Sin - Intro and Definition

In the next few posts we are going to look into the issue of sin and the sinfulness of man as a contrast to the holiness of God.

First of all what is sin?
1. Sin is breaking the moral law of God, lawlessness in our actions, thoughts, attitudes, and nature.
1 john 3:4
"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness."
Sin can be actions, stealing, lying, murder (Ex 20). Sin can be thoughts, the desire to sin, premeditated sin, lust (Mt 5:28). Sin can be attitudes, hatred, jealousy, selfishness (Gal5:20). Sin is in our nature (Eph 2:3), this last point will be our focus in the next few posts.
Anything that we do, think, will, pursue that breaks the moral law of God is sin.

2. Sin is faithlessness.
Rm 14:23b
"... everything that does not come from faith is sin"
Heb 11:6a
"And without faith it is impossible to please God"

With these two working definitions of sin let's look at what they imply and how that match up to our view of sin today
What do these two definitions imply?

1. Sin is pervasive, coming from our nature, affecting all areas of our lives.
We were objects of wrath by nature and by that very nature we are corrupted by sin and sin through our thoughts and actions. We cannot escape sin apart from the grace of God (Rm 6:17-18)

2. Sin is primarily an offense towards God not man.
Sin is the breaking of GOD's law and it is faithlessness towards GOD. Sin offend God first and foremost. The first four commandments in the 10 Commandments are towards God (Ex. 20). Since God is holy, every sin is appalling and offensive to Him. Sin is a serious matter.

3. Everything that a non-Christian does is sin no matter how "good" it is.
Non-Christians does not have faith in God. Therefore no matter what he or she does it is sin. No matter how nice/philanthropic/loving/kind/giving etc. etc. he or she is, whatever the non-christian does is sin. Likewise, whatever the christian does without faith is sin. Anything that does not come from a reliance on God so that God may be glorified is sin. Apart from faith our "good deeds" are just for the praise of men and our own glory no matter how humble we seem.

What do these implications mean to us as Christians?
1 We must recognize the pervasiveness of sin in our lives and be on guard. If the Spirit is at work in us we should be more aware of and more disgusted by our sins (Gal 5:16-17).
2. We must take serious the issue of sin because it is not only men that we sin against but God. This applies especially with private sins. Private sins are sins that people don't know about and we keep doing them because we don't "get caught". How foolish for us to think that God does not see. We should fear the judgment of God far more than the judgment of men.
3. Live by faith and for the glory of God in all we do. Pursue the lost, no matter how good and righteous they seem, they are in sin and are under the control of sin by nature. Only the blood of Christ can bring salvation.

I hope this intro to sin helps us to have a proper orientation on this topic as we go deeper in the next few posts.