Four Ways to Consider the Sinfulness of Our Sin

In his second chapter of The Transforming Power of the Gospel, Jerry Bridges discusses the sinfulness of sin. He points out that in the last several decades our society has stopped calling actions “sin,” now we just call them “mistakes.” And within the church we have stopped identifying ourselves as “sinners saved by grace” rather, now we are “saints who sin.”

Bridges continues by showing that our spiritual transformation is directly tied to our view of sin and that true transformation remains paralyzed until “we begin to see that even our best deeds on our best days are like a polluted garment before an infinitely holy God.”

Bridges uses Scripture to give four definitions of the totality of sin:

1) Lawlessness: (1 John 3:4) John said that sin is lawlessness—that is, a complete disregard for the law of God. Suppose that over the course of years of driving, you receive two tickets for speeding. No one would consider you a lawless person. But suppose you consistently receive speeding tickets until you lose your driver’s license and then continue to drive, even without a license, and you continue to violate the speed-limit laws? Then you could be described as lawless because you have demonstrated a complete disregard for the traffic laws of the state.

Probably not one of us could identify with a person who consistently and deliberately violates the ordinary traffic laws of the state, yet we all consistently and deliberately violate the moral law of God. We consistently display our pride and selfishness; our impatience, anger and resentment; and our sinful use of the tongue. We consistently fail to display the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). And in that sense, we are all guilty of lawlessness.

2) Transgression: (Leviticus 16:21 and many other Old Testament references). The word transgression means rebellion against authority, in this case God’s authority. This is where it is helpful to see the holiness of God as speaking of His transcendent majesty, His supreme authoritative rule. When we sin we rebel against that authority. Sin is a willful rebellion against the supreme authority of the universe, a deliberate flouting of His moral law.

3) Despising: (2 Samuel 12:9-10) Despise is the word the prophet Nathan used when he confronted King David about his sins of adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband, Uriah, Killed in battle. David despised God’s law, deliberately breaking the commandments forbidding adultery and murder.

But more than that, God, speaking through Nathan the prophet, said, ‘You have despised me’ (2 Samuel 12:10). To despise God’s law is to despise Him, as His law is not only an expression of His will but also a reflection of His own moral character. To despise God’s law is to effectively say, ‘I don’t care what you say. I will do as I please. I will gossip about or slander someone despite the fact You have said that I am to ‘speak evil of no one’ (Titus 3:2).’ More than that, it is also to say in effect, ‘God, in my continued sinfulness, I don’t want to be like You.’ We do not consciously say this to God, but, to use an old saying, our actions speak louder than our words.

4) Defiance: (Numbers 15:30) [This] passage speaks of the person ‘who does anything with a high hand.’ A high hand is an expression of defiance—willful rebellion, a deliberate challenge to authority (in our case, a deliberate challenge of God’s authority). This might seem like an overstatement because we don’t see ourselves as deliberately defying God, but that is actually what we do through our sin.

These four words—lawlessness, transgression, despising and defiance—have a certain amount of overlap, but taken together in a cumulative fashion, they help us understand to some degree the seriousness of our sin, even those subtle or ‘respectable’ sins that we so easily tolerate in our lives. We may not be guilty of the more flagrant sins of society around us, but neither was Isaiah. Yet when confronted with the infinite holiness of God, he pronounced himself morally unclean—a moral leper, if you please—and we are no better than Isaiah.

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