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sin, hamartia, G266

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Word study: sin, hamartia - Bible Study | WednesdayintheWord.com

Tools and resources you need to do a word study on the Greek word for sin, hamartia.

Strong’s number: G266

Greek Lexical Dictionary: Strong’s #266 – ἁμαρτία

Greek Word: ἁμαρτία, ας, ἡ

Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine

Transliteration: hamartia

Phonetic Spelling: (ham-ar-tee’-ah)

Quick Definition: a sin, failure

Usage: prop: missing the mark; hence: (a) guilt, sin, (b) a fault, failure (in an ethical sense), sinful deed.

Etymology: from G264 verb hamartanó

NASB Translation: sin (96), sinful (2), sins (75)

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New Testament usage

Strong’s #266 – ἁμαρτία 173 times in 150 verses

Mat 1:21; Mat 3:6; Mat 9:2; Mat 9:5; Mat 9:6; Mat 12:31; Mat 26:28; Mar 1:4; Mar 1:5; Mar 2:5; Mar 2:7; Mar 2:9; Mar 2:10; Luk 1:77; Luk 3:3; Luk 5:20; Luk 5:21; Luk 5:23; Luk 5:24; Luk 7:47; Luk 7:48; Luk 7:49; Luk 11:4; Luk 24:47; Joh 1:29; Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24; Joh 8:34; Joh 8:46; Joh 9:34; Joh 9:41; Joh 15:22; Joh 15:24; Joh 16:8; Joh 16:9; Joh 19:11; Joh 20:23; Act 2:38; Act 3:19; Act 5:31; Act 7:60; Act 10:43; Act 13:38; Act 22:16; Act 26:18; Rom 3:9; Rom 3:20; Rom 4:7; Rom 4:8; Rom 5:12; Rom 5:13; Rom 5:20; Rom 5:21; Rom 6:1; Rom 6:2; Rom 6:6; Rom 6:7; Rom 6:10; Rom 6:11; Rom 6:12; Rom 6:13; Rom 6:14; Rom 6:16; Rom 6:17; Rom 6:18; Rom 6:20; Rom 6:22; Rom 6:23; Rom 7:5; Rom 7:7; Rom 7:8; Rom 7:9; Rom 7:11; Rom 7:13; Rom 7:14; Rom 7:17; Rom 7:20; Rom 7:23; Rom 7:25; Rom 8:2; Rom 8:3; Rom 8:10; Rom 11:27; Rom 14:23; 1Co 15:3; 1Co 15:17; 1Co 15:56; 2Co 5:21; 2Co 11:7; Gal 1:4; Gal 2:17; Gal 3:22; Eph 2:1; Col 1:14; 1Th 2:16; 1Ti 5:22; 1Ti 5:24; 2Ti 3:6; Heb 1:3; Heb 2:17; Heb 3:13; Heb 4:15; Heb 5:1; Heb 5:3; Heb 7:27; Heb 8:12; Heb 9:26; Heb 9:28; Heb 10:2; Heb 10:3; Heb 10:4; Heb 10:6; Heb 10:8; Heb 10:11; Heb 10:12; Heb 10:17; Heb 10:18; Heb 10:26; Heb 11:25; Heb 12:1; Heb 12:4; Heb 13:11; Jas 1:15; Jas 2:9; Jas 4:17; Jas 5:15; Jas 5:16; Jas 5:20; 1Pe 2:22; 1Pe 2:24; 1Pe 3:18; 1Pe 4:1; 1Pe 4:8; 2Pe 1:9; 2Pe 2:14; 1Jn 1:7; 1Jn 1:8; 1Jn 1:9; 1Jn 2:2; 1Jn 2:12; 1Jn 3:4; 1Jn 3:5; 1Jn 3:8; 1Jn 3:9; 1Jn 4:10; 1Jn 5:16; 1Jn 5:17; Rev 1:5; Rev 18:4; Rev 18:5.

