Reflection on: Sin

What would a blog from a Christian Bible Teacher be without an entry about Sin at some point? The fact is that as Christians we face sin everyday, either by undergoing temptation or by observing sin in action as we go about our lives. The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is that while the non-Christian will suffer temptation and will observe sin just as often, if not more-so, than the Christian, the non-Christian doesn’t refer to these events as sin. Awareness of sin is something which a person is only fully aware of when it is put in contrast with something; i.e. God. Consider Romans 7:7, “Is the Law sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.” The Law of God (which we call the Old Testament) reveals God’s standards for how to live. Now, of course from this side of the cross, we know that our sin has been paid for and, more than that, Jesus came not to abolish the law, and thus render it obsolete, but to fulfil it and impart to us its benefits (Matthew 5:17, Romans 10:4). This is good!

C.S. Lewis said of Satan and demons that there are two equal errors to be made with regard to them. One is to completely ignore them or to disbelieve in them, while the other is to have an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. I believe that the same errors are frequent with regards to sin. The church sometimes has difficulty in knowing what to do with sin, and so either will focus extensively on sin and sinning and sinners, or else will casually forget that it even exists. In both cases I would be surprised if someone said explicitly say that they held such beliefs, but both of these are unhealthy and, frankly, wrong. Hebrews 12:2 tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. In Jesus there is no sin (1 John 3:5) so to focus on sin is a transgression. On the other hand, if we entirely disregard the fact that we are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) like the rest of humanity, we can become conceited. We can begin to believe that we are righteous by our own merits, which is untrue, almost laughable and would render Jesus’ death on the cross as a terrible accident and nothing more.

Rather, we must hold in tension the dual truths that sin is dead to us (1 Peter 2:24), but that we will face temptations and probably will ‘do sins’, without our identity defaulting back to “I am a sinner” (Romans 8:1). To put it another way, we must simultaneously look to the cross and see Jesus as the suffering servant who confronts our sin, while at the same time looking at the throne and seeing Jesus as the king of Glory, who bestows our identity as sons and daughters. He managed to hold these two truths together, as should we.