What is "sin"? And can we commit it?

What is sin? We have always been told that sin is an action that offends God. But is it really?

8And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
John 16:8-11

The word “sin” simply means to miss the mark. This sin here is regarding their lack of belief in Jesus. Jesus is speaking to the disciples regarding the Jews in their unbelief. At this point in time, the gentile world had no idea about who Jesus was or what He had done. And they wouldn’t know any of that for some time, 10 years in fact. So even here this unbelief is within the context of the Jewish religion to the Hebrew nation.

55“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law
1 Corinthians 15:55-56

Death had a weapon, sin, and sin got its power from the law. The law was completely fulfilled on the cross. Jesus said "17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” and who did the law apply to? The law was only meant for the Jews. 
Looking at the 1 Corinthians passage, sin only had its power from the law, and the law was only meant for the Jews so the question becomes, can a gentile sin?

I believe that the gentile can walk in unbelief of who they are in Christ, but is it what the bible calls sin? I don’t think so. And when a gentile comes to knowledge of who they are in Christ and what He did, can they then start sinning? I don’t believe so. How can we be held accountable to a system that was never designed for us? From the Jews perspective looking out, the world was in offense against the law. That’s why context matters. When we read “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” that is Paul speaking from a Jewish perspective! The gentile, who had no knowledge of the law, never broke any law! There was no measuring stick for the gentile to hold himself against! There was no standard to live by! The gentiles simply lived!

John 3:16 has been used for centuries within the church as an evangelism tool.

16“For God so loved the world,i that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

We tell people that Jesus came and died for their sins. But where in that verse does it say that? That verse has nothing to do with His death! Even in verse 17 it makes absolutely no mention of His death.

17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

These verses, I believe, are prophetic verse written to the Jews of the time telling them that Jesus came for the entire world, not just them. I don’t believe that Jesus forgave our sin. We had no sin!

12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mene because all sinned— 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Romans 5:12-14

Where there is no law, nothing can be held against us, and if nothing can be held against us, NOTHING CAN BE FORGIVEN!
We must simply believe in Jesus! Believe who we are in Christ! There is no forgiveness where there is no offense.

NOW..do we have behavior that isn’t in line with our identity in Christ? Absolutely! But is it offensive to God? No. Sin ended on the cross, offense ended on the cross. 

1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.a 2For the law of the Spirit of life has set youb free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,c he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 
Romans 8:1-4

God will now never condemn any human being. When we set our mind on the things we try to do, it results in death, when we set our minds on things that God has already done through Jesus, it's life and peace. When we rest in His finished work, we have peace (I can attest to that). When we try to live holy lives according to the lifestyle of Jesus, it sucks! We struggle and fight to earn favor where we already have it, and have had it from the beginning!


Bless you,

The Other Guy