Septuagint (LXX): 404 times in 368 verses

Gen 15:16; Gen 18:20; Gen 20:9; Gen 41:9; Gen 42:21; Gen 50:17; Exo 10:17; Exo 20:5; Exo 28:43; Exo 29:14; Exo 29:36; Exo 30:10; Exo 32:21; Exo 32:30; Exo 32:31; Exo 32:32; Exo 32:34; Exo 34:7; Exo 34:9; Lev 4:3; Lev 4:8; Lev 4:14; Lev 4:20; Lev 4:21; Lev 4:23; Lev 4:24; Lev 4:25; Lev 4:26; Lev 4:28; Lev 4:29; Lev 4:32; Lev 4:33; Lev 4:34; Lev 4:35; Lev 5:1; Lev 5:5; Lev 5:6; Lev 5:7; Lev 5:8; Lev 5:9; Lev 5:10; Lev 5:11; Lev 5:12; Lev 5:13; Lev 5:17; Lev 6:10; Lev 6:18; Lev 6:23; Lev 7:7; Lev 7:18; Lev 7:37; Lev 8:2; Lev 8:14; Lev 9:2; Lev 9:3; Lev 9:7; Lev 9:8; Lev 9:10; Lev 9:15; Lev 9:22; Lev 10:16; Lev 10:17; Lev 10:19; Lev 12:6; Lev 12:8; Lev 14:13; Lev 14:19; Lev 14:22; Lev 14:31; Lev 15:15; Lev 15:30; Lev 16:3; Lev 16:5; Lev 16:6; Lev 16:9; Lev 16:11; Lev 16:15; Lev 16:16; Lev 16:21; Lev 16:25; Lev 16:27; Lev 16:30; Lev 16:34; Lev 19:8; Lev 19:17; Lev 19:22; Lev 20:17; Lev 20:19; Lev 22:9; Lev 23:19; Lev 24:15; Lev 26:18; Lev 26:21; Lev 26:24; Lev 26:28; Lev 26:39; Lev 26:40; Lev 26:41; Num 5:6; Num 5:7; Num 5:15; Num 5:31; Num 6:11; Num 6:14; Num 6:16; Num 7:16; Num 7:22; Num 7:28; Num 7:34; Num 7:40; Num 7:46; Num 7:52; Num 7:58; Num 7:64; Num 7:70; Num 7:76; Num 7:82; Num 7:87; Num 8:8; Num 8:12; Num 9:13; Num 12:11; Num 14:18; Num 14:19; Num 14:34; Num 15:24; Num 15:25; Num 15:27; Num 15:31; Num 16:26; Num 18:1; Num 18:9; Num 18:22; Num 18:32; Num 27:3; Num 28:15; Num 28:22; Num 28:30; Num 29:5; Num 29:11; Num 29:16; Num 29:19; Num 29:22; Num 29:25; Num 29:28; Num 29:31; Num 29:34; Num 29:38; Num 30:16; Num 32:23; Dt 5:9; Dt 9:18; Dt 9:21; Dt 15:9; Dt 19:15; Dt 21:22; Dt 23:23; Dt 24:15; Dt 24:16; Dt 30:3; Jos 22:20; 1Sa 2:17; 1Sa 12:19; 1Sa 14:38; 1Sa 15:23; 1Ki 8:34; 1Ki 8:35; 1Ki 8:36; 1Ki 12:30; 1Ki 13:34; 1Ki 14:22; 1Ki 15:3; 1Ki 15:26; 1Ki 15:30; 1Ki 15:34; 1Ki 16:13; 1Ki 16:19; 1Ki 16:26; 1Ki 16:31; 1Ki 22:53; 2Ki 1:18; 2Ki 3:3; 2Ki 10:29; 2Ki 10:31; 2Ki 12:17; 2Ki 13:2; 2Ki 13:6; 2Ki 13:11; 2Ki 14:6; 2Ki 14:24; 2Ki 15:9; 2Ki 15:18; 2Ki 15:24; 2Ki 15:28; 2Ki 17:21; 2Ki 17:22; 2Ki 21:16; 2Ki 21:17; 2Ki 24:3; 1Ch 21:3; 2Ch 6:25; 2Ch 6:26; 2Ch 6:27; 2Ch 7:14; 2Ch 25:4; 2Ch 28:13; 2Ch 29:21; 2Ch 29:23; 2Ch 29:24; 2Ch 33:19; 2Ch 36:5; Ezr 6:17; Ezr 8:35; Neh 1:6; Neh 9:2; Neh 9:37; Neh 10:34; Job 1:5; Job 7:21; Job 10:6; Job 13:23; Job 13:26; Job 14:16; Job 22:5; Job 24:20; Job 31:33; Job 34:37; Job 42:9; Job 42:10; Psa 9:36; Psa 18:14; Psa 24:7; Psa 24:11; Psa 24:18; Psa 31:1; Psa 31:2; Psa 31:5; Psa 37:4; Psa 37:19; Psa 39:7; Psa 50:4; Psa 50:5; Psa 50:7; Psa 50:11; Psa 58:4; Psa 58:13; Psa 77:38; Psa 78:9; Psa 84:3; Psa 88:33; Psa 102:10; Psa 108:7; Psa 108:14; Psa 140:4; Pro 5:22; Pro 10:16; Pro 10:19; Pro 12:13; Pro 13:6; Pro 13:9; Pro 14:34; Pro 15:27; Pro 20:9; Pro 21:4; Pro 24:9; Pro 26:11; Pro 26:26; Pro 28:2; Pro 29:16; Pro 29:22; Ecc 10:4; Isa 1:4; Isa 1:14; Isa 1:18; Isa 3:9; Isa 5:18; Isa 6:7; Isa 13:11; Isa 14:21; Isa 22:14; Isa 27:9; Isa 30:1; Isa 30:13; Isa 33:24; Isa 38:17; Isa 40:2; Isa 43:24; Isa 44:22; Isa 50:1; Isa 53:4; Isa 53:5; Isa 53:6; Isa 53:10; Isa 53:11; Isa 53:12; Isa 55:7; Isa 57:17; Isa 59:2; Isa 59:3; Isa 59:12; Isa 64:6; Isa 64:8; Isa 65:2; Isa 65:7; Isa 66:4; Jer 5:25; Jer 14:7; Jer 15:13; Jer 16:10; Jer 16:18; Jer 18:23; Jer 27:20; Jer 37:14; Jer 37:16; Jer 38:30; Jer 38:34; Jer 39:18; Jer 40:8; Jer 43:3; Lam 1:8; Lam 3:39; Lam 4:13; Eze 3:20; Eze 16:51; Eze 16:52; Eze 18:14; Eze 18:24; Eze 21:29; Eze 23:49; Eze 28:17; Eze 28:18; Eze 33:14; Eze 33:16; Eze 36:19; Eze 39:23; Eze 40:39; Eze 42:13; Eze 43:10; Eze 43:19; Eze 43:21; Eze 43:22; Eze 43:25; Eze 44:29; Eze 45:17; Eze 45:22; Eze 45:23; Eze 45:25; Eze 46:20; Dan 4:27; Dan 8:12; Dan 8:13; Dan 8:23; Dan 9:20; Dan 9:24; Hos 4:8; Hos 8:11; Hos 8:13; Hos 9:9; Hos 13:12; Amos 3:2; Amos 5:12; Mic 1:5; Mic 1:13; Mic 3:8; Mic 6:7; Mic 6:13; Mic 7:19; Zec 14:19.

