The child desires to
do things and does them and knows no reason why he should
not do so. The enlightened person desires to do and does
even though he knows a good reason why he should not so
do. The one is innocent, the other guilty. Both
transgress, but only one is imputed guilty. It is
knowledge that gives quality to intent. The acts of a
child can possess no moral quality, for there is no
knowledge, which alone supplies the data for choice. His
relation with God is passive and his acts, no matter what
they are, do not affect it. The relation of the adult is
active so far only as his knowledge goes, but thus far it
is affected wholly by the acts or choices of his will, and
every act into which choice enters affects that relation;
but accident, things done in delirium or sleep, or through
misapprehension, cannot affect him morally, since they do
not involve the will or choice in a morally wrong way.
These truths are clearly
set forth in the New testament. Paul says, "By the
law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). Again, he
says, "I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had
not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not
covet" (chapter 7:7). In verse 13 it is clearly shown
that knowledge brings guilt. He says, "That sin by
the commandment might become exceeding sinful." In
chapter 4:15 he says, "Where no law is, there is no
transgression," and in chapter 5:13 he says,
"But sin is not imputed when there is no law."
In other words, a person can be responsible for his acts
and become guilty thereby only as he has knowledge of the
quality of those acts. It is knowledge of the righteous
principles involved that brings him to the place where he
can intelligently set as a moral being, where he can
choose between right and wrong in a manner to make him
responsible for that choice. Paul says that "without
the law sin was dead," that is powerless. He
continues, "For I was alive without the law once: but
when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died"
(Romans 7:9). The coming of the commandment means the
coming of it to his understanding. He became enlightened
by the commandment, and that changed his relations
entirely. Through the coming of the commandment, sin,
which had been dead, or powerless, revived, and the
"I," who had been "alive without the
law," died because of the knowledge that the law
brought him. He says elsewhere, "The strength of sin
is the law" (I Corinthians 15:56). The law gave a
knowledge of the moral quality of acts and of purposes;
gave a standard of right and wrong. Responsibility to that
standard became immediate. This responsibility gave sin
its opportunity. The child chooses to do many things in
his unenlightened state that are in themselves violations
of the moral law, but sin is not imputed to him, since he
is not in a position to choose from moral considerations.
He considers only his desires. He can consider nothing
else, for he knows nothing else. Until he is enlightened,
there can be no quality in choice; but as soon as he
becomes enlightened, choice at once has quality, and his
purposes then become either good or bad.
When Sin Is Imputed
Sin is imputed only
when there is involved the active or passive consent of
the will to do wrong. In the last analysis, sin is always
rebellion against God. It is choosing and willing that
which we believe to be wrong, to be contrary to God's will
or law. Nothing else is sin or can be sin under the New
Testament definition. Sin always involves intentionality.
It is always a choice of that which is believed to be
wrong, and always discloses a wrong attitude of the heart
toward the right. The choosing of the evil may be done
without consideration, or it may be done after
consideration, but in either case the act is the result of
choosing evil. Sometimes we do things with a good intent,
and they do not turn out as we expect them to do.
Sometimes we feel bad over the outcome, but we should not
condemn ourselves as having sinned. God does not look at
the outcome; he looks at the purpose. It is only when
choice rebels against what we believe to be the will of
God that we become sinners.
Sometimes there is a
twofold intent in action - an immediate intent and one
more remote. We may desire to see something accomplished
that would be very good, and we purpose to do that good
thing, but in choosing means to the end, we may choose
that which is evil. This involves two choices - the choice
of the end (remote choice) and the choice of the means by
which that end is to be attained (immediate choice).
Sometimes it is held that the end justifies the use of
wrong means, or that it is lawful to attain the end by the
use of any means. This is untrue. Both the immediate and
the remote choice must be good, or sin is involved.
Speaking on this point, Paul says, "For if the truth
of God hath abounded through my lie unto his glory, why
yet am I also judged as a sinner, and not rather, (as we
be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,)
Let us do evil that good may come?" (Romans 5:7,8).
Here he plainly teaches that even though the object aimed
at is good, if the means used are improper, a person is
judged as a sinner. To do evil that good may come is evil
in the sight of the Lord. All intent, therefore, that
enters into action must be pure.
Effects of Sin
Sin affects moral
relation and conscience, both or either. When moral
relations are affected, these relations must be restored;
and when conscience is affected, it must be satisfied.
Acts sometimes involve the conscience when they do not
change the moral relation nor violate any principle of
righteousness; that is, a person may do certain things in
good faith, not questioning their moral quality, either
before or at the time of acting, but supposing them to be
right, and afterward may come to consider them wrong. In
such a case God does not impute the acts as sin, though
the person may sometimes feel as though he had sinned. To
restore the spiritual repose under such circumstances, it
is necessary only to satisfy the conscience. When moral
relations are disturbed by transgressions, there must be
such repentance and reconciliation as will fully restore
these relations, at least so far as the transgressor and
God are concerned. If fellow men are involved, they may
refuse to be reconciled, but in such a case the sinner is
clear when he has done his part to effect such
reconciliation.
