What is sin

I’ve heard that the common definition of sin is “to miss the mark.” There’s a target, a perfect legal standard, and when we fail to live up to the standard we’ve committed sin. But is that accurate?

There are two strikes against this definition. First, the word is introduced in Genesis 4:7, not as a legal requirement, but on analogy to a wild animal crouching before Cain, ready to pounce and kill him. Second, Paul uses the word in a cosmic sense in Romans and elsewhere in ways that make it sound like an active agent.

There’s a great mystery in the origin of cosmic evil, but it’s not a topic that the Bible addresses. It’s assumed from page one that evil exists and is active in God’s cosmos. What’s more, the narrative of the Bible depicts Sin as an irresistible master. Jesus comes to rescue us from it’s clutches, like the children of Israel were rescued from Pharaoh’s. And it’s so closely tied to spiritual forces of evil that it’s sometimes unclear whether the active agent is Sin or Satan.

Why does this matter? If our view of sin is primarily that it’s a failure to comply to a legal statute, we’ll think of it as inert and powerless. We might conclude that we have an inherent propensity towards sin, but we wouldn’t consider that Sin itself draws us into its net. We’ll bemoan our fallen nature but look no further. But if Sin is an active force, then we don’t merely resist the temptation to do what is not good; we’re actually under attack by an evil force. Resistance isn’t merely saying no to ourselves, it is warring against a cosmic power. Our battle is not only to resist urges, it is to subdue an enemy and former master.

TODO: Consider this poem and meditation about Moloch found in Maggie Appleton’s Programming Portals of all places.