Englishman’s Concordance: ἁμαρτία (hamartia)

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Lexicons

Thayer’s G266: to be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin; that which is done wrong, sin, an offense, a violation of the divine law in thought or in act; collectively, the complex or aggregate of sins committed either by a single person or by many

Strong’s G266: offense, sin, sinful.

Mounce G266: sin, wrongdoing; usually any act contrary to the will and law of God

Related words: G264 hamartanó (verb) ;;; G265 hamartéma (noun) ;;; G268 hamartólos (adj);

Hebrew Equivalent Words: Strong#: 817 (aw‑shawm’) ;;;  1870 ‑ דֶּרֶךְ (deh’‑rek) ;;;;  2248 ‑ חֲבוּלָה (khab‑oo‑law’) ;;;;  2398 ‑ חָטָא (khaw‑taw’) ;;;;  2403 ‑ חַטָּאָה (khat‑taw‑aw’, khat‑tawth’) ;;;;  2483 ‑ חֳלִי (khol‑ee’) ;;;;  2932 ‑ טֻמְאָה (toom‑aw’) ;;;;  4284 ‑ מַחֲשֶׁבֶת (makh‑ash‑aw‑baw’, makh‑ash‑eh’‑beth) ;;;;  4878 ‑ מְשֻׁבָה (mesh‑oo‑baw’, mesh‑oo‑baw’) ;;;;  5771 ‑ עָווֹן (aw‑vone’, aw‑vone’) ;;;;  5931 ‑ עִלָּה (il‑law’) ;;;;  5949 ‑ עֲלִלָה (al‑ee‑law’, al‑ee‑law’) ;;;;  6586 ‑ פָּשַׁע (paw‑shah’) ;;;;  6588 ‑ פֶּשַׁע (peh’‑shah) ;;;;  7200 ‑ רָאָה (raw‑aw’) ;;;;  7561 ‑ רָשַׁע (raw‑shah’) ;;;;  8441 ‑ תּוֹעֵבָה (to‑ay‑baw’, to‑ay‑baw’).

PreceptsAustin: hamartia;

PreceptsAustin: hamartano (verb)

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Reference Works

01 What is life & death and why should I care?

02 What is justification and why do I need it?

11 2 Peter 2:17-22 Freedom, slavery and sin

16 Matthew 5:1-3 Poor in Spirit

17 Matthew 5:4 Those who mourn

19 Matthew 5:6 Hunger & thirst for righteousness

24 Matthew 5:17-20 Surpassing the Pharisees

08 Romans 6:1–14 Grace and Slavery to Sin

10 Romans 7:7-25 Law and Sin

11 Romans 8.1-12 Deliverance from Sin

12 Romans 8:12-25 Grief over Sin

06 Colossians 2:16-23 Passing Judgment

Righteous vs. the wicked in the Psalms

06 Holy Spirit in the Old Testament: A New Heart

13 Why do you call me good? Mark 10:17-31

02 What’s easiest to say? Mark 2:1-12

Wayne Grudem lectures on the Doctrine of Sin (Chp 24)

RC Sproul: Saved from What?

