Hello.
Jesus often talked about sin, but he never said what sin is. This may have been because he was speaking to Jewish people in the 1st Century, and those Jewish people knew what sin was: it was disobedience to the Old Testament law – the law of Moses, as Jesus usually called it. So, should we, today, take care to obey every command of the law of Moses? No. We don’t need to. Jesus said all the laws in the law of Moses could be summed up in just two simple laws; we must love God and love our fellow humans.
I think that these two simple laws are written on our hearts. I think they are written on the heart of every human being. Let’s look at the second command, that we should love our fellow human beings. We all know, deep in our hearts, we should be loving towards other human beings, and not be selfish. We know that looking after others is good behavior. We know that a person who is kind and generous to others is a good person. We also know that being selfish is bad behavior. We all know that selfish behavior is wrong.
So, what is sin?
Sin is selfishness and selfishness is sin.
I think it’s that simple.
We all do things that are selfish sometimes. Of course we do. I don’t think Jesus is too concerned about our being selfish sometimes, as long as we recognize that we have been selfish and do whatever is necessary to heal any hurts that have been caused to others by our selfishness.
What Jesus is concerned about is when we practice sin.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, every person who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)
Jesus says a person who practices sin is a slave to sin. We all sin. But we are not slaves to sin unless we practice sin. What does it mean to practice sin? It means we know what we are doing is wrong, but we keep on doing it and we are not prepared to change our ways. If we really want to change our ways, and if we admit in prayer that we have been selfish, and if we pray that our loving, heavenly Father will work in our hearts to change our ways, then our loving Father will free us from practicing sin. Prayer is really important in this. We must, with all our heart, confess that we are being selfish, surrender ourselves to our loving Father, and ask him to change our ways. Then it will happen. It may not happen overnight, but if we persist in praying that we will stop practicing sin, it will happen.
Incidentally, if you think you are practicing a sin, and you want to stop and you sincerely and repeatedly pray that our Father will enable you to stop, but you don’t stop – you might want to think about whether the thing that is worrying you is really a sin. Pray about that.
Jesus said we are all sinners and, therefore we should not judge or condemn others.
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7).
He also said that his followers must forgive the sins committed by others against them. He used particularly strong language when he said this, stating that if we do not forgive others, our heavenly Father will not forgive our sins:
“…if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
Jesus also tells us, in the strongest terms, to be very careful not to cause others to sin.
“but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6. See also Mark 9:42; Luke 17:1-2)
May our loving, heavenly Father bless us and strengthen us as we learn to love him, and love others, more.
Jesus is Lord.
Peter O
Related articles
“What does Jesus want his followers to do?”
“What did Jesus say about judging and condemning others?”
“How do I know if God thinks I’m good? Or bad?”
“The unforgiveable sin. Slandering the Holy Spirit”
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Interesting topic. Lately, I’ve been sharing how much ‘selfishness’ is our biggest enemy, an enmity toward God, perhaps. I’ve also heard ‘sin’ defined as separation from God, as in our relationship with Him; our “willingness” to behave in a way to please Him. Isn’t that what a healthy relationship strives for?
However, where does Y’Shua ever say that we no longer have to obey His commandments? In fact, doesn’t He plainly say that IF we love Him, we will obey them? Doesnt He say He changes “not one jot or tittle” of His Word? Is God not one to keep His Word, inerrantly without change? Is He not the same, yesterday, today & forever? Is His character not trustworthy? Doesn’t He say salvation is for those IF we endure till the end? Isn’t then salvation, our relationship, our walk in “living-out” His Word and therefore ‘good fruit’ our example of His Spirit within us, over our own spirit?
Regards,
mc
Hello Mike
Thanks for your comment and questions
Yes, Jesus said that if we love him, we will obey his commands. (John 14:15 and 21). In the passage in which he is recorded as saying “one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18 RSV), he is talking about the law of Moses, not his own words. This passage is not clear. Is he just talking to Jews? We don’t know. We do know that he said the whole of the law of Moses could be summed up in the two commands “Love God” and “Love others”. So that’s good news.
Yes, our loving heavenly Father does keep his word. Yes, he is completely trustworthy. Yes, Jesus did say that times of serious trouble were coming, but that the one who endures to the end of those troubles will be saved (Matthew 24:13). We must remember, however, that salvation is decided by Jesus and Jesus alone (see article “What did Jesus say about being saved?” in the “Jesus” section.)
I hope this helps. I’m happy to continue the discussion, here or by email. peter@followtheteachingsofjesus.com
May our loving heavenly Father bless you and keep you safe.
Peter O
Hi Peter,
Very interesting topic. Jesus tells some he healed to, “go and sin no more”.
Jesus also sends the Helper to convict the world of sin, John 16:8.
Let’s go way back to Genesis; Genesis 4:7 NKJV
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
When we are convicted of sin and we are struggling to let it go, and yes of course prayer is essential to loving God and not our sin.
John 3:19-21 ESV
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people LOVED the darkness rather than the light because their WORKS were evil. [20] For everyone who DOES wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his WORKS should be exposed. [21] But whoever does what is TRUE comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his WORKS have been carried out in God.”
When we are struggling we must take it to God to lead us out of sin. Jesus did come to take away our sin. Unfortunately we hold on to sin leading to struggles. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The prayer for this love to God helps in overcoming and ruling over sin.
Blessings in Christ.
Dave
I disagree with you on this topic:
(John 8:34-36)
Jesus says it is a person who practices sin who is a slave to sin. We all sin. We all act selfishly on occasions. But we are not slaves to sin unless we practice sin, that is we know that what we are doing is wrong, but we keep on doing it and we are not prepared to change our ways. If we confess our sin to God, repent (change our ways), and commit ourselves to obeying the teachings of the Son, then we will be freed from practicing sin. (Incidentally, if you think you are practicing a sin, and you want to stop and you sincerely and repeatedly pray that God will enable you to stop, but you don’t stop – you might want to consider whether the thing you are doing is really a sin.)
Here is why. Man is born to sin from Adam. The world, specifically satan, is a better deceiver than any human, and we all will fall to his lies and manipulations. Having Jesus is to have protection against satan targeting us for our sins. Nevertheless, because of Adam we are a slave to sin, meaning, we are alive and will commit sin because of the nature of man.
The act of repentance is not a waiver of sinning no more, it is a behavioral change to consciously decide not to sin again. Just like habitual behaviors (ex. chewing fingernails, although that is not a sin) we are generally not able to change “cold turkey”. Instead we must begin to be conscious about what we are doing, and make the decision we do not want it to happen again. Over time we can be successful in removing that habit from our lives, but satan is forceful and wants us to replace that habit with another. He will present alternatives that are similar for us to fall back into the trap. The same happens with sin, and continues to happen while our earthly bodies are in the realm of satan’s control. It is only through continued effort, with obvious continual failure, that we strive to be more like Christ.
–
So, to sum up my argument, we are not freed from practicing sin. We are given the salvation of Christ to empower us to break the cycle and repent of sin through conscious effort. (where our own efforts are weak, His power is strong)