Sin is Not Our Master
Most Christians (saints) know sin is a problem for humanity. When Eve and Adam first disobeyed God, they brought death to people and a curse on the rest of creation (Genesis 3). Sometime later, God spoke to their son about sin:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:6-7, NASB)
Sadly, Cain did not master it, and shortly after, he murdered his brother. Sin had mastered him. But Cain is not alone; sin has mastered every human being that has ever lived – except one. The purpose of this article is not to provide a theological treatise on sin; that would take a lot of words and, frankly, months or years of study. For example, at least fifty Hebrew terms are used in reference to sin in the Old Testament, with one word and its related root words being used more than 600 times.[1] So, my hope and prayer are to address a few practical ideas about sin and what we can do about it. This article is written to the saints, discussing how the reality and impact of sin are different from those affecting the world.
All wrongdoing is sin (1 John 5), and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3). All sins are offenses committed by people against God and sometimes against others. But there is more to it than just making bad choices. As we saw above in God’s interaction with Cain, sin’s desire is for us. The New Testament presents sin similarly. The apostle Paul tells us not to let sin “exercise dominion” in our bodies (Romans 6:12). He reminds us that we were once slaves to sin, but now, as saints, we are slaves of righteousness and have become obedient from the heart (Romans 6:17-18). Somehow, sin is related both to behavior and to the power of evil in the world.
In Biblical Theology, there is a mechanism of biblical interpretation called “typology.” This mechanism regards how certain events, statements, or people in the Old Testament are “types” pre-figuring corresponding types or anti-types in the New Testament. For example, the apostle Paul refers to Adam as “a type of Him who was to come” (Romans 5:14, NASB). Perhaps we can look at some aspects of sin typologically.
Under the law given through Moses, two aspects of sin are worth discussion, unintentional and high-handed. Unintentional likely has a broader meaning than the English translation provides. Unintentional sins sometimes were done unawares, so that when a person or the community were made aware of the sin, they were required to seek atonement and to make restitution (Leviticus 4-5, Numbers 15). However, it seems that unintentional sins could sometimes be done knowingly (Leviticus 6:1-7). When a person stole or extorted from someone else, it is inconceivable that this was done unawares. Perhaps unintentional means more that it was done without thinking it through (Leviticus 5:4) or through weakness. One passage uses the words “go astray” (Numbers 15:28) in relation to unintentional sin. Either way, unawares or with forethought, the person who committed these sins was guilty but could be forgiven. Unintentional sins required animal sacrifices that substituted for the punishment of the sinner. These types of sin also required restitution if they affected another person. High-handed sins were different.
High-handed sins were characterized by defiance, blaspheming the Lord, despising the word of the Lord, and breaking His commandment. These sins could not be atoned by sacrifice. They required the punishment of the offender. The penalty was that the offender must be cut off from the community, which often meant they were put to death. An example of a high-handed sin is given in Numbers 15:30-36, where a man was gathering wood on the Sabbath day, and God instructed the community to put him to death.
How do unintentional and high-handed sins relate to the New Covenant, specifically concerning the saints? I have not seen any direct correlations to these types of sin, but there are passages that lend credence to viewing unintentional and high-handed sins typologically. For example, the apostle John encouraged the saints by saying:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2, NRSV, bold added for emphasis)
If we sin, Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. We may unintentionally sin, that is, we may go astray, thoughtlessly disobey God, or even be unaware of sins. However, we do not need to offer animal sacrifices to God to receive forgiveness. Jesus offered himself for sin once for all time (Hebrews 9-10). Jesus is the “anti-type” of the animal sacrifices under the Old Covenant. So, if we sin, we are forgiven. We may need to make restitution if our sin hurts another person. Still, if we are in Christ, there is nothing additional we must do to be forgiven by God.
Regarding high-handed sin. If someone in the church is persistent in sin, i.e., they are defiant and refuse to repent, they may be cut-off from the community. This is evident from the way the apostle Paul addresses a person’s sin in 1 Corinthians 5. This person was not put to death but was to be disassociated by the church.