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Where to next?

More Greek Word Studies

How do to a Word Study

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Bible Study 101: Learn to Study

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05 Jeremiah 17:1-11 What is wrong with me?

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05 Jeremiah 17:1-11 What is wrong with me? | WednesdayintheWord.com

What do you do when you sin repeatedly? What do you do when you see something about yourself that you decide to change, you give it your best effort, and you don’t change?  What’s wrong with us?

Notes

  • Jeremiah is a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah who predicted the coming Babylonian invasion and exile.
  • The book of Jeremiah is not in chronological order.
  • Total Depravity does not mean that people are as wicked as we possibility could be.
  • Total Depravity refers is the idea that sin effects our every aspect of our being. If I look inside myself to find something free from sin, I won’t find anything.   See: Romans 3:9-18
  • This passage does not give us a theological definition of Total Depravity.  Rather in gives us 3 metaphors each of which refers to the heart.
  • For Jews of Jeremiah’s day, “heart” referred to the entire internal life of a person: intellectual, emotional and spiritual combined.

Metaphor 1: Stone tablet engraved with an iron stylus

1The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart And on the horns of their altars,  2As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills.  3O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty, Your high places for sin throughout your borders.  4And you will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance That I gave you; And I will make you serve your enemies In the land which you do not know; For you have kindled a fire in My anger Which will burn forever.  – Jeremiah 17:1-5
  • Our hearts are described as a hard stone tablet engraved with a diamond-tipped stylus.
  • Sin is permanently engraved on these hearts of stone.
  • Sin is pictured as choice we repeatedly make against God; an inescapable, inevitable part of our lives apart from God.

Metaphor 2: The tree contrasted with the bush

5Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD.   6For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant.  7Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD.   8For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit. – Jeremiah 17:5-8
  • Sin is pictured as your orientation toward God (turned toward him or away from him).
  • The bush (turned away from God) lives in a salt desert, barely scraping by.
  • The tree (turned toward God) lives by a lush green stream and survives the drought.

Metaphor 3: The desperately sick heart

9The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?  10I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.  11″As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool.”  – Jeremiah 17:9-11
  • Sin is pictured as a virus that has spread throughout our hearts.
  • Rather than outward behavior, sin is pictured as a state we are in that we cannot fix ourselves.
  • Yet the Lord knows our hearts (verse 10) and intends to do something about it. (Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33)

What’s wrong with us?

What’s wrong with us? Total depravity.

1) Sin is the basic condition of our hearts.  Sin is who and what we are at our core.
2) Sin is relational. Sin has to do with your relationship with God.
3) Sin makes us blind to real life and blessings.
4) Sin as a disease and we are infected.

What’s the solution? Trusting in the blood of Christ to secure your forgiveness and redemption and the work of the Holy Spirit to give you a heart transplant.

Quotes from Richard Sibbes, The Tender Heart

In his sermon on the text of 2 Chronicles 34 where God answers King Josiah because his heart is tender, Richard Sibbes writes:

“It is not enough to have the heart broken.  A pot may be broken in pieces and be good for nothing.  And so may a heart be through terrors, sense of judgment and still not be like wax, pliable. The heart must be, not broken, melting. Tenderness of heart is brought about by an understanding of the tenderness and love that is in Christ.  A soft heart is made soft by the blood of Christ.”

He refers to a mythical metal called adamant that can only be melted when immersed in blood.

“Many say that adamant cannot be fire melted but only by blood.  I cannot tell whether this be true or no but I’m sure nothing will melt the hard heart of man but the blood of Christ, the passion of our blessed Savior.  When a man considers the love that God has shown in sending his son — doing such great things as he has done, giving of Christ to satisfy his justice, setting us free from hell, Satan, death, — the consideration of all this with the persuasion that we have an interest in this melts the heart and makes it become tender.”

He’s says that sin is a coldness and hardness of heart.  Our heart can be so hard and so cold that it doesn’t recognize the weight of sin engraved on it.  It might be dutiful but not delighting in God. But the work of the gospel is to warm and soften our hearts toward God.  So he writes:

“As when things are cold we bring them to the fire to heat and melt, so bring we our cold hearts to the fire of the love of Christ.  Consider we our sins against Christ and Christ’s love towards us.  Dwell on this!  Think what great love Christ has showed unto us.  How little we deserved and this will make our hearts to melt and be as pliable as wax before the sun. If thou wilt have this tender and melting heart, be always under the sunshine of the gospel.”

