Systematic Theology I 2

Fall 2015

Anthropology and Hamartiology — Lesson 3

The Definition, Origin, and Nature of Sin

Discussion: One of my professors divided the class into groups of five and asked us to decide which of the following three individuals had the most freedom:

(1) A person who is not able to sin

(2) A person who is both able to sin and able not to sin

(3) A person who is not able not to sin

Less than five minutes into the discussion, my group had concluded that the person who was both able to sin and able not to sin (person #2) had the most freedom. We correctly eliminated option #3 since a person who cannot help but sin is really in bondage. But the unanimity of the decision and the ease with which it was arrived at caused us to suspect that something was wrong. Why would we be asked to “discuss” such a “simple” question in a graduate seminar?

We had made two serious errors in our deliberation: we did not take into account the biblical meaning of “freedom” and we did not fully appreciate the nature of sin. Like most people, we thought freedom was the ability to do what one wanted to do — whenever, however, and wherever one chose to do it. Consequently, we reasoned that the person who had the most choices automatically had the most freedom. When I wondered out loud whether we really believed that a person who could sin had more freedom than God, who cannot sin, we found out why we needed some time to discuss the question.

Biblically speaking, freedom is the ability to function the way God designed us to function. This is the reason why freedom and truth are so intertwined; we need to know what our purpose and design are before we can exercise the freedom to fulfill our mission on earth. That is also true of things we ourselves make. A meticulously manufactured Ferrari which, I’ve been told, is a marvel on the road, is completely useless in the ocean. A hammer functions at its best when it is pounding nails, and a multi-million dollar piece of equipment made for space travel is useless to us unless we know its purpose. Similarly, we function at our best when our lives measure up to our Designer’s specifications. It is true that God’s purposes can be fulfilled even through people who reject Him, but true freedom is found only in Him.
Misunderstanding the kind of freedom Christ offers leads to a distorted view of the nature of sin. Some find it hard to give a good reason why sin is prohibited by God. Don’t God’s prohibitions limit our freedom? Wouldn’t some acts, at least, be harmlessly enjoyable if God, for some curious reason, did not brand them “sin”? The answer to both questions is no, and the reason is that sin is a serious defect in humanity, not a virtue. It will eventually turn those who relentlessly cling to it into grotesque distortions of God’s original intent for them. Anything that impedes our progress towards our true identity and calling diverts us from our journey to freedom, even when no one else finds out.

That is why it is not quite true to tell people that knowing the truth will set them free. That phrase is part of a very instructive discipleship statement in John 8:31-32 which reads, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Did you notice the conditional nature of the freedom proclaimed here? Only by holding to the teaching of Christ in the context of purposeful discipleship can true freedom be found. James 1:25 tells us that practicing God’s perfect law gives us freedom. Without a clear understanding of our call to freedom in Christ, our thirst for righteousness and passion for the lost will be seriously hindered, for we will secretly think that the requirements of righteousness are really deprivations.

No, I am not advocating works salvation. We are saved by grace through faith alone, but in the process of growth as believers, the light of the gospel must gradually shine on those areas of our lives that hold us back from fulfilling our true calling. When the gospel of Christ begins to chip away at those holdups, we learn what it means to be truly free and why it is prudent to hate sin. John Witherspoon was right. In his sermon on the first Thanksgiving Day called after the war for independence in the U.S., he declared, “A republic once equally poised must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.”(1) Whether for an individual or a sovereign nation, truth and virtue are the rails upon which the wheels of freedom roll.

J.M. Njoroge is a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) As quoted by Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1981), 33.

Man is most free inheaven, where he is morally unable to sin. True freedom isn’t freedomtosin, but freedomfromsin…

“Biblical freedom is the freedom to do what is pleasing to God and this freedom from sin is granted in the redemptive work of Christ.” – John Hendryx, Eleven Reasons to Reject Libertarian Free Will

“Freedom should not lead to corruption. It is given to us by the Word of God here that our freedom is controlled by the fact that it does not allow us to indulge the flesh. It is not freedom to do what you want. It is not freedom to do your own thing.Christian freedom is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin.” – John MacArthur, The True Meaning of Christian Freedom

Augustine: Grace Creates a Truly Free Will

I. The Definition of Sin

In response to the question, “What is sin?” The Baptist Catechism of 1689 answers, “Sin is transgression of the revealed will of God which teaches that we are to act in perfect holiness from a heart of faith to the glory of God.” (Scripture: 1 John 3:4; Romans 5:13; 14:23; 1 Peter 1:16; Matthew 5:48; 1 Corinthians 10:31)

Comment Simplified: Sin is any attitude or desire or action that explicitly breaks a commandment of Scripture, or comes from a heart of unbelief or is not done for the glory of God.

