WHAT IS SIN?

 

WHAT IS SIN? 

Westminster Shorter Catechism 14

Quest. What is sin?

Ans. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. 

Introduction

For the Christian, are sin and crime two different things? If sin and crime are two different things, then what is the difference? When is a crime not a sin? Is speeding, e.g., a crime but not a sin? Of course, speeding is a sin as well as a crime. When you drive your car over the agreed safe speed limit you are endangering your own life and the lives of those around you. You’re supposed to be loving your neighbour as yourself, so speeding on public roads is unloving (unless you’re in an emergency vehicle or something like that).

Image from Web

But a crime is not always a sin, and a sin is not always a crime in our society, is it? For instance, it’s a sin to have sex outside of marriage, but nowadays adultery is not a crime. But if you looked in the Bible, would you be able to give a good argument why adultery should not be a crime? Let me zoom in a little more to what I’m driving at. What makes a sin a sin and what makes a crime a crime? Who decides what is a sin and what is not a sin?  And who decides what is a crime and what is not a crime? What is the determining factor?  Is it the State, i.e., the “Power Authority” who determines what is a crime? You hear of people committing “crimes against the State”, don’t you? And isn’t it the State that determines speed limits and the likes?

So, are you sinning against the State when you speed, seeing as in many instances speeding is sinning? Well, this is what the State believes, isn’t it? Otherwise, why would speeding fines go into the State coffers? But the State tends not to call any crime a “sin”. Why? Is it because the State doesn’t want to pass moral judgment on people? Well, what about the taxpayer funded advertisement campaign we had in Australia, I think it was by the Federal Government, that said: “If you drink and drive, you’re a [blank] idiot”? That’s a moral judgment, isn’t it? Drink drivers are idiots! 

So, why doesn’t the State call someone who has sex outside of marriage an [blank] idiot? Is it because no one’s life is in danger of being maimed or ended through illicit sex? Well, what about AIDS? That can end your life, yes? And what about all the other sexually transmitted diseases that can cause infertility, blindness, and what have you? What about the innocent lives that are ended through abortion on account of unwanted pregnancies sometimes on account of unlawful sexual relations?

Image from Web

So, from the Christian perspective a sin is a sin because God says so in His Word. And a crime is a crime because the State says so. Therefore, all sins are not necessarily crimes in the eyes of the State, just as all crimes are not necessarily sins in the eyes of God. As Christians we need to get a handle on the question: What is sin? Apart from helping us to see what God means by sin; it will also help us learn to discern the difference between what the State calls crime and what God calls sin. It will assist us in avoiding the danger of becoming either legalists or antinomians through following the philosophy of a secular or non-Christian (and sometimes blatantly anti-Christian) State and not the Word of God.

If the State, e.g., says sex outside of marriage is not a crime and we start teaching that, as if it were truth, then we’re guilty of teaching people to sin! Or, if we tell people that reckless speeding is not a sin, then we’re saying it’s all right to commit crime. And teaching people to sin is a sin in itself – for it’s a form of Antinomianism. And conversely, if we teach people, e.g., that making and drinking wine is a sin when it’s not, we are actually sinning against God – for this is a form of legalism. Therefore, both Antinomianism and Legalism are sin according to the Word of God. For Antinomianism permits what God forbids, and Legalism forbids what God permits.

So, we would do well to learn what the Bible says about sin if we are to keep a handle on things.

Sin Identified

There are two kinds of sins. To quote Roderick Lawson of Maybole, “The first consists in not doing what God commands; the second consists in doing what God forbids.” Then he gives an example by making the point, “Our first parents committed the latter.”[1] Which is to say that Adam and Eve sinned by doing what God had forbidden. They did what God had commanded Adam not to do; they ate the forbidden fruit. Rowland Ward, who has modernized the language of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, puts it like this, “Sin is any failure to measure up to what God requires, or any disobedience to His commands.”[2] I think this rendering helps us toward understanding what the Bible says about sin. For if you don’t measure up to what God requires, you are sinning. And if you don’t do what He says you are to do, you are sinning. So, we can see then that it is God, not the State, that sets the standard of perfect living. Therefore, we are to use the canon of Scripture alone to measure sin.

Now, God through His Apostle John provides us with a clear statement of what is sin. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (in 1 John 3:4). So, sin then is lawlessness, or as the NIV puts it, “Sin is the transgression of the law.”