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.

Next: 06 Jeremiah 17:19-27 Does it matter if I take a break?

Previous: 04 Jeremiah 7:1-15 What is wrong with religion?

Series: Questions Jeremiah Answered

Resources: Jeremiah Resources

Scripture quotes are from the New American Standard Version of the Bible.

Photo used here under Flickr Creative Commons.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple and what that teaches us about Bible Study

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Scripture is almost silent on how Jesus spent his growing years. One of rare glimpses into the “lost years” of Jesus between his birth and the beginning of his public ministry is found in Luke 2:

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.  And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it,  but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.  Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.  And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.  When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.”  And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.  And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.  – Luke 2:41-52

Jesus as a 12-year old boy confounds the religious experts by the questions he asked and the answers he gave them.  How could a 12-year old astonish the best theologians of his day? Why was the knowledge of Jesus radically different than everyone else?

He was sinless.

The fall not only made our physical bodies frail and prone to disease, sin also confused and darkened our minds.  Theologians calls this problem the “noetic effect of sin” (from the Greek word for ‘mind’).  Sin impairs our ability to think clearly.

Of course, we still have the capacity for reason and rational understanding.  We can still pursue philosophy, science and wisdom with some success, but in our fallen state we make mistakes in our thinking both small and serious.   The old adage “To err is human” is a constant reminder of our fallen state.

But Jesus’s mind was not clouded by the noetic effect of sin.  His thinking was clear.  His logic impeccable.  His mind, thoughts, presuppositions and understanding were perfectly attuned to God.  Jesus at 12 wasn’t showing off.  He simply was not hampered by the effects of sin, and the result astounded the religious experts of his day.

The noetic effect of sin helps explains why two sincere bible-believing Christians can study the same passage of scripture using the same methodology and reach different conclusions.  We are errant.

While we have the same basic material to work with, and some may study more diligently or have more background and education, all of us remain affected by sin.  All of us make logical errors, jump to unwarranted conclusions and cling to wrong presuppositions.

To improve our Bible study, we must approach the text with humility, starting from the premise that my human understanding is flawed and willing to lay aside any presuppositions challenged by the text.

As Bob Smith wrote in Basics of Bible Interpretation:

Much Bible study is done to verify men’s preconceptions, since all of us bring our personal opinions and biases with us. But honesty demands that we start with a clean page on which God may write his thoughts. If we can use our sanctified imagination to put ourselves in the writer’s place and see things through his eyes, we will open up the windows of our minds to let in the light of God’s truth. If God has really spoken through the pen of the human author, let’s not try to rewrite the script. Proof-texting, i.e., quoting only those biblical texts which are useful to prove our own preconceived opinions and theological biases, is a favorite trick of the cultists and only succeeds in confusing the issue. We don’t want to play that game. On the other hand, it is truly remarkable what we can discover when we let God say what he has said. (- from Basics of Bible Interpretation by Bob Smith, chapter 4)

 

Photo Christ Among the Doctors by Matthias Stomer, Netherlands, 1600-1650 AD

Sin and academic perfection

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Sin and Academic Perfection | WednesdayintheWord.com
My mother maintained that she never received a grade below an A until working on her Ph.D.  Then — she told us — she received one B+ and it was the highest grade in the class.

That perfect academic record is the standard to which my brother and I were rigidly held. I almost made it. I graduated from high school with close to a 4.0, though I was neither the valedictorian nor the salutatorian.  I went to Stanford University, earned admission to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and graduated “With Distinction”. But I was so paranoid about achieving a less than perfect record that — free from my mother’s control —  I avoided my grades.

Back then, Stanford had a policy of not mailing grades to parents or students. If you wanted to know your grades, you had to physically retrieve them from an office. The coursework was hard. The competition intense. Everyone seemed to have a 4.0 or higher. I was competing against the best and the brightest, and I knew I would not come out on top of that heap.

But my mother would ask. In fact, about the only thing she asked about my college career was “how are your grades?”  I could truthfully answer: “I have no idea, they notify me if I fail anything,  No notifications — yet.”  It drove her crazy.

By my third year, she stopped asking and I decided it was safe to pick up my grades. I did earn a couple Bs along the way, but I didn’t tell her. I just mentioned that Phi Beta Kappa thing. She didn’t make time in her schedule to attend the induction ceremony where I officially signed the Phi Beta Kappa book and got my key.

