Sin isn't what you think it is. (The definition of sin)

Have you ever opened up your Bible, turned to the index, or performed an Internet search just so you can know if X, Y, or Z, is really a sin?

 

I've done it more than once. Though I don't do it as much as I used to.

 

Because I've learned that I usually end up discovering exactly what I wanted to find when I started my search.

 

It usually means getting fast and loose with context. We make a bigger deal about the historical context than is relevant to the passage at hand, or we dismiss the context entirely so we can slap that text onto what we're hoping to justify/condemn/whatever.

 

Then (here's the real rub) a lot of people are so convinced that the Holy Spirit is showing them that their interpretation is "right" that there's no convincing them otherwise. Even if the Holy Spirit supposedly "told" someone else the exact opposite. When that happens, we're either mistaking our own thoughts/will for the Spirit (which is a kind of self-idolatry, really) or the Spirit is playing us against each other... but since that's not the way God works (since he doesn't lie) I think it's the former, not the latter.

 

Most of us operate with a definition of "sin" that sees it as a list of things that God really doesn't like. 

 

We don't always think about why God might warn against certain behaviors in Scripture. We just see that it's condemned. And we get this idea that sin is so offensive to God that if we disobey in the slightest way we've totally ruptured the relationship.

 

Yeah, yeah, I know... we can get into how "sin" fractures our relationship with God and I know there are verses you can quote to make that point. But we have to understand (before we really get that) what sin really is.

 

Because it's not arbitrary. It's not about things God doesn't like, or finds distasteful.

 

Usually when we approach the Bible in order to define what is or isn't a sin we totally miss the point... 

 

Maybe you've heard about "original sin," the notion that we've inherited some kind of "sin disease" from Adam and Eve that explains why we keep falling short.

 

This idea isn't wrong, but how the idea is explained often misses the point...

 

... it's not about us being punished for the mistakes of humans in the past.

 

Have you ever wondered why God held Cain accountable for "murder" when the command "thou shalt not murder" didn't come until centuries later when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments?

 

Cain knew what was wrong because God's law wasn't ever about lists or rules. It was a part of the blueprint of creation. The "law" is how things function in the world God made. Think of it like an instruction manual for creation itself... do this and things won't go well for you... do that and life will yield you blessings...

 

In other words, Cain knew in his heart that killing Abel was wrong because the law of creation was already written in human hearts. Revealed law (specific commandments) are really an extension of natural law. It's meant to clarify what (in our blindness) we often ignore from conscience... from the law of God that we know deep-down is true. 

 

It's why the Ten Commandments aren't especially controversial. Outside of the first few, virtually every culture everywhere agrees with their wisdom and morality. Even people who've never heard of the God of the Bible, people in distant tribes, tend to have laws that forbid theft, murder, and adultery, for instance.

 

All of this comes back to the "image of God" in creation. What is the image of God? 

 

There are a lot of theories out there that miss the point. It's not about having "reason" or a "will" or any kind of quality like that...

 

Here's a general rule to follow when you encounter something like this in the Bible that isn't readily obvious. Scripture interprets Scripture. 

 

Thankfully when the phrase "Image of God" occurs in the Bible in Genesis 1:26 we only have 25 verses before that to examine to determine what it means in context.

 

An "image" implies a "likeness" (as the text says) to God. It means that in some way humans are like God. But it also implies a difference. We aren't identical to God. We are, however, in some way extensions of His character. 

 

If we're going to allow scripture to interpret scripture, the question we have to ask if we want to know what the image of God is, is what have we learned about God so far?

 

What has the text shown us in the verses before this one that offers a context that can illuminate what this "image" thing is really all about.

 

What do we know about God at this point? It's pretty simple, really. All we've really seen God do before God makes man is that he made everything else. 

 

Why did God create? You might say it's an extension of his nature. God is love. We learn that later in the Bible, but it's implicit in the first few verses. A God who is love requires something/someone to love. God created because it's his nature to give of himself, to offer himself, to something else. It's his nature to devote Himself to others.

 

Selfless Love is the primary attribute of God first demonstrated in creation. 

 

It's also what the image of God in human beings is meant to reflect... we are to be extensions of God's selfless love in the world that He made.

 

So when God gives man and woman dominion he means us to exercise that dominion as representatives of the dominus (LORD). 

 

Dominion doesn't mean "lording over" the creation, as if we are it's oppressive masters. It means we are to care for the world, and to love others, as mirrors of God's heart. One of my seminary professors used to describe this truth as "lording under" creation. We're called to be servants and representatives of God in the world, as bearers of his Image in creation.

 

This is the foundation for understanding the Biblical idea of "sin."

 

But first and foremost, it's also the basic foundation for the Biblical notion of righteousness or virtue.

 

God created us to experience a relationship with Him through our selfless relationship with others. That's why when we get to Genesis 2 we see the importance of the creation of woman.

 

"It's not good that man should be alone..." (Gen. 2:18).

 

It's the first time that God pronounces something "not good." Why is that?

 

It's not just because we men are bad at folding our own laundry (but there is that).

 

It's because man cannot properly participate in the reciprocation of God's love if man doesn't also have someone to love selflessly in turn. 

 

God gives himself to us... freely... without demand or qualification. To understand His love for us, we have to be in relationship with others. We have to know what it's like to give of ourselves freely to another... and to receive their love when they give of themselves freely to us in turn.

 

God's design is love. It's total selflessness. It's an existence where we receive everything as a blessing and demand nothing in return.

 

But to understand "sin" we have to look at the story of the two trees in the Garden...

 

And since this is getting a little wordy... I'll write more about that tomorrow.

 

In His Peace,

Judah

 

Know anyone else who might enjoy these daily newsletters/meditations? Share this link with them!!!