We know the world is full of sin and you and I sin, but who is to be blamed for it?
Many years ago I read “The Gospel According to PEAUNUTS” by Robert Short.[i] Until then I did not realize that the cartoon strip featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus, written by Charles Schulz, had a deeper spiritual message.
Robert Short refers to this comic strip:
He then made a comment which, when I read it, was to me an enlightening moment and which stuck in my mind:
“…we are not sinners because we ‘occasionally sin,’ but we ‘sin occasionally’ because we are always sinners. ‘Sins’ is only one of the ways in which sin can manifest itself. ‘The whole trouble,‘ then, lies in who we are…”
It is of course not wise to quote someone on such a topic without checking if it is Scriptural.
Before embarking on this examination, one needs to understand what is the Scriptural definition of sin. In the Hebrew Scriptures the word is chata (Strong, H2398). Its meaning is well illustrated in Judges 20:16 where reference is made to 700 left-handed men “who could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss.” The Hebrew word for “miss” is chata, the same word for “sin.”
Missing the mark – not attaining to the required standard – is to be equated with sin.
But what is the required standard?
It is the standard of God’s character of love, holiness and perfection.
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23)
We all fall short of the “glory of God”. In that way we miss the mark – we sin. In fact, we sin continuously. It need not be a heinous sin. It may be a moment of carelessness. For example, misjudging the time it would take to reach your destination and as a result being late for your appointment. Even people who appear to be good – law abiding, upstanding, decent folk – sin virtually all the time.
Paul, who in our eyes may be a “spiritual giant” confessed,
For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do (Rom.7:15).
We fall short of the glory of God from our conception.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. And in sin my mother conceived me (Ps 51:5).
No human can be blamed for being conceived in sin. We were made “short of the glory of God” and there is nothing we can do about it. Everyone has been made with flaws and shortcomings and no self-help book or course will help, because God designed it for you for this short lifetime in this world.[ii]
As the Apostle Paul said,
By the grace of God I am what I am (1 Cor 15:10)
How did this happen? Where did it go wrong? – you may ask.
Putting the blame on Adam
Oh yes, we can trace it back to Adam. One can easily say, “if it wasn’t for him, the world would have been a much better place.” But that is presumptuous – as we will see below.
…just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world..(Rom 5:12).
Adam’s eating of the forbidden fruit had enormous consequences. First, as God had warned him, death became a reality for him.
…on the day you eat from it, to die you shall be dying (Gen 2:17 Concordant Version).
Life is the effect of the spirit of God. When God withdraws His spirit, all flesh will perish (Job 34:14-15). Adam was, since the day of his transgression, disconnected from the spirit of God and the process of loss of vitality and bodily degeneration kicked in. From then on, he sinned continuously – he was a sinner.
This loss of vitality brought about three things: (1) Adam’s sinful condition; (2) reaching its climax at his death at the age of 930 years; and (3) the death principle operating in his posterity – all of mankind.
So then death is working in us…(2 Cor 4:12).
…it is appointed for men to die once…(Heb 9:27)
All humans are, in a sense, from birth in a state of dying. The body is ageing and no one can stop it. What we inherited from Adam was not a sinful nature, but rather degenerative life. And it is this degenerative life, this weakness of the flesh, that caused our “death condition,” which in turn caused us being sinners.
That is not to say that the flesh or human body is by itself sinful or evil. We should nourish and cherish it (Eph 5:28-29). The sinful tendency in man is as a result of what has happened to the flesh – the withdrawl of the power of life which was in Adam’s body before he sinned.
That is why the Apostle Paul talks about,
...that the body of sin might be done away with (Rom 6:6)
Let not sin reign in your mortal body (Rom 6:12)
…the weakness of your flesh (Rom 6:19)
For I know that in me (that is, my flesh) nothing good dwells…(Rom. 7:18)
Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. 7:24)
…put to death the deeds of the body. (Rom 8:13)
We are waiting for the redemption of our body (Rom 8:23).
I have been taught we inherited a sin nature from Adam and that we die because of sin. This is not correct. We sin because we are dying.
One verse that I believe has caused this erroneous belief is Romans 5:12 because it has been mistranslated.
Wherefore,G1223 G5124 asG5618 byG1223 oneG1520 manG444 sinG266 enteredG1525 intoG1519 theG3588 world,G2889 andG2532 deathG2288 byG1223 sin;G266 andG2532 soG3779 deathG2288 passedG1330 uponG1519 allG3956 men,G444 forG1909 thatG3739 allG3956 have sinned:G264 (King James Version with Strong’s lexicon numbers)
…as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… (Rom 5:12 – New King James Version)
Many other translations have,…for that all had sinned… But notice the Concordant Version:[iii]
…Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death passed through into all mankind, on which all sinned…
The word translated in the other translations “for that” or “because” is epi/eph ho. Epi according to Strong is a primary preposition properly meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etc), i.e. with the genitive case ..at..upon..over…..; with the dative case, at , on, etc, with the accusative case towards, upon, etc. The interlinear Bible at www.Biblehub.com gives the following words: on, to, against, on he basis of, at.
The Greek word for “because” or “for” is dia (Strong G1223). That very word appears three times in Romans 5:12 where in the King James Version it is translated “wherefore” (once) and “for” (twice). Elsewhere in the KJV it is translated “because”, e,g. in Eph 5:6: “because of these things cometh the wrath of God.”
The Concordant Version is correct when stating “death ….on which all sinned”, as the Greek word there is not dia, but epi.
Death is the cause of sin in humanity. Sin is not the cause of death. It is the “death condition” that we have inherited from Adam, not a sinful nature as such.
As is explained in the Commentary of the Concordant Version:
Death entered through sin at first but now sin is transmitted through death. All sin because they are mortal.
