"What is "sin"?" ~Revisited~

So the last blog I wrote was, let's just say not widely well received. But the Spirit keeps speaking to me about all this “sin” business. What is it? WHAT IS IT? 

As previously discovered, it is believed to be a behavior or action that is offensive to God. But the more I study the bible, the more I see that isn’t the right conclusion at all! In the last blog I defined “sin” as something that was in violation of the law. But I think I was wrong! (Doesn’t happen all the time, but yes it happens) So I began to really look into what this thing called “sin” really is. I searched the new testament for clues. I looked at what Jesus said about “sin” and I looked at what Paul said about sin. Believe it or not, Romans is a profound book on this subject.

So, wanna know what I discovered? 
You sure? 
You don’t have to continue reading if you don’t want to.
Just know, if you are reading this, it is of your own volition. My purpose in this blog overall is not to invite debate. I have no interest in debating. So if you continue reading and you find some deep seated religious error, please allow me the courtesy of taking that up with the Holy Spirit. Thank you!

Now on to the discovery! WHAT IS SIN?!

Well, as I read Romans 5, it hit me! 

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

Paul is very descriptive here. In our modern translations, it doesn’t do it justice. But when you go back to the original text, it bursts wide open! 

Paul says “sin” came into the world through one man and death through “sin”. What word does Paul use for the word “sin”? The word he uses here is the Greek word: 

Hamartia
To miss the mark

What does it mean to miss the mark? Could it be that he is talking about simple imperfection? Could Paul really be talking about how at one point Adam and Eve were absolutely perfect and when they ate of that fruit, their mind was formed to imperfection? What happens if we read those verses with this type of language..

Therefore, just as imperfection came into the world through one man, and death through imperfection, and so death spread to all men because all were imperfect, for imperfection indeed was in the world before the law was given, but imperfection is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who's imperfection...

Now here is where it gets interesting. The rest of the sentence there is particularly interesting, at least it is to me. It says “was not like the transgression of Adam,” If Paul is talking about “sin” and it being a behavior or mindset, why did he feel the need to throw in this other word, “transgression”. What does that word mean? That word there is the Greek word:

Parabasis
the breach of a definite, promulgated, ratified law

If “sin” is behavior that offends God, why would Paul use a different word? Let's finish out the verse with our new language:

Therefore, just as imperfection came into the world through one man, and death through imperfection, and so death spread to all men because all were imperfect, for imperfection indeed was in the world before the law was given, but imperfection is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who's imperfection was not like the breach of law of Adam,
 who was a type of the one who was to come.

“There was no law before the law of Moses!”
“But you said…” 
I know, I know. And as I mentioned above, I am prone to be wrong every now and then. But if  we look at the Genesis account of the “fall of man” we will see that God did in fact give Adam and Eve a law.

This is after Adam and Eve ate the fruit and discovered their nakedness. God is in the garden searching for Adam,  

8And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 
Genesis 3:8-11

There hidden in verse 11, right near the end. “have you eaten of the tree which I commanded..
The Hebrew word there for command is:

Tsavah
To command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order

This is the same word that the psalmist uses in Psalm 91:11 when he wrote about God commanding His angels to protect them; it is a command and it must be obeyed!

If you recall in my last blog post, we discovered that "where there is no law, there is no punishment for imperfection." The law is the line in the sand that says “do not cross me (the law)” and when we disobey, trespass as Adam did, we violate the law that brings about death. God gave Adam and Eve the first law. Adam and Eve breached that law and subsequently imperfection entered the world. Now, what was imperfect? Their bodies were still the same bodies that God fashioned from the dirt and bone. Every physical characteristic was exactly the same as it was before they ate the fruit, so what became imperfect? Colossians 1:21 tells us, it was their minds! Their minds became polluted with shame and guilt, and imperfection! 

Let's go back to Paul in Romans 5. He said our imperfection was not like the breach of law like Adam. The breach of law from Adam was disobedience. I think if we really root down what violation of the law is, it always goes back to disobedience. The law draws the line, and we cross it. But not all of us crossed that line. It says it right there in verse 13. Our imperfection was not put on our account, or counted against us because we had no law! How amazing is that! We were imperfect because of the violation of the law by Adam. But we all weren’t guilty of violation, we simply lived in the state of imperfection! And because of living in that state of imperfection, we died - Physically. 

Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not have the law. 
What law? 
The Mosaic Law! 
Who was the Mosaic Law given to? 
THE JEWS!

All mankind wasn’t given the law, but man still died as a result of the violation of Adam, all were imperfect because of the violation of Adam. 

"Sin" and trespass are two completely different things!

So what does all this mean? I think we have tried for too long to isolate what “sin” is within ourselves and others. But the reality is, “sin” is simply imperfection, it's not a behavior or action.

The wonderful news is, nobody today is still under the transgression of Adam! We are part of the new creation in Christ Jesus! The old has gone away, sin was defeated and death is dead. We are in Christ! We don’t have to deal with imperfection anymore, we have been made perfect!

I know this is a lot to digest, one of the things that has really opened up my mind and heart has been having this amazing app called e-Sword LT. It’s $1.99 in the apple app store, don’t know if it's on android, but it has allowed me to research for myself what words and scriptures mean. You should download it!

Well, that’s all I can muster this time.

You are blessed with all spiritual blessings. Walk in that truth! 

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Ephesians 3:3-4

Until next time,

The Other Guy