Sin could be seen as the nature of man without relationship with God. Did you know that there is no such thing as the presence of cold? Cold is the inevitable outcome of an absence of heat. So it is with sin and holiness: sin is the absence of holiness. In a sense, sin is not such as bad thing when we consider that it is man’s self-survival mechanism, and therefore, its intentions are good. But in the interests of self-preservation, man’s flesh nature is willing to do the most appalling things at times. More than anything, what makes sin so bad is that it is the absence of God – something we were never created to experience.
This leads me to consider Paul’s words in Galatians 5:17 when Paul says that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. Paraphrased versions of the Bible help us to understand this text by relating to it in a slightly different way:
17 For we naturally love to do evil things that are just the opposite from the things that the Holy Spirit tells us to do; and the good things we want to do when the Spirit has his way with us are just the opposite of our natural desires. These two forces within us are constantly fighting each other to win control over us, and our wishes are never free from their pressures.
Galatians 5:17 TLB
17 For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.
Galatians 5:17 msg
Anything that is not done out of faith – is sin (James 4:17). If our disposition and lifestyle is the result of our thinking – then our emphasis should not be on sin, but on our beliefs (faith) and the eradication of unbelief.
Biblical belief is trust in God through Christ. In fact, you can look-up the original Greek word in a Greek lexicon and find discover this fact for yourself. That same Greek word is interpreted as believe and trust in different places in the New Testament. Biblical faith is to be persuaded of something. When we become persuaded of the good news of the Gospel, we develop faith, and therefore, we trust God. That is why belief in righteousness is so fundamental.
It is this trust in God, knowing that we are accepted by Him, that He loves us and will meet our needs, knowing that Christ has paid the price for sin, taken away the curse and even eradicated sin – that subdues the flesh nature. Whenever we doubt God’s love for us and our right-standing with Him – it sends us into overdrive as we anxiously seek to please Him. I think this is something that is often exploited by those in full-time ministry, either consciously or subconsciously. It seems that there is a conspiracy in the church to get Christians focused on their inadequacies all the time. Didn’t Jesus say something about this in Matthew 7:1-2?
1 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults - unless, of course, you want the same treatment.
2 That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging.
Matthew 7:1-2 msg
I think we can get distracted, frustrated and guilty when our focus of attention is on “sin-management”. This can lead a person to wonder if they are really saved, if they are believing right, perhaps they should read a certain Christian book and so on. As soon as the relationship, the love aspect is taken away from the Christian life, it all becomes about what the believer can do for God, and it never seems to be enough.
It would seem that most Christians hold onto all sorts of expectations; they think to themselves that when they have faith, God will bless them a certain way, when they believe they are right with Him, they will have full control over a certain behavioural pattern. These expectations can line us up for disappointment and make us feel as if we are never good enough for God. For this reason, it is best to get your mind off sin and onto Christ’s righteousness – because He is your righteousness!
2 Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
Colossians 3:2 msg
6 comments:
Hi Paul,
I have read your 2 entries on what sin is. Maybe, you want to give a thought to the obvious - sin is disobedience to God. For example, when we disobey the word of God, we sin. I know you did not like to have fear over you from the little I read, but the obedience that God is looking for is not founded on fear. Jesus said in the gospel according to John, those who love me obey my commands, and those who obey my commands are the ones who love Me. In other words, the more we love God the more we would try not to disobey Him, and therefore not sin.
Of course, the issue of how to get to the state of loving God more and more is a huge topic by itself. Some people can get into the state of loving God a lot, very easily, others have great difficulty even to love God a little.
If you love someone dearly, and you know that she is allergic to certain fragrances, what would you do or would not do?
Now, God whom you love dearly, is first of all, Holiness. Sin violates Him. Now what would you do or would not do?
Meditate on what I said here, maybe it will help you to gain that shift in belief or attitude that you were thinking of.
Thanks for your comments Anthony.
I see what you mean about sin being disobedience to God - this is indeed hard to refute. But if we focus on sin in terms of behaviour, the inevitable outcome is the pursuit of rules and principles. Which does not work.
