This is an unpopular, old-fashioned-sounding word today, but it occurs as often in the Bible that you can hardly read a page without coming upon the concept of sin.
We think of it as a “killjoy” word—that is, a sin is something we enjoy that God doesn’t want us to enjoy—drinking, drugs, sex, maybe even dancing and card playing.
But in the Bible, sin is the broad concept of doing something that offends God and that harms others and ourselves. God wants what is best for man and makes His intentions clear, but men consciously disobey Him.
The word sin seems dated, but the concept remains: Most people today have the general feeling that we aren’t all we’re supposed to be. This explains why self-help books, psychologists, diets, exercise programs, etc., are so popular.
This is the feeling that something is wrong with each of us. We believe we ought to improve, become better. All the world’s religions have this idea: Whatever I am, I am not quite what I was meant to be.
According to the people who wrote the Bible, our failure is that we don’t honor and love the God who made us. As a result, we do harm to others and to ourselves. Until we “get right with God” (as the old highway signs said), we can’t be the people we were meant to be.
The first few chapters of the Bible tell the story of Adam and Eve, the first human beings, who were given a beautiful place to live but who chose to disobey the one rule God imposed on them.
According to the Bible, each human being repeats the mistake of Adam and Eve. (For shorthand, we call this beginning of sin “the Fall.”) Each of us chooses to disobey God’s orders.
Sin is universal—every human being sins, even good people. The New Testament says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Sin is not confined to another nation, race, class, gender, or political group. Each of us is in the same boat.
Sin is not just deeds but an attitude—worshipping ourselves instead of giving first honor to God. Sin is connected with the idea of idolatry—worshipping something or someone other than God.
God wishes to be not only worshipped but also loved—freely, of our own will. We have the freedom not to—that is, we have the freedom to sin, to say no to God.
Sin is bad, but it is a sign that God made us capable of choosing. We can choose to love God or snub Him. If we were not capable of sinning, we would be like robots, without free will.
In the Old Testament, when people knew they had offended God by disobeying Him, they had a system of sacrifices—offering an animal as a sign that they were sorry for what they’d done and wanted to make amends.
In the New Testament, a new idea was introduced: Instead of repeatedly sacrificing animals to show we wanted a right relationship with God, there was a final sacrifice, Jesus, who was executed by crucifixion.
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, who restores us to a right relationship with God. Jesus is often called Savior because He saves people from sin.
The Bible is “anti-sin,” but, looked at in a more positive way, it is “pro-happiness.” In the Bible, we cannot find true happiness or joy in life unless we put God first.
The purpose of avoiding sin is to have the most important relationship of all, peace with the Maker and Sustainer of everything. Sin is important in the Bible, but so is joy.