Perhaps another example of high-handed sin is found in the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). I won’t recite the entire story, but Ananias and his wife Sapphira died after lying about a gift they were presenting to the church. This may seem like an unintentional sin, but the apostle Peter characterized it as a “lie to the Holy Spirit” and “putting the Spirit of the Lord to the test.” This husband and wife were not stoned to death by the church but died from some act of God. It is not clear if Ananias and Sapphira were saints, but the statement by Peter that Satan filled their hearts to lie (Acts 5:3) may indicate that they were not born again. Either way, they were part of the community, and their sin resulted in their immediate physical death.
The apostle John also stated there is a sin that leads to death (1 John 5). It seems that this type of sin is refusing God’s gift of grace through the sacrificial death of Jesus (Hebrews 10:26-31). This is the second death spoken of in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2, 20, and 21). So, under the New Covenant the only high-handed sin leading to the second death is the refusal to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. By definition, unforgiveness is only toward unbelievers. Therefore, the saints will not experience the second death because of their sin.
So, while looking at the unintentional and high-handed sins of Leviticus and Numbers may help understand sin under the New Covenant, it is apparent that there are differences to consider. It is evident that if we sin, we are forgiven. Nevertheless, we must not take our forgiveness for granted. The apostle Paul asks the question, “What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Romans 6:15, NRSV).
Yes, we can still sin, but the remedy is not the sacrificial system under the law. Also, our sin is not because we are sinners; it is because we are free. We are free to make choices. We have been freed from the power of sin, but we can still submit to it. However, unlike the world, we are no longer prone to sin as some would believe; we are prone to righteousness (Romans 6). The Bible says it is for freedom that Christ set us free (Galatians 5:1). Freedom is only a reality when we have choices. When the apostle Paul was challenging the Galatians as they were being misled into returning to the Mosaic law, he reminded them:
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. (Galatians 5:13)
The difference between the sinner and the saint includes the forgiveness of sins, but it is more than that. It is clear in Scripture that the world is under the power of the evil one, but those in Christ are no longer under Satan’s power. The world is enslaved by sin, but the saints have been freed from it. So, while the saints can sin, we also have the ability to not sin (1 John 5).
Perhaps one way the saints get confused, thinking they are sinful, is by misunderstanding the difference between temptation and sin. Evil or immoral thoughts are not necessarily sin. We may think that these thoughts and desires that come into our minds are sins, but the Bible is clear that these become sin only when we dwell on them or “conceive them” (James 1:14-15). Furthermore, God always provides a way to resist temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13, James 4:7).
The Bible says Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, but he did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). For Jesus to be tempted, the thoughts had to come into his mind; he had to think of them. When presented with the offers by Satan in the wilderness, he pondered them and came back with an answer. Yet, these thoughts were not sin. He did not conceive them or act on them. He rejected them by using Scripture to counter Satan’s arguments. Interestingly, Satan tried to use Scripture to support his temptations, but he took it out of context.
After we become saints, we are still vulnerable to the flesh and sin, and we will be tempted. When we are tempted to sin either by fleshly desires (James 1:14) or directly by the evil one (1 Peter 5:8), we are not obligated to give in (Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 10). We must understand that desire itself is not sin, but when we allow those desires to take life in fantasies and actions, they become sin.
Before we finish discussing sin, it is essential to discuss the one human who mastered it. Jesus not only had victory over sin in his own life (Hebrews 4:14-16), but he took care of sin once for all for those who believe in him. The way to master sin is through Jesus. When we are joined to Jesus in his death and raised with him through his resurrection, we become the righteousness of God in him. We are no longer obligated to the flesh, and we are free from the law of sin and death.
This freedom is in the forgiveness that Jesus provides and in the victory over sin in our everyday life. We are not “struggling with sin,” as I hear so often. We are “struggling against sin.” This may appear to be semantics, but the way we think of the struggle can indicate how we look at our new life in Christ. We are not struggling with ourselves; we are fighting against the power of sin. We can overcome sin by walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). As we grow in our faith and knowledge of God our behavior will begin to match the righteousness and holiness that we have in Christ. However, our hope is not in our behavior; our hope is in Jesus. The key then is to focus on Jesus, what he has done and what he continues to do in us (Hebrews 12).
[1] H. A. G. Blocher, “Sin.” In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by T. Desmond Alexander, Brian S. Rosner, D. A. Carson, and Graeme Goldsworthy, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000. 783