Reverend Martin Adhikary

We learn from The Holy Bible that sin is universal. God created Man upright, but he violated God’s Word and came under sin. “This only have I found, God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes”, observed the wisest king Solomon (Ecclesiastes 7:29). The same monarch is recorded to have thus lamented in his dedicatory prayer for the temple that he had built “When they sin against you---there is no one who does not sin. . .” (2 Chronicles 6:35).  The Bible views sin as an ethico-spiritual and moral deformity in man. Man is created in God’s image, and sin mars or taints that image but it does not totally obliterate God’s image in him. That deformity in man is caused in the total personality leading him to a direction other than God’s expressing in a rebellion against God. Sinful or fallen man still carries God’s image. But that image is a marred one. This fact makes sin grave and very real and serious.

Because of our sin we oppose God: we oppose him in thought, will, word and our deed. Sin manifests characteristics likes these:

Sin is a defect and deformation of the image of God in man, the crown of Creation. However, it is not a part of the essence of human nature though it makes man fall short of the glory of God.

Every sin that man commits goes against God. This is because all people are created by God in his image (Hebrew word ‘demooth’) and likeness (Hebrew word ‘tselem’). Sin is more than human imperfection. In sin we go against God’s Word, his law and holy will. Saint John wrote, “Everyone who sins breaks the law: in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1John 3:4). We notice that when King David had sinned against Bathsheba and also against her husband Uriah, he confessed his sins to God saying, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). When we sin against any person that sin is not only against that particular man or woman it is against God to whom we all, sinner and the sinned-against, collectively belong.

The seat of sin is the heart of man, his inner being. The very nerve-centre of our thoughts, will, desire and longings. Therefore, sin affects the sinner holistically. So, sin calls for a holistic treatment. Sin relates to thought as well as action. Jesus emphasised this fact in his teaching. Also, this is taught in the last of the Ten Commandments where we are commanded not to covet or lust. The way of God’s law is more inclusive than human laws. Coveting a thing is no less a sin than stealing that very thing. Jesus reiterated the Old Testament point when he said, “. . . anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her” (Matthew 5:28) when he taught about the values and principles of God’s Kingdom.

Sinful behaviour is corruption of our nature. It relates to what is known as the ‘Original sin’. We inherited nature from the Fall of Adam, “the sin-nature”. We have the propensity or proclivity to sin even if we may not actually commit a particular sin.

Pride or haughty eyes tops the list of the Seven sins in the book of Proverbs (7:7-19). They all are odious to God. But pride so lies at the root of all sins that this sin itself is seen at the top. Heavenly angels fell because of pride. Satan appealed to it in man’s pride itself (Genesis 3). In our sin we manifest our self-interest or haughtiness when we often ignore godly as well as human values.

Due to our sins, whether they are personal or societal, justice and human advancement suffer. Sins often are so grave and colossal that they cause endless havoc and miseries to millions of people. Poor people continue to be poor; people’s basic human rights are violated by those who have wealth and have authority and might to make decisions for others. Lives of millions of innocent people are being woefully wasted, while some people rejoice over their ill-gotten fortunes that they amass by sinful ways and means. This may be our world, but is far from what is God’s.

Pride and prejudice often make us blind about our own sin and make us point to other peoples’ sins. We condemn others for the same sins that we ourselves may be committing. All these make sin a grave and heinous act. The Holy Bible teaches that God takes sin seriously and as such he took the step of sending Jesus Christ, his sinless Son to deal with the issue of human sin. “God made him who had no sin knew no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God, our Creator and the Judge of all takes sin seriously. If we truly love and respect him, we should do likewise.

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The writer is a Christian Theology teacher and Church leader