This is an article written by a friend back when we began the Confident Christianity blog together in 2006. I have updated this article with my response as of 2020.

On any given day, you can open up the newspaper to find conflict, shootings, theft, adultery and moral decline. But, what is at the heart of moral decline? What is it that causes others to kill, cheat on their taxes and deceive people? It is sin, oops! If anyone speaks of sin or calls someone a “sinner it is almost like screaming out a profanity or obscenity at a very formal, dignified, genteel meeting, or even in church.”[1] Yet, we are all sinners resulting from the fall of Adam and Eve. So, what is sin according to the Bible and what causes someone to sin?

The nature of sin is “any evil action or evil motive that is in opposition to God”.[2] Sin is displacing God from His rightful place. Scripture gives several descriptions of sin:

¨ Missing the mark – Pro. 19:2
¨ Rebellion – Deut. 31:27
¨ Transgression – Nub. 14:41-42
¨ Iniquity – Lev. 26:40
¨ Treachery – Pro. 13:15
¨ Abomination – Deut. 22:5

“The essential nature of sin is giving the allegiance that we owe God, to someone or something else.”[3]

Knowing that sin is against God, what is it that causes a person to sin? James wrote, “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).

God has given us natural desires such as hunger in order that we would not starve, but when our own desires go beyond His desires then we are in gluttony and missing the mark He had intended for us. He has given us natural desires, such as:

¨ The desire to obtain things, but when our desires are at the cost of exploitation or hurting others, then the pursuit is coveting.
¨ God has given us the desire to do things, but when we boast in our own pride instead of thanking Him for the gift, then the pursuit is putting ourselves above God.
¨ God has give us the desire to enjoy marriage, but physical relations outside of marriage is pursuing adultery.

It is when we miss the mark, rebel and transgress God’s laws that we sin. Because of our sin we deserve death. However, “God demonstrated His love that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8), making restitution for our sin to all who believe. It is only when our society turns away from sin and turns to repentance to God that people will begin to walk in integrity, live with morals and love one another.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” Psalm 1

Deanna

My response
I think our culture today has a near immediate and negatively visceral reaction to the ideas of both “sin” and “rebelling against God.” Let me treat the later one first. Our general cultural understanding of “rebellion” seems to be that of an attitude that is desirable for the purpose of achieving an unique individual identity. Rebellion seems to equal refusal to be something other than authentic. However, I would argue that this idea is a reversal of truth.

Rebellion, as understood in the biblical sense towards God, leads towards inauthenticity and a false knowledge of the self. God, being the omniscient Creator of all things, is the one who knows individuals as they truly are. He’s the only one who can be said to hold this knowledge perfectly. He has created each person with a unique identity. Becoming authentically oneself would actually relate to having a genuine relationship with the being who knows us and guides us perfectly towards becoming who He made us to be. This guidance towards authenticity cannot fully come from imperfect beings who often serve selfish purposes and desires in guiding others. There is always a catch with humans, but God has nothing to gain from us. His love is completely and uniquely unconditional. Therefore, rebellion against God is to do harm to oneself. Deanna focused more on the right of God, as Creator, to be recognized and worshiped for who He is. While I don’t disagree, one can become a bit pharisaical if not cautious with view (such as in failing to combine this right of God with an understanding of his perfect mercy and grace). A more robust understanding of our relationship to the Creator can help us understand how much damage we do to ourselves when we rebel against the One who knows us and loves us as we truly are.

Sin, as Deanna noted, has seemingly become a vulgar utterance to many people. Conversely, I have understood “sin” to mean that which goes against the perfectly omniscient and benevolent God’s design for the universe. There’s a moral quality to how God intended for us to interact with the creation and with Him: we were meant for good and to do good. When we choose to do what is not good, what is morally reverse of what God intended, there’s a biblical word to describe those attitudes, thoughts, and actions. That word is “sin.” I have sometimes equated sin with the word “evil,” because people don’t seem to have that immediate visceral reaction to the term “evil.” Perhaps, part of the problem lies in how people in the church have presented their teachings on “sin,” mixed with their own twisted and selfish pursuits causing pain and suffering in others. Rather, a teaching on sin should show (and model) how the liberation of Christ’s salvation frees us from being slaves to doing that which is morally evil; and can help us individually flourish as human beings.

[1] Erikson, Millard J., Christian Theology, Baker Academics, Grand Rapids, MI, 1998, pg. 582.
[2] Ibid
[3] Lewing, Jason, Systematic Theology, The Doctrine of Sin.