After my mother died, my father found her college transcripts as he was cleaning out her office. Not only did she have several B’s, she had numerous C’s, D’s and even an F or two!  None of us ever knew the truth. The standard to which she held her children was higher than she reached. I took some satisfaction in learning I’d beaten her at her own grade game. But the satisfaction was small and fleeting. All through my academic career I rubbed shoulders with people smarter than I.  The standard was always higher than I could reach, no matter how high I made it or how I hard I tried.

Holiness is like that.

We like to maintain the facade that “any grade below an A is the highest in the class” and therefore good enough.

If I maintain the facade of middle-class morality — at least in public — someone somewhere looks worse on the outside than I do.   I can always point to someone down the chain and say: “I’m not as bad as him;” “I never did what she did;” “At least I haven’t — fill in the blank.”

The problem is it doesn’t matter.

It’s not what’s on the outside that counts. It’s what’s on the inside that counts. Inside we are all the same. The same sin that makes someone murder makes me hate or snap off cruel comments or thoughtless remarks or unkind critical judgments.

The standard of holiness is not my neighbor, the standard is the holiness of God.

Sin is sin. Everything below an A is still not an A. God does not grade on a curve.

But He does forgive.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.   Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),  and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.  – Ephesians 2:1-10

 

For more on this topic, please listen to the podcast.

Drawing the Doctrinal Line

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“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.  Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” – Matthew 10:32-34

It’s no secret that Christians disagree with each other.  Every week Christians all of over the world sing songs like “They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love” in separate groups because the groups have too many doctrinal differences to fellowship with each other.  Very few denominations, local churches and ministries can claim they have never faced a power struggle over theology or a division over doctrine.

So, which of our many differences should we worry about? 

After all, one person’s heresy is another person’s minor difference of opinion.

Should we throw people out of the local church for their views on creation?  Or women in positions of church leadership?   Or who can administer communion and how often it should be served?   What about the various forms of worship, music and liturgy, spiritual disciplines or even which movies to watch? Where are we free to disagree?  And where must we draw a line in the sand?

Truth is a highly valuable yet divisive commodity. 

If you are right in your opinion about X and I disagree with you, then I am wrong.  Truth-seekers cannot avoid that kind of division.   Christians do not believe that truth is relative or that it changes with the individual.

Truth is truth and anything else is a lie.  If I disagree with you, at least one of us is wrong.  While none of us can claim perfect understanding and all of us live with some uncertainty, disagreements within the church are inevitable.

What do we do then?  How should I respond when I disagree with the answers another genuine believer gives to questions of faith and practice?  Which issues are so critically important that we should draw a line and on which issues are we free to disagree?

Clearly, we must draw a line sometimes. 

Jesus called the Pharisees white-washed tombs (Matthew 23:27) and drove the money-changers from the temple (John 2:14-16).  The Apostle Paul publicly opposed the Apostle Peter when Peter’s actions compromised the gospel (Galatians 2:11-21).  The Apostle John called teachers who deny Jesus is the Christ liars (1 John 2:22).  In church history, Martin Luther drew a line that led to the Reformation — and many of us are glad he did.

Yet, just as clearly, we must not draw every line.

“Orthodoxy at all costs” can be just as dangerous as “peace at all costs”.  Jesus ate with tax-gatherers and sinners (Matthew 9:10-13).  Paul urged Timothy not to wrangle about words, but handle the truth accurately instead (1 Timothy 2:14-15).  Church history is littered with the debris of dubious battles, that hindsight reveals should never have been fought.

So where do we draw the line?  What is a “do or die,” “make or break” issue for Christians?

In his first letter, the Apostle John gives us two critically important questions — questions so fundamental to faith that we must answer them correctly or our salvation is in doubt; questions so fundamental we must not alter or abandon the answers or we have compromised the message of the gospel.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – 1 John 1:4-10

1) The first issue is our view of sin and righteousness.

John claims those of us  who follow Jesus Christ will have a healthy view of our sinfulness (1 John 1:4-2:11).  That is we will understand we are sinful before a holy God, and left to ourselves, we cannot change that fact.  We need a Savior.

Our view of sin is essential because it is one of the marks of saving faith.    Saving faith involves knowing that you are a sinner, grieving over your sinfulness, and longing to be free of your sin.  In church history, when a church begins to abandon the gospel, the first doctrine to go is usually the doctrine of sin.

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.  No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.  1 John 2:22-23

2) The second issue is our view of Jesus.

Just as we must understand our sinfulness, we must also know the only way to escape our sinfulness is by trusting in the blood of Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins.

Saving faith begins with knowing you are sinful and longing to be righteous, moves to realizing you cannot make yourself righteous, and ends with trusting that — even though God does not owe you anything — He sent his Son Jesus Christ to die in your place on the cross, to pay the penalty for you sin and secure your forgiveness.