Three Ways to Sin
Under the New
Testament there are three ways, and only three, to commit
sin. These include everything that God counts sin. The
first way is by the willful transgression of a known
divine law. John says, "Whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression
of the law" (I John 3:4). When we give the consent of
our will to do that which we know to be wrong, we sin. As
already pointed out, things done by accident, under
compulsion, or in any way except where the will is
involved, where the will chooses to do that which it knows
to be wrong, are not now imputed as sin.
The second way to sin is
thus expressed by James: "Therefore to him that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is
sin" (James 4:17). This implies a refusal to do what
we know we ought to do. Such a refusal involves the will.
Things left undone through lack of knowledge of duty are
not sin; things omitted because there is not power to do
them is not sin. It is implied that we could do if we
would, but that we refuse to do, that the not doing is
because off choosing not to do, and not from any other
cause.
The third way of sinning
is by violating the conscience or by doing that which we
believe to be wrong, outside of the things commanded in
the Bible. Paul lays down the principle covering this when
he says, "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus,
that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that
esteemeth anything unclean, to him it is unclean"
(Romans 14:14). Again, he says, "All things indeed
are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with
offense" (verse 20). "Happy is he that
condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.
And he that doubteth is damned [condemned] if he eat,
because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of
faith is sin" (verses 22, 23). According to the
principle already laid down, an act is right or wrong
according as the choice involved is right or wrong, and
not according to the intrinsic value of the act itself. If
we believe a thing to be wrong morally, no matter whether
the Bible says anything about it or not, and we choose
that thing, our choice is involved in a wrong way and
becomes evil; and therefore the deed, since it gets its
quality from choice, becomes evil.
These are the only three
ways in which a person can sin according to the New
Testament. In every case where sin is imputed, the act
must be willful; that is, a wrong or supposed wrong must
be deliberately chosen. Nothing else is sin or can be. All
conduct must be judged by this rule; it is the only true
standard. It is an accurate and true standard, and never
varies in its application.
The testimony of those
who say that they are Christians,�but that they sin
more or less every day, implies one of two things - either
that they are willingly and willfully disobedient, and
could obey if they would but do not do so from choice, or
that God demands of them what they are unable to do even
with the grace that he gives. Either is a serious charge,
reflecting severely on man or God. If man can do right and
will not, he becomes exceedingly sinful. He is an outright
rebel, setting up his will before the will of God. If he
says that God demands too much of him and that try as he
will, using all the grace that God gives, he is still
unable to be obedient, then he charges God foolishly. He
charges God with being unjust; for God would be highly
unjust if he should require of us that which we could not
do. The man who says that he is a Christian and then
admits he sins more or less every day, must take one or
the other of the horns of this dilemma. Let him look this
subject squarely in the face; let him consider it in all
its bearings; and then let him look up into the face of
God and say whether he can be a Christian and sin in view
of these facts, that is, whether he can continue sinning
and at the same time continue to be a Christian.
When Christians Sin
The normal Christian
life has already been illustrated from the Scriptures. It
is not needful to repeat that here. I will, however, call
attention to the picture drawn by Paul in the sixth
chapter of Romans: "Reckon ye also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,
as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as
instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not have
dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under
grace. Being then made free from sin, ye became the
servants of righteousness. But now being made free from
sin, and become servants unto God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life" (verses
11-14, 18, 22). This is positive and explicit, and needs
only to be read with care.
It is true that in this
world we are surrounded by temptations and may sin at any
time; but if we do sin, we are at once brought under
condemnation. There is but one way to be absolved, and
that is by repentance and confession. If we sin, God will
never forget it; the record will not fade out of his book
of remembrance; time will neither condone it nor remove
its guilt. God's "mercy endureth forever," but
mercy ripens into forgiveness only when there is penitence
and confession. Impenitence greatly aggravates sin. It
causes the heart to be hardened and finally to be set in
an attitude of stubbornness and rebellion. Many times
people sin and think that they will repent in some revival
meeting some time later, and be restored to God. This is
utter folly. Repentance should be immediate. Neglect is
always a form of rebellion. When a Christian sins, the
Spirit immediately tries to bring him to repentance. If he
refuses or neglects to repent, he is holding himself in a
sinful attitude and may thus greatly increase his sin. God
is kind and merciful. He desires a reconciliation as much
and even more than is possible for us to desire it. When
one has sinned, the thing to do is to come to God in
open-hearted confession. Form a habit of being
open-hearted with God, of being on familiar terms with
him. Treat him as you would your very dearest friend. He
will always have mercy on our sins if we will be truly
penitent and seek him with all our hearts. He has said,
"If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous: and he it he propitiation for
our sins" (I John 2:1, 2).
