MAN & SINPART 2

SIN: ITS CHARACTER AND UNIVERSALITY

IS SIN A PROBLEM?

J. Rodman Williams suggests there are a number of approaches to sin:

1. Basically there is no problem - a few defects but essentially all is fine - we don’t need to believe any dark view of human nature - if we believe it is ok it will be

2. Man is on the way up - not yet as good as he should be because man is not yet mature - consider his evolutionary background and this is not surprising

3. Man is not sufficiently enlightened - ignorance is the problem, he does not yet know enough about what is good for him and society, how to improve it all, dangers of war etc.

4. The problem is man’s suppression of his own individuality and needs - be unencumbered by authority patterns, taboos, representative guilt etc.

5. The problem is negative talk or attitude to life - think, feel, act positively in all situations and we will overcome problems - don’t talk of sin, we are going forward

A. HUMAN SPECULATION ON SINSin is a major factor in human experience and in the Bible’s teaching.

The world is not comfortable talking about sin and often suggests it is simply a misconception.

Gnosticism and some oriental religions suggest sin is the opposite of what God is and is related to the physical (not spiritual) world.

This can lead to ideas of asceticism and denial of the body.

Epicureanism advocates indulging the body

All this denies sin and what the Bible teaches about it.

“Sin is any want of conformity to the character of God - in act, disposition or state” Chafer

Sin is sin because it is against what God is - for example, Ex 20:3-17

Sin is always against God - Ps 51: 4

A person who sins is unlike God and therefore subject to judgement

4 aspects of the doctrine of sin in the Bible:

B. THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF SIN

1. Personal sin, Rom 3:23, includes every aspect of daily life that fails to conform to the character of God

It includes the idea of rebellion and disobedience but essentially includes acts of omission or commission (committing an offence)

Man comes short or misses the mark of God’s standard

At least 8 OT and 12 NT words for sin

2. The sin nature of man is revealed in the Bible - Rom 5:19

Adams sin caused him to become a different being, degenerate and depraved. This was judged by Christ on the cross Rom 6:10

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

Total depravity - is not that every man is as bad as he could be but that the whole nature of man is corrupted by sin. This includes will (Rom 1:28), intellect (2 Cor 4:4), conscience (1 Tim 4:2) and heart

Eph 2:3 - carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

No child has ever been born sinless - apart from Christ - we all inherit it from our parents (Adam) - thus men sin because they have a sinful nature - the only remedy is found in Christ.

3. Sin is presented as reckoned to our account - Rom 5:12-18 - 3 imputations

A. Adam’s sin to us - the basis of original sin

B. Imputing the sin of man to christ - the basis for salvation

C. Imputation of the righteousness of God to those who believe in Christ - the basis for the doctrine of justification.

Imputation is:

a. Actual, even though this happened before God could rightly declare the sin ours

b. Judicial - a legal position because of our own personal sins.

On the basis of Rom 5:12 Chafer states it is actual -Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

4. Legally we are still in sin, sinners!

Rom 3:9 - What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

Under sin means there is nothing of merit in us that might contribute towards salvation

Such state can only be remedied by the merit of Jesus Christ.