Doctrine does not save us, but truth matters.  God communicated His plan of salvation through a message and we need to make sure we get His message right.

To be saved, you must know who Jesus is and what he did for you (Ephesians 2:1-10).

Instead of a line with issues above and below it, a better model is a circle with the cross and sin in the center.  The closer we are to the center of the circle (who is Jesus and what did He do for you), the more we must stand firm and refuse to compromise.  The farther we are from the center of the circle, the more freedom we have to disagree.

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Do believers sin?

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1 John 3:6: No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.

As a new Christian, I told another believer I was struggling with anger. She told me that I was not a genuine Christian because if I was, I wouldn’t sin this way.  When I asked her how she knew this was true, she read me 1 John 3 — particularly verse 6.

If her interpretation of this passage is correct, not only was I not a Christian then — I still am not a Christian now.  Is this what John is saying? How do we know?

When you discover two very different interpretations of the same passage in the Bible, how do you decide between them? 

Scholar A says the passage means X and scholar B says the passage means Y.  They both sound persuasive and both offer some compelling evidence, how do you know who’s right?  Or in my case, my young friend understands John to mean genuine believers no longer sin; and if they do sin, something is wrong.  How do I judge whether or not her understanding is right?

The 5 C’s of Bible Study

The 5 C’s of Bible Study are best tool for judging whether an interpretation of a passage. Using the 5 C’s let’s evaluate an interpretation of 1 John 3 which claims John believes genuine believers no longer sin.

Credible: understands the words, syntax & grammar according to their normal usage at the time the author wrote

Is it credible? Yes.  It does legitimately understand the words, grammar and syntax.  The interpretation is possible.

Comprehensive: explains each and every detail, even if the contribution is insignificant or stylistic

Is it comprehensive? Close, but not quite.  The language of this passage indicates that John is talking about something other than simply committing a sin.  When an author writing in New Testament Greek wants to talk about a repeated ongoing action, he uses present tense.  Notice some translations add “practice” (vs 4,8a,9a) to  indicates this.  An interpretation that claims believers no longer sin does not completely explain why John would use the present tense.

Coherent: fits the flow of thought in the passage and in the larger context of the chapter and book

Is it coherent with the flow of thought in the book?  No.  John makes other statements in this letter (e.g. 1:8-10 and 2:1-2) which imply that John thinks believers continue to sin.

Consistent: is consistent with information which is not in this book (the author’s other letters and the rest of Scripture)

Is it consistent with the rest of Scripture? No.  Many passages in New Testament clearly teach that Christians sin (Rom 7:14-24 for one).  Additionally pick any Old Testament hero of the faith (Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon,….) and we have narratives which record their sin.

Conforms: to the author’s purpose and the author’s plan

Does it conform with the author’s intended purpose?  I don’t think so. John is providing another test by which to discern true Christians from false teachers (note 3:10).  We can tell not only by the doctrine they teach (2:22-26),  we can also tell by the morality they practice. Eventually their lifestyle will give them away.  Up to this point John has been greatly concerned with our attitude toward and response to sin, not whether or not we struggle with sin.  He assumes we struggle with.  Our response to that struggle says something about the state of our faith.

 

God is light

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In 1 John, the Apostle John is writing to clarify the true gospel from the false gospels spreading through the early church.  His first point is God is holy and you are not (1 John 1:5-10).

If modern scholars were writing such a letter today, I suspect their first point would be “God is love.”

Yet it is misleading to teach a gospel that implies “God loves you just the way you are.”  It is more accurate to say, “God loves you in spite of who you are.”

While it is true God loves you, the message of the gospel is God loved you even though you are sinful.  God loves you enough to die for you while you are in rebellion to Him, and deserving of His judgment (Romans 5:6-10). To teach that God loves you without also teaching God is holy and you are not is a misleading gospel.  The problem of our sinfulness must be solved.

The message of the gospel is not “love wins”.  The message of the gospel is “Jesus saves.”

Any gospel which minimizes our sinfulness before a holy God is not the true gospel.

Listen to the Rest Listen for a deeper explanation

09 Romans 6:15-7:6 Grace and the Law

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Romans 6:15-7:6 | WednesdayintheWord.com
When my first child was born, I joined a support group for parents of children ages birth to 3, hoping to find friends with newborns (and to learn something about parenting, since they neglected to give me a manual when I left the hospital).

At my first meeting a guest speaker — a psychologist straight of out psych school with no children of her own –spoke on teaching toddlers “healthy attitudes toward food.”  She maintained that children covet dessert  rather than vegetables because we teach them dessert is special.   Her premise was that using dessert as a reward teaches children to value dessert over meat and vegetables.