Even though the death principle was at first not operative in Adam, he sinned. This was in accordance with God’s purpose. Bear in mind that God had made adequate provision to deal effectively and righteously with the consequences, as will be seen below.
God made Adam capable of sinning. Adam was created from the soil of the earth and made “a living soul” (Gen 2:7). He was made with desires and passions that, if not checked and controlled by the Spirit of God, would be opposed to God. The “soulish man” who lives in the flesh is not able to please God.
…those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8).
We can’t blame humans for being born as “soulish” and in a state of impending death. Neither can we blame Adam for taking of the forbidden fruit, because God deliberately made him not strong enough to withstand the temptation. Adam could not help that he was not able to do so.
Putting the blame on Satan
Behind the transgression of Adam, lies the devious work of Satan. Adam was not the first sinner. The Adversary (Satan) was.
Contrary to what is generally taught in Bible colleges and church denominations, Satan was created by God and was an evildoer from the beginning.
I have created the waster to destroy… (Isa 54:16 – King James Version)
By His Spirit he has garnished the Heavens; His hand has formed the fugitive serpent (Job 26:13 – Concordant Version)
…the devil has sinned from the beginning. (1 John 3:8)
All sin can be traced back to Satan.
In a sense, Satan can be blamed, but ultimately, he was merely doing what God expected him to do, even if he was unaware of it. Satan is a tool that God uses for His own purposes.
As so well explained by Clyde Pilkington Jr,
God uses Satan’s evil to provide the temporary contrast to His goodness and righteousness. Satan is His instrument to lock up those who are in blindness to the truth, until the grand day when He will bring about enlightenment to all of His creation, which will include Satan himself. (BSN 750)[iv]
Putting the blame on God
God is the Originator of evil, as is illustrated in the following passages (King James Version):
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil… (Isa 45:7)
I have created the waster to destroy… (Isa 54:16)
Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? (Lam 3:38).
What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. (Job 2:10)
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him (1 Sam 16:14)
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen (Rom. 11:36).
Notice that we are not saying that God is the Originator of sin. He is the Originator of evil. Sin and evil are not the same thing. But He did create a being that would sin from the beginning.
If what mainstream Christianity believe is true, then God created Satan perfect but he became rebellious against God, to God’s surprise and dismay. If that was the case God’s “project” of creating Satan was a failure – God failed. He missed the mark. Then God would have sinned.
God never fails. God never sins. What God desires, He will get.
Did God desire evil? Shall we place God in the dock?
We need to understand that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. For God, a thousand years is as one day. God’s perspective is unfathomable.
Sin plays a crucial part in God’s plan. It was to be temporary. Before God let sin arrive on the scene, He put in place the most effective means of dealing with it – the sacrifice of the Lamb. In God’s plan, He ordained the slaying of the Lamb before the disruption of the world (Rev 13:8, 1 Pet 1:19,20).
God’s love can only be illustrated in the backdrop of the opposite. Like the stars that are only visible from earth when it is dark. Sin and hatred had to be on the scene, to paint the picture of God’s perfect love. If there was no sin, there could be no Savior. If there was no hostility or aloofness toward God, there could be no reconciliation.
As A E Knoch wrote in The Source of Sin (BSN 633),
Since sin must enter this scene and play its part, since it is essential to God’s purpose, and absolutely under His control, since it will eventually change the universe from cold, independent creatures into loving family circle, and God from a distant Creator into an affectionate Father, it was by no means a mistake (or sin) on God’s part when He created a creature who should not only commit sin but scatter it in all creation.
The Good News
As much as babies cannot be blamed for being conceived and born in a sinful condition, neither can an adult be blamed for being in that condition. You and I were made that way! Some are hardened by God more than others! This may prompt one to question God: why do this to us and then hold us accountable?
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and who He wills He hardens.
You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For whom has resisted His will?”
But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
Does not the potter have power over the clay…?” (Rom. 9:18-21).
But the truth does not end there. God is at work in every human being. He began by making His creation, including mankind, subject to frailty.
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly… (Rom 8:20).
Let’s look again at the quote from the Concordant Version Commentary, this time with one sentence added:
Death entered through sin at first but now sin is transmitted through death. All sin because they are mortal. Christ brings life, which disposes of both death and sin.
Where soulish Adam fell short and brought upon all mankind a condition of death and weakness, resulting in sinfulness; Christ, the second Adam, the Heavenly Man (1 Cor 15:48) and the vivifying Spirit (1 Cor 15:45) brought through His obedience and sacrifice, victory over sin, new life and eventually immortality and perfect character. At the consummation, a world without death and without sin.
The truth can be illustrated as follows:
As the Master Potter who works with clay, He will complete the work He has started in us.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).
…He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil1:6)
For we are His workmanship… (Eph 2:10)
Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:24-25)
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (Rom. 8:37)
…judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes…then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Cor 4:5 – King James Version)
We can have this hope in God,
…that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15).
[looking] for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:13)
reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…(2 Cor 5:19)
having made peace through the blood of His cross (Col 1:20)
And finally, the last enemy to be destroyed is not sin, or sinful nature or Satan…
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Cor 15:26)
As the saying goes, “all is well that ends well.” At the consummation of God’s plan, there will be no sin, no sinners, no death. All and everyone reconciled to God. All and everyone in awe of God and praising Him.
We who understand His plan can now be in awe of Him and praise Him.
[i] The Gospel According to Peanuts – Robert Short – Fontana Books 1966.
[ii] One of the most encouraging books I’ve read and which I highly recommend is Being OK With Not Being OK by Clyde Pilkington Jr, obtainable at www. StudyShelf.com.
[iii] For accessing the Concordant Version and its Commentary, visit www.concordant.org
[iv] BSN = Bible Student’s Notebook obtainable at www.biblestudentsnotebook.com