Susanna Wesley, mother of nineteen children — two of them the great Methodist preachers John and Charles Wesley, was asked once by one of her children for the definition of sin. This is what she said:
“Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”

Grudem (pg 490), “Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature.”

Michael Horton: What Ever Happened to Sin?

A. Sin is any transgression of the Law of God

1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Romans 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.

Romans 5:13-14 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18),” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery (Ex 20:14, Deut 5:18),” also said, “Do not murder (Ex 20:13, Deut 5:17).” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

God’s standard is absolute and true for all circumstances … this is a “hard” standard.

Illustration: Rahab’s lie. She had the right motive, but the wrong action.

Sin is always defined in reference to God. Sin has no meaning outside the person of God. Yet man delights in defining sin in reference to himself. (cf. Psalm 51:4)

Question: What other foundations does man try to create ethics of right and wrong? Why are these foundations faulty?

Illustration: Community standards do not carry weight for a Christian. The community may say evil is good. Or the community may say good is evil.

B. Sin is rebellion against God … “a frame of mind.” Sin is both an attitude and an action. Man sins when he makes his own rules to live by rather than submitting in heart attitude to God’s rules.

Illustration: Coveting is sin of heart attitude. Consider the Sermon on the Mount.

James 4:4-6 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says (Prov 3:34), “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

C. Sin is a disregard for God’s glory. Sin is more than doing what is wrong.

Romans 14:23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

It is possible to complete a right action for the wrong motive?

Illustration: Preaching for the approval of men.

James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Four categories of sin:

1. Right motive; wrong action

2. Right action; wrong motive

3. Right motive; no action

4. Wrong motive; wrong action

Question: Are you responsible for sins that you are unaware of? Psalm 19:12, Ezekiel 45:20, sacrifices for “sins of ignorance”: Lev 4:2, 5:15, Num 15:27

Ignorance of the law is not an excuse or a defense.

“What makes sin sin is not first that it hurts people, but that it blasphemes God. This is the ultimate evil and the ultimate outrage in the universe. The glory of God is not honored. The holiness of God is not reverenced. The greatness of God is not admired. The power of God is not praised. The truth of God is not sought. The wisdom of God is not esteemed. The beauty of God is not treasured. The goodness of God is not savored. The faithfulness of God is not trusted. The promises of God are not relied upon. The commandments of God are not obeyed. The justice of God is not respected. The wrath of God is not feared. The grace of God is not cherished. The presence of God is not prized. The person of God is not loved. The infinite, all-glorious Creator of the universe, by whom and for whom all things exist (Rom 11:36) — who holds every person’s life in being at every moment (Acts 17:25) — is disregarded, disbelieved, disobeyed, and dishonored by everybody in the world. That is the ultimate outrage of the universe.” – John Piper

II. The Origin of Sin

Origin of evil begins before the first couple sins with rebellion of Satan. Sin among mankind begins with Adam and Eve.

R.C. Sproul on the origin of sin: The Mystery ofIniquity (article), What Is Evil & Where Did It Come From? (conference message)

The Baptist Catechism asks, “What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?”

Answer: The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit. (Scripture: Gen 3:6, 12-13, 16-17)

Adam willfully sinned

A. Sin is included in the divine plan

(However, we are careful to observe that God does not sin and is not to be blamed for sin. The responsibility and guilt for sin rests solely upon man. James 1:13; Job 34:10)

God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. – Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 3.1- Of God’s Eternal Decree

Banner of Truth article: Did God Foreordain Evil and Evil Doers?

1. Not dualism — dualism insists two powerful opposites in eternal existence. The Bible insists that evil is temporary. It had a beginning, and it will have an utter defeat.

2. God was neither surprised nor defeated by the entrance of sin God ordained for sin to come into the world even though he did not delight in it.

Revelation 13:8 — “slain before the foundation of the world”

“Jesus was not an afterthought to the fall! God planned to magnify the mercy and grace and patience and kindness and goodness and wrath and justice of His Son before Adam ever existed.” – John Piper, sermon excerpt (video 4:26)

3. Why did God include sin in His plan?

a. God’s desire for worship and love

Luke 7:47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

b. The illumination of God’s holiness

c. The display of grace

Ephesians 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

d. The greatest glory would accrue to God through the entrance of sin