Her advice to us eager new moms was serve dessert during the meal right along side the green beans.  AND, like magic, our children would naturally choose some of each when they were old enough to eat at the table.

While I never tried this advice with my children, I always wondered what happened when she had kids of her own.

“Choosing dessert first” is the central question Romans 6:15-7:6.

Objection:

If I am no longer under the threat of the law, then I have no incentive not to sin?  So, if I have no threat of punishment, why can’t I “eat dessert first?”

Answer:

There may no longer be eternal punishment for eating dessert first, but you will still get fat.

Explanation:

Romans 6 is part of the “Q&A” following the Paul’s presentation of the gospel in Romans 1-5.

In Romans 6:1-11, Paul answered the first question:  Should we pursue sin so that God has more to forgive and God will be more glorified?  Paul says no because grace includes more than forgiveness.  Grace includes breaking the power of sin in our lives and giving us the hope of the glory of God (holiness).  To pursue sin would make a mockery of God’s grace.

Romans 6:15 asks the second challenge to the gospel.  “All right, Paul, we will grant you that we should not pursue sin.  But your gospel does not provide any incentive to avoid sin.  Your gospel eliminates the one effective incentive we have: punishment.   The law clearly spells how ‘do this & live, don’t do this and die.’    This incentive is explicit in the Law but removed by your gospel.  Thus your gospel is a license to sin.”

Paul’s answer: Under the gospel, there is still an incentive to avoid sin: death.  When we sin, we experience death (Romans 6:16-23).  For most of us, our weariness of the death in our lives drove us to God in the first place and it still provides the incentive not to sin.

Furthermore, the Law was never an effective deterrent to sin, because under Law, we had no resources (other than our own broken sinfulness) to fulfill the Law.   Thus, rather than eliminating our sin, it promoted our sinfulness (Romans 7:1-6).

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.

Next: 10 Romans 7:7-25 Law and Sin

Previous: 08 Romans 6:1-14 Grace and Slavery to Sin

Series: Romans: Justification by Faith

Study: Romans Resources

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08 Romans 6:1-14 Grace and Slavery to Sin

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Romans 6:1-14 | WednesdayintheWord.com
If I could only study one section of the Bible, it would be Romans 5-8.  Understanding these chapters changed my life forever.

In Romans 1-5, Paul argues for justification by faith:  He argued that everyone has sinned;  that no one — not the pagan, the moralist or the religious person  — can keep the law.  Because the law requires that we keep all of it perfectly with our whole heart all the time — a standard we all fall woefully short of.

The path to justification is trusting that God will make you holy because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for your sins on the cross.  Paul concluded his argument by claiming that you now have a reason to boast because God has chosen you to be made complete, perfect and holy and that Jesus perfectly solved the problem of our sinfulness.   God did not choose between two equal choices (wrath or mercy), but His mercy triumphed and prevailed over judgment.

Romans 6-11 function as the “Q&A after the lecture ” where Paul responds to questions intended to discredit the gospel.

In Romans 6:1-11, Paul tackles the first objection:  Shall we sin that grace might increase?  The spirit behind the question is: “So Paul, aren’t you saying that we should pursue sin that grace might increase?  Your gospel implies we should seek to sin!  Since no prophet of God would speak a message that implies we ought to continue in sin, you cannot be a prophet of God and your gospel message is wrong.”

Objection:

Our primary objective is to glorify God.
God is glorified when given the opportunity to demonstrate His grace.
Paul claims that forgiving our sins and justifying us is part of the gift of God’s grace.
The more sinfulness God has to forgive, the greater grace He can demonstrate.
Therefore, we should keep sinning, so that God can show His grace.
We know it can’t be true that God will benefit if we pursue evil , so Paul, your gospel is false.

Answer:

Absolutely not!  Part of God’s grace is being set free from slavery to sin.
If we continue to pursue the very thing from which God set us free, we mock God’s gift.
It would not glorify God to imply that His gift doesn’t work.

The promise of the gospel is NOT that we will have victory over every daily battle of sin in our lives right now.  The promise is that ultimately, one day, we will win the war.  The victor in the final battle has already been declared and sin is going to lose, even if it wins the skirmish in the next five minutes.  So when sin defeats me, it does not negate the truth that the power of sin in my life has been broken by the cross.  It means that the power of sin being broken in my life has not yet been fully realized.

For more detail and explanation, please listen to the podcast.

Next: 09 Romans 6:15-7:6 Grace and the Law

Previous: 07 Romans 5:12-21 Grace Abounds

Series: Romans: Justification by Faith

Study: Romans Resources

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