Sin

I knew that someday I would need to write about this topic, it is one that I have been avoiding because it is not a very pleasant topic.  First of all what is sin?  Let’s define it:

Strong’s concordance states that the Greek word for sin is ἁμαρτία or hä-mär-tē'-ä .

   Ø  to be without a share in

   Ø  to miss the mark

   Ø  to err, be mistaken

   Ø  to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor, 
                 to do or go wrong

   Ø  to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin

When once asked, ‘What is the definition of sin?’ Billy Graham gave the following answer:

"A sin is any thought or action that falls short of God’s will. God is perfect, and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin".

When I was in Bible School I learned that the word sin (or sinner) has it root in the Old English which used this as a term in reference to archery.  If an arrow was shot at a target and missed, or if an archer failed to hit the target in a specific area that was aimed for, the archer was called a sinner.  The word has been adapted to Christianity as being one who misses the mark of God’s high calling.

Romans 14:22-23 (NKJV)

²² Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. ²³ But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.

I would like to explore the topic of sin further, because sin is not just what we do or don’t do, sin goes much deeper because sin is a condition of the soul which has affected us all equally. There is a sin nature which has been passed down to us from the first man on the earth—Adam.  The sin nature is that part in man that makes him resistant or rebellious against obeying God. When we speak of the sin nature, we refer to the fact that we have a natural inclination to sin; given the choice to do God’s will or our own, we will naturally choose our own way.

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV)

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For 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. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

In talking about the sin nature, there is also the doctrine of total depravity, it is a phrase or name that is used to summarize what the Bible teaches about the spiritual condition of fallen man. Because the name “total depravity” can cause people to have wrong ideas about what is meant, some people prefer to use terms like “total inability,” “righteous incapability,” “radical corruption” or even “moral inability.” Yet what is important is not the name assigned to the doctrine but how accurately the doctrine summarizes what the Bible teaches about the spiritual condition of fallen man. No matter which name you use to refer to “total depravity,” the fact remains that when properly understood it is an accurate description of what the Bible does teach on this important subject.

The first liars – Louis le Brocquy’s Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Genesis 3:6 (NKJV)

⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

While often misunderstood, the doctrine of total depravity is an acknowledgement that the Bible teaches that as a result of the fall of man every part of man—his mind, will, emotions and flesh—have been corrupted by sin. In other words, sin affects all areas of our being including who we are and what we do. It penetrates to the very core of our being so that everything is tainted by sin.

Isaiah 64:6 (NKJV)

⁶ But we are all like an unclean thing,

And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;

We all fade as a leaf,

And our iniquities, like the wind,

Have taken us away.

It acknowledges that the Bible teaches that we sin because we are sinners by nature. Or, as Jesus says:

Matthew 7:17-18 (NKJV)

¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

The total depravity of man is seen throughout the Bible. Man’s heart is “deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). The Bible also teaches us that man is born dead in transgression and sin (Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3, Ephesians 2:1-5). The Bible teaches that because unregenerate man is “dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:5), he is held captive by a love for sin (John 3:19; John 8:34) so that he will not seek God (Romans 3:10-11) because he loves the darkness (John 3:19) and does not understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Therefore, men suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18) and continue to willfully live in sin. Because they are totally depraved, this sinful lifestyle seems right to men (Proverbs 14:12) so they reject the gospel of Christ as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18) and their mind is “hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is unable to do so” (Romans 8:7).

Romans 3:9-18 (NKJV)

⁹ What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

¹⁰ As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one;

¹¹ There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

¹² They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one.”

¹³ “Their throat is an open tomb;

With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;

“The poison of asps is under their lips”;

¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;

¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their ways;

¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known.”

¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The Apostle Paul summarizes here the total depravity of man. He begins this passage by saying that “both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” Simply put, this means that man is under the control of sin or is controlled by his sin nature (his natural tendency to sin). The fact that unregenerate people are controlled by their selfish, sinful tendencies should not come as a surprise to any parent. What parent has to teach his or her child to be selfish, to covet what someone else has or to lie? Those actions come naturally from the child’s sin nature. Instead, the parent must devote much time to teaching the child the importance of telling the truth, of sharing instead of being selfish, of obeying instead of rebelling, etc.

Then in the rest of the above passage Paul quotes extensively from the Old Testament in explaining how sinful man really is. For example, we find that:

1—no one is without sin,

2—no one seeks after God,

3—there is no one who is good,

4—their speech is corrupted by sin,

5—their actions are corrupted by sin, and

6—above all, they have no fear of God.

