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Things to know about Jesus
Word #48 – Sin
The refusal or failure to live as God requires
“Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)
Suppose we created a world where everyone had access to a top-notch education…and a good job…and first-class healthcare. And suppose we found cures for all our worst diseases and also managed to solve the hunger, pollution, and clean water crises. And imagine if nuclear proliferation, terrorism, and weather weirdness (droughts, rising temperatures, floods, etc.) came to a screeching halt.
Question: At the mall, would you leave your valuables unattended on a table in the food court, while you went to the restroom?
Sin is such a pervasive and grim reality that the writers of the New Testament used multiple Greek words, with different nuances, to discuss it. The most common word translated sin-used by Jesus in the verse above-means “to miss the target.” The word refers to all the ways we fail to be and do what God created us to be and do.
Have you always been the absolute best parent or sibling? Are you a flawless friend-perfectly loyal and forgiving and patient, one hundred percent of the time? Were there any moments yesterday in which you could have been kinder or more loving or more generous?
Sin, simply put, is falling short of God’s standard of perfect holiness in thought, word, deed, and character. And we’re all guilty.
Another New Testament word for sin (sometimes translated transgress) means “to deliberately step across.” It refers to intentionally crossing the line between right and wrong. When being quizzed by your spouse, for example, you opt to stop telling the truth and you move into say-anything-in-order-to-save-my-skin mode.
Another word for sin means “to slip across.” This isn’t premeditated, but it’s still wrong and potentially just as damaging. you get angry, let’s say, and blurt out some things best left unsaid. You weren’t thinking. you weren’t careful. You didn’t plan any of that but you’re guilty nonetheless.
Still another word conveys the idea of lawlessness. This is overt rebelliousness, living like there are no rules, or like the rules don’t apply to yours truly. This is a defiant rejection of God’s authority.
The awful news that precedes the gospel’s really good news is that we’re each guilty of sin (Romans 3:23). Not only that, but as Jesus noted, we’re slaves to sin. On our own, we can’t stop. When it comes to falling short, crossing lines, slipping up, and rebelling, we’re experts. It’s that-sin-that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) and lands us on a kind of spiritual death row (Romans 6:23).
The good news is that Jesus came to rescue us (remember, His very name means “the Lord saves”-see Matthew 1:21). By dying the death we deserved (and walking out of the grave), He now lives to offer full pardon to sinners, endless new life to all who will put their trust in Him.
We humans have it within us to fix some of our problems. But only Jesus is the remedy for sin.
Study Question
How would you describe the concept of sin to a child? To an agnostic family member, friend, or coworker?
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