The “What” of Sin
"Everyone
who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4, Holy
Bible, New International Version)
What
is sin? Some people look at this word and
think of gross, heinous acts that are roundly condemned by most sane
people. Others look at this word as an
archaic concept better left in the Victorian age. Wherever people fall in this spectrum, it is
quite clear that the concept of "sin" is being systematically removed
from our society, or at the very least, watered down to the point where it
becomes meaningless. Former U.S. Senator
Daniel Moynihan once coined the phrase "defining deviancy down" to
describe the process of removing the concept of sin from our morality. What "defining deviancy down" means
is taking the definition of a particular vice and narrowing the definition to
the point where only a few notable things can fit within that definition; in
effect "lowering the bar" so more people can feel good about
themselves.
Take
lying for example. The definition if
lying is very straightforward, a lie is intentionally saying something that is
false in an attempt to mislead or deceive.
From this definition we can see that most, it not all of us, have lied
from time to time. This definition also
includes those "little white lies" that we deem aren't so
serious. The problem is a lie is a lie
is a lie; white or otherwise. We come up
with phrases like "little white lie" so we can feel better about
ourselves. The Bible calls lying a sin
("You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor"). It
doesn't make any allowances for "white lies" or mitigating
circumstances; if you lie, you have sinned. Period. This might sound too harsh or too strict, but
it's the truth. We don't like to hear
we're sinners. We like to think we're
basically good people, and by the world's standards, we probably are, but it's
not the world's standards we should be worried about.
Anyway,
back to the opening question. What is
sin? As today's verse says, sin is
breaking the "law." What
law? God's moral law as summarized in
the Ten Commandments. You may say,
"that's a standard that nobody can keep perfectly," and you would be
right, but it doesn't lessen the fact that it is God's standard and we have
broken it many times in our lives. The
Greek word that is translated here as "sin" (part of the Bible was
originally written in Greek) basically means "to miss the mark." So a technical definition of sin would be to
miss the mark of God's holy standard.
The other part of the verse, "sin is lawlessness," gives a
further definition of sin. What
"lawlessness" means to convey is the idea of rebellion against
God. Sin is not only failing to meet
God's standard, but also an open rebellion against God by refusing to even try
to meet His standard. Again, you may
say, "I'm not in open rebellion against God." Unfortunately, you are if refuse to
acknowledge the fact that you have missed the mark of God's standard.