What is Sin, Anyway?

Almost a decade ago now, my husband and I were in a Bible study in which a woman pronounced,

I do not take ownership of every thought that I have.  Some sinful thoughts arise, but I’m not responsible for their arising.” 

This has provoked great discussion between my husband and myself for years. 

To what extent am I responsible for thoughts that arise in my own mind?

A few years back, I was in the woods behind our house getting ready to paint some buckthorn stumps with Triclopyr (which is slightly better than Round-Up and the only way of killing buckthorn).  Anyway, as I poured the concentrate into an old paint tray, I had a thought (actually I heard a voice, but don’t leave me now in the midst of an interesting story just because I heard a voice).  It said, “Drink that.”  I stopped and laughed out loud (which is what you would do if you heard a voice saying that too) because drinking that chemical could kill me.  Where did that thought (OK, voice) come from?

The truth is it doesn’t matter whether it was from me or Satan or Darth Vader or the Dark Side.  What matters is what I decided to do with that thought. 

Temptation to do things isn’t sin. 

Acting on temptations and doing what is contrary to God’s will is sin.  Killing myself would entail using the Image of God for something God wouldn’t do: destroy me.  Temptations happen to the best of us, Jesus included.

James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

So, passages like the one from today’s Lenten Devotional (Day 4, Romans  1:18-32)  tell us much:  Sin arises when we desire to use the Image of God for what God Himself would not do. 

It’s hard for us to look at the Father this way because the Father is spirit, but let’s consider Jesus.

• He would not worship other gods. 
• He would not suppress the truth. 
• He would not ignore what He has clearly seen. 
• He would not make excuses because He wouldn’t do what is wrong to begin with. 
• He would not deny God’s eternal power or His divine nature. 
• He would not refuse to glorify or be thankful to the Father. 
• He would not engage in foolish or dark thoughts. 
• He would not use His Image to be sexually impure, to degrade His body, or exchange the truth of God for a lie.
• He would not worship or serve created things.

The litany of sins in Romans 1:18-32 goes into homosexuality, indecency, crafting versions of lifestyles that aren’t what God designed.  The list is like a fruit of an unholy spirit: wickedness, evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of new ways of doing evil; disobedient to their parents;  senseless, faithless, heartless, and ruthless.

Let’s face it: it looks much like a description of the last days from 2 Timothy 3:1-9

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God– having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth– men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.”

Sadly, redefining things–so popular in our culture–is part of what is described here.  Always learning, but never able to acknowledge the truth.  It’s not progress, enlightened culture, or modern.  The truth is that God decides what is sin, not man.  What all of these things have in common is this:  using the Image of God for something that God Himself would not do.

So if a sin is between two consenting adults or forced on one person by another, it remains a problem of using the Image of God for something God Himself would not do.

One last word about sin in general: culpability.  (If you’re still here to get the bottom line on pages 3 and 4).  Accountability for our sins is directly related to how many people we lead astray or damage. (i.e. How many “Images” as it were have I harmed?)  It’s why teachers are held more accountable.  Activists are held more accountable.  Leaders are held more accountable.  Politicians are held more accountable.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1)

It’s an admonition I take very seriously.  For every person I have the hope of blessing with the truth, there is a person I can harm if I veer from it.  The truth sometimes hurts–as Jesus could tell you–but it’s never an excuse to suppress the truth or exchange it for a lie: both listed in Romans 1:18-25.

What is sin?  It’s using the Image of God for something that God Himself wouldn’t do with His Image.

Are some sins more “deadly” than others? Let’s find out on the last page.

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