BY DR. JOHN SULLIVAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-TREASURER
FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION

The nature of sin defined

Last week we examined the doctrine of sin and its component parts of sin. This week, we will look at the nature of sin.

1. Sin is failure to meet God’s standard or ideal of holiness or perfection (Romans 3:23). Sin is missing the mark or falling short of the ideal (Romans 3:23). All have sinned (instant) and fallen short (continual) (Judges 20:15). Sin is associated with awareness but you can also sin by not being what God wants you to be.

2. Sin is insincerity. We sin by mishandling God’s truth. “Men who by their wickedness hinder (hold back) the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18) There is no more damning condemnation than this. This is what happened in the unpardonable sin. A person becomes so hardened, it is impossible for light to break through.

“This then is the highest treason, to do the right thing for the wrong reason.” (T. S. Elliot: Murder in the Cathedral)

3. Sin is rebellion against God, his law and his will. Sin is not just internal maladjustment. It has an external dimension. We do not become out of sorts with ourselves. We rebel in an open and external way against God’s will and law. The biblical word refers to this as “rebellion.” Literally it means to “break from the path.” We turn and run from the known way. We choose aggressively to move the wrong way.

“Sin is a blow to a loving heart. Sin is hurting love. It is a clinched fist thrust in the face of God.” (James Stewart: Life and Teaching of Christ)

4. Sin is self-injury and abuse. There is a sense in which man sins against himself, but it ultimately becomes sin against God. It is sin against what God wants us to be. In the narrative of the prodigal son, “he came to himself” are very meaningful words. The biblical word iniquity means an inner-twisting or perversion that turns a man falsely on himself.

5. Sin is self-centeredness. From the beginning of man’s sin in the garden, he was not satisfied to be a creature, he wanted to be God. He was not contented to live in the center of the garden; he wanted to control the axis on which the world turned. This is where sin entered into the world. When a man takes on the work of God, he is naturally going to break down. He wanted to be the Lord of his life. It has been said that once after Francis of Assisi preached a sermon, the congregation burst into applause. Following the message Francis was found sobbing, “Woe is me for I preached myself.”

6. Sin is sensuality. There are the sins we think and desire. There is no sin in having a body made of flesh and blood. We were made by the Creator. There does, however, seem to be an affinity between the bodily appetite and fleshly inordinate desires. “Sin is trying to get out of life what God did not put there.” (C. S. Lewis)

Paul makes distinction between fleshly body and fleshly carnality (I Corinthians 3:1-3). Paul is talking about babes in Christ. In these verses he exhorts them not to let themselves become carnal or fleshly to their desires. Verse one has to do with “made of flesh” while verse three means “controlled by flesh.” Too frequently we find ourselves praying as Augustine, “Lord make me pure, but not now.”

7. Sin is disobedience to God. There is a distinction here from rebellion. “Against thee only have I sinned,” said David. He had sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, his army and his family but ultimately it was against God. His ultimate sin was disobedience against God.

8. Sin is unbelief. This is not basically the refusal to accept certain facts, but a refusal to surrender or to commit oneself to what is known. In the story of the Gadarean demonic, they didn’t debate the fact or the event. They did not believe and surrender themselves. It is human nature to want to be in control. In the example of raising Lazarus from the dead, the emotion and pathos is overwhelming. However, what is overlooked is that after this event many people believed while others sought to kill Jesus. They did not dispute the fact of the resurrection of Lazarus but they failed to believe by surrendering to the Christ.

SULLIVAN'S OTHER ARTICLES

You may contact Dr. John Sullivan at
1-800-226-8584, ext. 8102, or by email.