So, when one considers even these few verses, it becomes abundantly clear the Bible does indeed teach that fallen man is “totally depraved,” because sin affects all of him including his mind, will and emotions.

Romans 3:12 (NKJV)

¹² They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Total depravity does not mean that man is as wicked or sinful as he could be, nor does it mean that man is without a conscience or any sense of right or wrong. Neither does it mean that man does not or cannot do things that seem to be good when viewed from a human perspective or measured against a human standard. It does not even mean that man cannot do things that seem to conform outwardly to the law of God. What the Bible does teach and what total depravity does recognize is that even the “good” things man does are tainted by sin because they are not done for the glory of God and out of faith in Him (Romans 14:23; Hebrews 11:6). While man looks upon the outward acts and judges them to be good, God looks upon not only the outward acts but also the inward motives that lie behind them, and because they proceed from a heart that is in rebellion against Him and they are not done for His glory, even these good deeds are like “filthy rags” in His sight. In other words, fallen man’s good deeds are motivated not by a desire to please God but by our own self-interest and are thus corrupted to the point where God declares that there is “no one who does good, no not one!”

Since Scripture is very clear that all of mankind is affected by sin and so much so that “no one seeks after God,” then how can anyone possibly become a Christian? The answer is that God must overcome man’s depravity in such a way that man is able to recognize his spiritual state and his hopeless condition apart from the grace of God. Man’s spiritually blind eyes must be opened and the bondage of sin that renders him hopelessly enslaved must be broken so that he can respond in faith to the gospel message and the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Some Christians believe that God accomplishes this through some type of universal grace whereby God brings man to a condition where he has the ability to choose or reject Him. Others believe that for a man who is “dead in trespasses and sins” to be able to understand and respond to the gospel in faith, he must first be born again or regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

John 3:3 (NKJV)

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

It is only after God infuses spiritual life into a dead sinner that he can “see the kingdom of God.” Those that hold this view see this as being a sovereign act of God, whereby men are born again.

John 1:12-13 (NKJV)

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 However, even when the doctrine of total depravity is properly understood, many people will reject the doctrine, but that fact should not surprise us, since the world generally thinks of man as being basically good. Therefore, the idea that man by nature is a depraved sinner runs contrary to most modern religious, psychological and philosophical views of the basic nature of man. But the fact is that the Bible does teach the depravity of the human heart, and the root cause of man’s problem is not the environment he is raised in but his wicked and selfish heart. Properly understood, the doctrine of total depravity will destroy the hopes of those who place their faith in any type of works-based system of salvation and will recognize that God’s sovereign grace is man’s only hope. While the doctrine of total depravity destroys man’s self-righteousness and any misconceptions about man’s ability to be saved through his own free will, it leaves one asking the same question the disciples asked of Jesus:

Matthew 19:25-26 (NKJV)

²⁵ When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”

²⁶ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

To end this topic on a positive note, God loves mankind with a love beyond description.  God demonstrated this love to us by sending His Son Jesus to die in our place that we may become free from the effects of sin, and that we might have God’s favor by receiving Jesus’ sacrifice as our own.  That is the Gospel message.

May you receive that message of hope, and may it fill your entire being with life and a desire to grow in your personal relationship with Jesus.

We have a new identity in Christ Jesus, we are no longer sinners, but adopted as Sons and Daughters of the King.

God is good all the time—all the time God is good!

Stephen Barnett

There is a Fountain

Words and Music by:

William Cowper and Lowell Mason

Arranged by: Nicol Sponberg, Todd Smith, & Allen Hall

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel's veins

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains

Lose all their guilty stains

Lose all their guilty stains

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stains

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day

And there may I, though vile as he

Wash all my sins away

Away

Away

Wash all my sins away

E'er since by faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply

Redeeming love has been my theme

And shall be till I die

And shall be till I die

And shall be till I die

Redeeming love has been my theme

And shall be till I die

Wash all my sins away

Wash all my sins away

Redeeming love has been my theme

And shall be till I die

  

Arr. © Copyright 1995 Belwin-Mills Publishing corp.

The music above is copyrighted by the respective artists and is presented here for educational purposes only and not for profit.

Thank you to www.gotquestions.org for the article on Total Depravity which inspired and aided in this blog post.