Now, what “law” do you think this refers to – Man’s Law or God’s Law? Or, as some would style it, ‘Criminal Law’ or ‘Moral Law’? Well again, a crime is only a crime when it is a transgression of God’s measure or standard. For in the Christian worldview a crime is only a crime when it violates God’s Moral Law. In other words, what we’re saying is that so called ‘Criminal Law’ must not be detached from God’s Moral Law, i.e., the Ten Commandments, because it is God’s Law that gives ‘Criminal’ or ‘Legal’ law its ultimate authority. Therefore ‘Criminal Law’ or ‘State Law’ must always be subject to God’s Moral Law. Or, if you will, the State itself must be subject to God, even in its laws.

The State should simply apply God’s Moral Law in all its dealings. But, as we all know, this is not the reality, even in Australia, even though it is a nation founded under God.[3] There are many laws that run contrary to God’s Moral Law appearing on its books. Abortion, homosexuality, cohabitation, prostitution, taking innocent people’s guns from them, squandering taxpayers’ money, and the list goes on.  But the point I make is that the State usurps the authority of God when it passes laws contrary to God’s Moral Law.

When the State sets itself up as the Lawgiver without reference to God and His Moral Law, it sets itself up as God. However, as God in the 1^st Commandment says, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” So, we see then, that not only does God hold individuals accountable, He also holds whole nations accountable.

The Law is King, not the Church or the State. Both must subject themselves to His Moral Law or suffer the consequences. Why? Because “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” Whether it’s the State or the Church or the Family or the individual or the Nation – all sin is lawlessness. And this is exactly what we find in our world today. It’s as the Lord says, “The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isa. 24:5). When our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit the world became defiled. The world began inventing its own laws, laws contrary to God’s eternal Moral Law.

Now, I’m sure we’re all familiar with the verse which says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). In other words, we don’t measure up to God’s Moral standard. Therefore, we should expect the State and even the Church to get it wrong from time to time. Our own Confession states that “All synods or councils since the Apostle’s times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as a help in both.”[4]

So, the Church herself errs from time to time and, as we’ve already noted, so does the State. But what constitutes an error? That which fails to measure up to what God requires and that which disobeys what He has commanded.

Sin Illustrated

Is Stem-cell Research one of those moral, ethical or legal “grey areas”? Yet some scientists and others think nothing of destroying fertilized human embryos. But even a quick glance at the Ten Commandments, particularly the 6^th Commandment, would prove that it is a sin to intentionally destroy any human embryo. For, to discard impregnated human embryos is by definition a form of infanticide.

This is the stuff of Pharaoh killing infants when Moses was a baby, and King Herod killing infants when Jesus was a baby. It was, is, and always will be, a sin to unlawfully take the life of another human being. Therefore, it is unlawful or lawlessness to impregnate human embryos with the intention of destroying any one of them. Why? Because God in the 6^th Commandment states, “You shall not murder.”

Let me illustrate this by asking you, for instance, if the man you read about in the Book of Acts 3 who was lame from birth is a human being. “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple” (Acts 3:2). So, here’s what I’m driving at: Was this man a fully formed, a fully developed, human being? No, his legs hadn’t fully formed or developed, so he had to be carried. But who on the planet earth, would say that this crippled man was not a human being? Let me rephrase that question: Who would claim he was not a human being? – (apart from Adolf Hitler who would have hated this crippled man because he was a Jew. Adolf Hitler justified his systematic extermination of the Jews by holding that Jews were not fully developed or fully evolved human beings – that they were sub-human).

Now, let’s turn back to human embryos. Many scientists claim that an impregnated human embryo does not a human make. Many abortionists claim a child before the second trimester in its mother’s womb does not a human make. This is how they justify their sin of murder! They claim that it’s not a fully formed or fully developed human being. Therefore, the State says it is permissible to destroy it – it’s not a crime! But what does God’s Law say? “You shall not murder.”

Is a fertilized embryo a human being? It might not be fully formed or fully developed, but is it a human being? Of course it is! David says under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psa. 51:5). Notice that it was David and not an embryo who was conceived. For he says, “in sin my mother conceived me.” If anyone had destroyed that embryo, who would they have terminated? King David!

David says, “You [i.e., God] have formed my inward parts; You have woven me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psa. 139:13). Then he says something very remarkable and applicable to today. “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.” Or as the NIV puts it: “Your eyes saw my unformed body.” Now, what’s the difference between David’s unformed body and the lame man’s unformed body in Acts 3? The man in Acts 3 was lame from birth. His legs were what we call de-formed because they hadn’t fully formed in his mother’s womb. But it would most certainly be murder if someone took his life just because he was not a fully developed human being! And yet sadly some women seek to abort their children for minor things such as a cleft pallet and worse, and the State in many cases obliges! But sin is ANY want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God. If people think that IVF and Stem-cell research is a grey area, then surely those people would be wise to err on the side of caution rather than be party to the murder innocent human beings.

