not have paid the penalty for our sin. He was made sin for us that His righteousness might be credited to our account.
Have you given much thought to the price He paid in order to secure our salvation? In our Sunday morning Bible study at Bethany, we have been looking at the trials and the death of Jesus Christ. Read through John 18 and 19 several times and see all that Christ suffered on our behalf. It is a gruesome, horrible picture of what mankind could do to another. However, it became far more gruesome when all our sin was imputed to Him.
Thank God today for the price He paid on your behalf. Choose to share this precious gift with others and tell Him how much you love Him today.
George Stiekes held successful pastorates in churches in Michigan and Washington among other places. He currently resides in North Carolina and blogs at Reverent Reflections. We recommend his ministry and republish his material by permission.
Classic Resources on this topic:
The Mortification of Sin by John Owen
Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots by J. C. Ryle