What is Sin?

You don’t have to be Christian or particularly religious to know something is wrong with the world.

You only have to turn on the news, switch on the radio, or search for a report online, and you will quickly be reminded that our world is a mess.

Innocent people suffer, guilty people go free, and those we are supposed to trust abuse their power. Bad things happen to good people. There is sickness, disease, suffering, and pain everywhere, and there doesn’t seem to be much fairness or justice in the world.

All of this comes down to one little three-letter word: sin.

The problem, however, with this little word is that it has been deeply misunderstood, and many, consequently, people are unsure about what it means and why it matters.

The word occurs frequently in the Bible because it is a central theme. It is the Bible’s preferred word for what is wrong with the world.

The scriptures use the word “sin” to explain the brokenness we see all around us and, more disturbingly, the brokenness we see inside us.

Just in case you are wondering, you are a sinner. And I am, too.

We’re all in the same boat here. In fact, the Bible says that all humans are sinners.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we claim we have not sinned, we make God out to be a liar and His word is not in us. – 1 John 1:8+10

However, the good news is that a big part of why Jesus came to our world is to save, not condemn, sinners.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. – 1 Timothy 1:15

This implies two things. Firstly, sinners need saving.

Whatever sin is, we need to be saved from it.

Secondly, God loves and cares about sinners enough to do the saving.

So, we should be encouraged to know that God loves us enough to save us, whether we know we need it or think we deserve it.

So, what exactly is sin?

When some people hear the word sin, they think of “guilty pleasures,” i.e., all the fun, indulgent, deviant things we aren’t supposed to do.

For other people, sin is all the seriously bad stuff we definitely should not be doing, such as lying, stealing, cheating, and murder.

But the problem of sin is much deeper than any of these things.

To be faithful to the word’s whole semantic and theological meaning in scripture, we must acknowledge four unique aspects of sin that give us a fuller picture.

1. AUTONOMY – Separation from God

At the heart of sin is “autonomy” (which means “self-rule”).

One of the most helpful explanations of the sin phenomenon comes from politics.

When a country or state wants to break away from a commonwealth or a parent nation, it undertakes a “U.D.I.” – a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

Many countries have attempted UDI over the years. In 1965, Ian Smith, the Prime Minister of Rhodesia, announced a UDI and pulled away from Britain, forming what we know today as Zimbabwe.

In 1988, the Palestinian people tried to do the same to create a separate Independent Palestinian state, but it has never been formally recognised.

In the story of the garden called Eden, that is essentially what humans did when they disobeyed God and decided to go their own way (Genesis 3).

The point is that when humankind tries to act independently from God, sin enters the world, and the presence and power of sin produce unrelenting selfishness in the hearts of humanity.

That is why the prophet Isaiah says,

We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way. – Isaiah 53:6

In the opening few chapters of Romans, Paul the Apostle explains this in more detail when he says,

What shall we conclude then… Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written, “There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no-one who understands or seeks God. All have turned away”. – Romans 3:9-12

In other words, we’re all in a fix here. We are all far from God, out from under His authority, living our way, doing our own thing, making our own rules and ruling our own little kingdoms.

So, this is where sin starts, but it certainly isn’t where sin ends.

“Autonomy” leads to the second aspect of sin, which is…

2. IDOLATRY – Devotion to the wrong god

What happens when you stop worshipping and serving the one true God? You find other gods to worship and serve.

We were made to worship, and whatever we worship, we serve, so the human heart will ultimately set its affection on something.

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is forever. Amen. – Romans 1:25

Now, you might think idolatry is an ancient idea, an old-world concept. When you hear the word, your mind might conjure up images of wood, metal, or stone altars and shrines on which people sacrifice to false gods and pagan deities, but that is an archaic way of thinking about idolatry.

The truth is that idolatry is as prevalent today as it was in the first century. It just takes on different shapes and forms.

Listen to these definitions of modern-day idolatry from leading Christian authors and thinkers:

“What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you only what God can give you.” – Richard Gaffin

“An idol is anything other than God, from which you derive ultimate security, identity and meaning”. – John Ortberg

“Idolatry is turning good things into ultimate things”. – Tim Keller

Idolatry is just misplaced affection and misdirected devotion.

It is taking the love that should be reserved for God and giving it to someone or something else.

So, what are the wannabe idols of the 21st century?

• Money (Material wealth; Prosperity)
• Pleasure (Hedonism; Feeling ‘happy’; Entertainment)
• Work (Enterprise; Vocation; Career)
• Success (Accolades; Achievements; Qualifications)
• Relationships (Your spouse; A friend; A social group)
• Power (Position; Title; Authority; Control).

And really, just about anything else that becomes a substitute for God in our lives.

Idolatry is a subtle and stealthy disease of the heart that God hates, not because of what it does to Him, but because of what it does to us.

Idolatry keeps us from knowing, serving, and loving God, which are the keys to abundant and eternal life.