I'm striving to identify the root of sin, which I believe, is our beliefs. Sin is more a state of being that arises from a sense of insecurity, than what we do or don't do.
In my experience, you can desire to love God, and yet still be overtaken by sinful desires.
Hi Paul,
PART I
1. Christianity is a relationship based faith. Of course, one can call himself a Christian and not want a relationship with God, but such Christianity would be boring, without power, and quite futile.
2. Relationship takes time to build, needs dedication. We have to invest the time and our energy in relationship for it to grow and be sustained.
3. Relationship is a two-way thing. God already loves you and I, but that is only one way. We have to love Him back, in order that, that relationship be meaningful to us. For example, a natural father loves his son, right from birth (if not earlier), and continues to do so over the childhood life of the boy. Yet, that father-son relationship would only be strong for the boy if he so begins to appreciate the father and in turn loves him back. It is only after mutual love being established is the sense of security from that relationship can be more strongly felt by the child.
4. Is there no rules and principles in the earthly father-son love relation? Of course, there are. All of us can remember, over our lives, especially when we are not yet savvy in our understanding and handling of our environment and circumstances of life, our father gave us rules and principles. Our father, who is not perfect and all knowledgeable tried his best, to guide us through lives. How much more, the Heavenly Father wants to guide us through our lives. How does He do it? One principal means is the Bible, or what I call The Manufacturer's Handbook or Manual. Rules or not rules, the Word of God tells us how to live our lives properly. God knows best because He made us. You may own a car; it comes with a manufacturer's handbook or manual, telling you how to properly use that car so that it serves you well. It is the same with us; God's Word tells how to handle ourselves so we may function well.
5. Whether a thing is a rule or not lies in the eyes of the beholder. If the car manual said to put in as fuel, 98 Octane petrol, but you put in a mixture of coca cola and petrol into your car tank, do you think the car will function well. It might run for a while, but after sometime, it will give you trouble. Is putting petrol in, a rule? Yes. Is not putting something else into the petrol tank of your car an implied rule? Yes. Is naked fire or anything that can cause spark a no-no when you are at the petrol station to fill up, a rule? Yes. If you want to think that they are burdensome rules which you do not want to obey, you are not wise. All these so-called rules are there for our own good; if we ignore them, we are doing it at our peril, as well as at the expense of others. So, often it will not only be foolish but selfish.
6. If you want to nurture your soul, the food that you need to feed on is the Word of God. A lot of people want to pick and choose. Palatable food they want to eat, those not, they do not want. This way of handling the Word of God accounts for the many lopsided teachings we find around us.
7. Accept that God is above us, his ways are higher than ours; we can never fully fathom the depth of His wisdom. There are many things we do not understand of the Bible, yet for what had been revealed unto us, we are to embrace those truths faithfully, and when we are faithful, God will be pleased to reveal more unto us. Approach the Word with humility.
Hi Paul,
PART 1 - continuation ...
You must understand Jesus was and is against legalism but not against rules and principles. There is no such thing as no rules in this world or in the kingdom of God. Do not go there, you will be disappointed. Without discipline one will not achieve anything lasting, in this world or in the kingdom of God. What is discipline? Even if you do not like the externally imposed rules, you cannot deny discipline must at least involve self-imposed rules; again rules, you just cannot run away from them. Even if you do not want to embrace the rules of men, you have to embrace the rules of God. If you try to get away from them, you are in fact trying to run away from God, which is contrary to what you want to do, unless I have assumed wrongly. On entry into Christianity, you are already faced with a rule, which I assumed you complied or obeyed, but for many, they just cannot accept that they have to comply or obey that rule. What is that rule? It is that you have to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour. At your conversion or born again experience, I do not know what you confessed or professed. Think back, then ask yourself, what did not commit to do? Are you doing what you said you would do, or at least trying to do, or are you now trying to run away from it?
