Who is a Sinner?
By Timothy Glover
The world laughs at the term and disregards its existence. We are a society that wants to eliminate the word from our vocabulary completely. To do so is to disregard God and his holiness.
The Greek word translated “sin” means “to miss the mark.” It includes anything that stands against God’s will. John writes, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Later, he writes, “....all unrighteousness is sin...” (1 John 5:17). It is horrendous to God because it is by nature an offense to a holy God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they violated the will of God which prevented them from eating of the tree of know-ledge, of good and evil. The visual we receive in Gen. 3 is that God wanted to commune with his creation, to walk with them. They knew they had sinned, God knew that they had sinned, and fellow-ship was broken.
Who is a sinner? Anyone who acts without law, and disregards the authority of heaven and whose condition is termed “unrighteous” is a sinner. Such a one needs to be made right with God for God to commune with him. Still, who is a sinner? “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). John writes, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). In other words, all of us have treated lightly God’s will for us by breaking his law. James 4:17 says that “to him that knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.”
We attempt to lighten our feelings of guilt by emphasizing the good in our life as though it will compensate for the bad. We must realize that the nature of law demands perfection and punishment. When a citizen stands before a judge, would he or she have a strong case by reminding the judge of all the good ac- complished in life? No! James reminds us that if we keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, we have become guilty of all (Js. 2:10). In other words, whether we break one law or every law, we are lawbreakers. Some have the idea of God weighing the good with the bad. Yet this is not true.
Also, we may compare ourselves with others whom we deem to be worse than ourselves. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day did this as is evidenced by Luke 18:10-14. Jesus spoke this parable because some trusted in themselves and in their righteousness. In the parable, he identifies their arrogance when they compare themselves and their good deeds with other people who are open sinners.
The correct approach is to recognize our wrongs and confess it. The publican (Lk. 18) was right to say humbly, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Sin is quite real. It is not just a guilt complex. This is not the end of this study. We will see later that it is not so hopeless. The second article will emphasize the consequences of sin to enlarge the human predicament that drives us to our knees.
| The Sinner | Evil | Cain | Lifestyles
| Lying
| Hypocrite
| Sin-1
| Sin-2
| Aids
| Morals
| Sexual
| Leopard
| |