The temptation to worship something or someone other than God always holds out the false promise of an exchange.

You are promised happiness, security, popularity, acceptance, promotion, and success in exchange for your devotion and affection. Still, the promise also comes with a price, which is never worth the promise.

Now, because we tend to “serve what we worship”, the third aspect of sin is:

3. SLAVERY – Oppression and Bondage

There is another power at war within me and this power makes me a slave to sin. – Romans 7:23

If you read the rest of Romans chapter seven, you will hear Paul say that because he is enslaved to the power of sin, he ends up doing what he knows he shouldn’t and not doing what he knows he should.

You can hear the frustration in his tone of voice. I think we can all identify with it.

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin”. – John 8:34

The way I like to explain it is by using a lawn bowl.

Every lawn bowl has a weight called a “bias” on one side. When you roll the bowl down the lawn, it bends toward the direction of the bias.

Similarly, every human heart has a “bias” toward sin and self. Roll us human beings down the lawn of life, and we will all lean far too easily towards every form of sinful selfishness: self-obsession, self-preservation, self-aggrandisement, and self-righteousness.

The effect of sin is a distorted desire to prioritise self at the expense of all others, and therein lies the root of all the problems we have in the world.

It’s sin and selfishness that drive nations to war with one another, but it’s that same sin and selfishness that causes a husband to pretend to be asleep when his three-month-old baby wakes up at two o’clock in the morning so that his wife can get up for the child.

It’s that same sin and selfishness that causes us to lie to one another, gossip about one another, doubt and disbelieve one another, lie, cheat, steal, slander, boast, and backchat our parents.

It is precisely because we are enslaved to this power of sin that we end up in the fourth dimension of sin, which is:

4. IMMORALITY – Violation of the law of God

Sometimes, the Bible refers to this immorality as “sins”, the fruit of the root condition “Sin”.

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. – 1 John 3:4

It is helpful to think of these sins as personal acts of rebellion against God’s will and God’s way.

Often, the nature of your idolatry and resulting slavery will determine the nature of your immorality.

• If your Sin (enslaving illegitimate power) is money… your “sins” might be greed, materialism or theft.
• If your Sin (enslaving illegitimate power) is sex… your “sins” might be adultery, pornography, or fornication.
• If your Sin (enslaving illegitimate power) is power… your “sins” might be abuse, corruption, or exploitation.
• If your Sin (enslaving illegitimate power) is self-concern… your “sins” might be selfishness and pride.

Or all of the above. You get the idea.

The problem is that we have told people that everyone is a sinner because we all do #4, i.e. we all commit sins – acts of personal rebellion against the will of God.

We have told people that no matter how big or small their sins are, they are all the same in God’s eyes and will all be punished the same way, with a one-way ticket to eternal conscious torment.

It doesn’t matter if you stole chocolate from the shop when you were five years old or murdered your boss last week. Sin is sin. And if you break the law in a tiny part, you are guilty of breaking the whole law and in danger of hellfire.

This message is deeply unfortunate because it has failed to communicate the true nature of sin, the root of the problem, and its impact on the human heart.

We haven’t explained to people that we all commit these sins because we are all slaves to the power of sin.

And the reason we are all slaves to the power of sin is that we have been worshipping lesser gods, the wrong gods.

The reason we’ve been worshipping the wrong gods is that all of humanity finds itself trying to live life apart from the one true God.

In other words, you are not a sinner because you commit sins. You commit sins because you are a sinner.

Personal immorality (as with idolatry and slavery) is the effect of your independence from God, not the cause.

The good news, however, is that Jesus came to save sinners!

That doesn’t just mean “forgive sins”. Of course, there is forgiveness for “sins”, as John the Apostle points out:

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. – 1 John 1:8-9

But there is also freedom from the power of sin!

Listen to what the apostle Paul says,

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.- Romans 7:24-25

There is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. – Romans 8:1-2

So, there is forgiveness and freedom, but both can be ours if we understand the root of the problem, which is our independence from God.

Sin is less about broken rules and more about a broken relationship.

The ultimate break in relationship is between God and humankind, but that brokenness quickly translates into our relationships with one another and even our planet.

Consequently, we need to be restored to a right relationship with God and this reconciliation is only made possible through faith in Jesus:

This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity — the man Christ Jesus. – 1 Timothy 2:3-5

The only way anyone can return to a restored relationship with God is through faith, which is trust in, dependence on, and loyalty to Jesus.

The result of this turning to Jesus and following after Him is new life, energised by the Spirit of God, motivated by God’s love, and characterised by an intimate relationship with God.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. – 1 Corinthians 5:17-21

Sin is a real problem, but God has a real solution. That solution is reconciliation, first with God, then with others, and finally with our social, cultural, and natural environment.

The personal, institutional, cultural and national manifestations of sin can only be overcome by the power of the resurrected King Jesus.

So our faith in Him and our loyalty to Him are the first steps toward overcoming sin’s effect on our hearts and our world.