Obeying God's word does not work for you because you have not received the correct understanding. It also probably did not work for you because you have not embraced long-suffering. Long-suffering is a fruit of the Spirit which we need to grow in, and you can grow in it if you do not want to embrace it.
Hi Paul
PART 2
------
Concerning the root of sin, you may not have been exposed to the right teaching.
1. Root of sin, the furthest back that we can traced it, from Scripture is that Sin or Iniquity became found in Lucifer, the once most beautiful Chief Angel. When Sin or Iniquity became found in Lucifer, he became the ugly Satan, we know him to be. Somewhere in your article, you mentioned that sin is alive or sort of a living thing, I do not know how you arrive at that, but indeed Sin or Iniquity is a thing or more correctly a thing that is alive.
2. Satan successfully put the seed of Sin or Iniquity into man when he managed to deceive Adam and Eve in the Fall of Man.
3. Sin or Iniquity, (with cap) is the root of sin. My understanding from Scripture is that Sin or Iniquity is not destroyed by Jesus' death and resurrection, just like Satan was also not yet destroyed.
4. Sin or Iniquity, I believe, from the narrations of the Apostle Paul, lives in the flesh of man. Now, with this, you should be able to better understand what the Apostle Paul was talking about concerning the tug of war between doing what is right and what is wrong.
5. Accordingly, I believe that Sin or Iniquity in a Christian is destroyed only when he dies (physical death) or when Satan is destroyed (Satan will be destroyed at End Time), whichever is earlier.
6. Until then, Sin or Iniquity is still in us, believers or Christians, just like Sin (the Father Sin) is still alive in Satan. BUT NOTE THAT THE WORK OF CROSS BY JESUS CHRIST HAS RESCINDED THE AUTHORITY THAT SIN HAS OVER A BELIEVER. You are to refuse to listen to it, and you can refuse to listen to it; that was what the Apostle Paul was trying to say in Scripture.
7. Insecurity or fear is just what Sin uses, along with others, like pride, and pleasure with regard, to achieve its aim, and that aim is to steal, kill and ultimately destroy man.
8. Right beliefs of course is all important, because faith is founded on right beliefs. But before we can have right beliefs, we must have knowledge and understanding. God ever said that His people died for the lack of knowledge. But please do not go away saying that Anthony Chia said we need to have all sort of knowledge. No, and some people like to include all sort of knowledge, but that is not correct. You only need to have the relevant knowledge. Stick to the relevant knowledge and understanding, otherwise, you will get an overload, and that is equally bad.
9. I always tell people to look to God, and not to men, because men are fallible, they might fail you at some point, but God is infallible. Security can be found in many things and many places, but none is infallible except security in God. So seek first the security in God, and then you will be able to accept, and also find security in fallible men.
10. Paul, desire to love and love (actually loving) are not the same. Sinful desires come from the instigation of Sin or some preferred to say, carnal flesh. As Paul had exhorted us to not to heed Sin or carnal flesh, I add that if you allow yourself to be overtaken by sinful desires, you sin, and when you sin, firstly, you profane the name of Jesus, secondly, it is not good for you (accept it), thirdly, it pains God who loves you, and whom you claim you love (how ironical, we tried not to do this to our loved ones, but we do it to God).
Hi Paul
PART 2 - continuation ....
I end with Hebrews 12:1-5, and my commentary thereof, in square [] brackets:
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. [The author exhorted us to throw off everything that hinders us in our walk with the Lord. He said since we have such a great cloud of witnesses {narrated in previous chapter}, who had gone before us, we should throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. He said we should run with perseverance the race marked out for us. We should fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter or finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him, Jesus, who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart.] 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. [Addressing the believers’ struggle against sin, the author said that they had not yet resisted to the point of shedding their blood.] 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."[He said they had forgotten the word of encouragement in Prov 3:11-12, that they were sons of God, and as sons, they were not to make light of the Lord’s discipline, not to lose heart when He rebuked them, because the Lord disciplined those He loved, and punished everyone He accepted as son.]
Post a Comment