Let’s now consider a few examples of failing to conform to God’s Law. Then we’ll consider a few examples of doing what His Law forbids. In Luke 10 we read the familiar Parable of the God Samaritan. Jesus said that Parable to answer a question He was asked about God’s Law. As you know, the sum of the God’s Moral Law (of which the Ten Commandments are themselves a summary), is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself” (Luke 10:27). In response to this someone asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Hence the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It was to answer a question about God’s Law.

We know the story of the man who was left lying by the side of the road like a pound of raw mince after being beaten up by a bunch of thieves. Jesus, in this Parable illustrates the two kinds of sins, which are not doing what God commands, and doing what God forbids.

Image from Web

God has commanded you to love your neighbour as yourself. The priest and the Levite in the Parable illustrate the not doing what God commands. We see this in their inaction toward a helpless human being in need. “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed on the other side. But a certain Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed on the other side” (Luke 10:31-32).

So, we can see that they were sinning. Sin is lawlessness. They did not do what they ought to have done. They ought to have kept God’s Moral Law and helped the helpless man when they had opportunity. They ought to have done what God commands, i.e., love your neighbour as yourself. Would any of us like to be robbed, beaten up, left for dead, and while you’re lying there dying, have men walk past and not lift a hand to help?

Also, we see illustrated in this parable men doing what God forbids. It was thieves who relieved this helpless man of his clothing. God in the 8^th Commandment says, “You shall not steal” (Exod. 20:15). They also wounded him to the point of death in the process. God in the 6^th Commandment says, “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13).

It’s not hard to see how well this parable applies to the IVF, Stem cell, abortion issue today. Helpless, innocent human beings are being wounded and murdered daily while people like the priest and Levite just walk past not lifting a hand to help. It is as much a sin, a breaking of God’s Moral Law, to do nothing than it is to destroy innocent human life.

We’re all probably feeling suitably guilty at this point. We are fallen creatures living in a fallen world. And it wouldn’t be hard to heap up examples of where we all fail miserably to keep God’s Moral Law. We ought to be thankful that God has sent us a Saviour in Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of sinners like us. Let’s all trust in Him for our salvation and not our feeble attempts to keep His Law.

But, by way of example of how we ought to keep God’s Law in society, Jesus introduces the Good Samaritan into the story. The Samaritan bends over backwards helping this poor helpless human being. You know the story; he truly loved his neighbour as himself. He esteemed the wounded traveller better than himself (Phil. 2:3-4). Instead of the Parable of the Good Samaritan it should be called the Parable of the Good Neighbour. He took care of all the wounded man’s needs. He was the Good Neighbour, which is to say that he kept God’s Law by doing what it commands and not doing what it forbids.

Conclusion

It would certainly make for a better and more peaceable society if people would learn to behave like the Good Samaritan. One of the beauties of living in a democratic society as opposed to a dictatorship for example, is that we are given opportunity to tell our politicians what we think of abortion and other such issues, which is to say that we get to tell them how society ought to behave! And as the Apostle Paul says to Timothy, we are to pray “…for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence…” (1 Tim. 2:2).

Christians, the Lord’s Church on earth, is the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth. Therefore, if we would be light and salt we need to learn and keep God’s Law. We need to be like the Good Samaritan. We need to show forth God’s Law by our actions. But we feel inadequate, don’t we? When we look at God’s Law, we see our own sin! We see clearly that none of us measure up. And we see that we at times disobey God’s commands. But remember what the Apostle John says, “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2).

Make sure then, that Jesus Christ is your Advocate. Otherwise, you yourself will need to pay the penalty you owe God for your sins. The State might slap you on the wrist, fine you, or throw you in prison, depending on the seriousness of your crime against it. But Almighty God sees even the least little one of your sins against Him as serious enough to throw you into Hell forever! He sees your sins against Him as serious enough that He sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life.

We’ve looked at the question What is sin? And we’ve seen that sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

---

[1] Roderick Lawson, The Shorter Catechism with Commentary and Scripture Proofs, (Free Church of Scotland Publications Committee, no date), Edinburgh, 14.

[2] Rowland. S. Ward, Learning the Christian Faith – The Shorter Catechism for Today – with Modernised Text and Explanatory Notes, (New Melbourne Press, Wantirna, Australia, 1998), 10.

[3] The preamble to the Constitution of Australia states: “Whereas the people of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, and Tasmania, humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God, have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution hereby established.”

[4] Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 31, paragraph 4.