Have you ever been called a “sinner”? I have.
How did it sit with you? Were you offended? Outraged?
Did you try to dismiss it like it wasn’t a big deal? Or did you accept it as true?
We seem to have a confused relationship with the word, “sinner.” I’ve met people who, when confronted with the indictment of that word, will deflect and champion their own goodness. Alternatively, I’ve seen others embrace the title, “sinner,” as a trophy; displaying it like a biker tattoo in large, gold letters on the back of their shirt.
Our movies and television shows seem to deal with the brand “sinner” in an equally confused way. At times, sinfulness is glorified and applauded in our popular media. We seem to love a hero who is also a “bad boy” – one who carries secret sins in his past. At other times, movies and t.v. programs dismiss the label as puritanical.
I think it’s safe to say that none of wants to be thought of as a sinner. We want to be thought of as a good person. But what does it mean to be a “good” person?
We usually defend our goodness in one of two ways:
- We give greater weight to our good deeds over our bad.
- We favorably compare our behavior to that of people like Adolf Hitler or the pedophile on the evening news.
The blunder inherent in this kind of thinking is to begin with ourselves as the moral standard of right and wrong. When we make ourselves (our own opinions, values and behavior) the standard by which we judge right and wrong, we create an unreliable and subjective standard.
This is a relative standard of goodness as opposed to an absolute and objective standard.
Is Morality Just Imaginary?
But if there is no absolute and objective moral standard by which we measure right and wrong, then the idea of “sin” becomes an illusion. This means that morality is an invention of our own minds and that no behavior is objectively better or worse than another.
This means that right and wrong are in the eye of the beholder.
However, our own consciences bear witness that to us right and wrong are real things. This is probably most apparent when we are wronged by others. When someone lies to us, we know that person has done wrong. If someone steals from us, we believe that person deserves to be punished for his crime. When we are wronged, we never question whether right and wrong are true things. When we seek justice, we do not believe justice to be an artificial or imaginary construct. The fact that we have a Justice System proves that we believe right and wrong to be real, objective truths that exist outside of our own imaginations, and which are not arbitrary.
So Where Does Our Morality Come From?
Our innate sense of moral right and wrong comes from our being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and bearing that stamp of his moral character on our hearts. Each of us are born with a God-given sense of morality. When you and I commit wrong, our own conscience accuses us. When we do good, our conscience testifies that we have done good.
The biblical writer, Paul, confirms this in his letter to the church in Rome. In Romans 2:14-15 he says, “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them”
We as human beings are born with an understanding of right and wrong because that understanding originated with our Creator. This is what Paul means when he says, “the work of the law is written on their hearts.” God gave each of us a conscience that is predisposed to sense right and wrong.
In other words, we are moral beings because our Creator is a moral being.
God is the Moral Standard, Not Us
This is where our conversations about sin and whether we qualify as sinners should begin. Our understanding should begin with our personal acknowledgement of a Creator God who cares about and enforces right and wrong because he is good. This perspective elevates our understanding above our own personal opinions of morality, which can morph and twist with each person and circumstance.
The bible teaches that God is perfectly good in every sense of the word. There is no trace of evil in him. In his essence and at his very core, God is holy. The word holy is, in part, a description of God’s moral perfection.
Job 34:10 says, “Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to do wrong.”
This is reinforced in Habakkuk 1:13, which says of God, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor.”
The Bad News
We, however, are not morally perfect – far from it. The bible teaches that human sin began with our first parents. Adam and Eve were the first to violate the commandments of a holy, perfect, and eternal God. This is what is known as original sin. As a result of their transgression, and as those who were given dominion by God over his creation, Adam, Eve, and all of creation were cursed with the curse of death – first spiritual, then physical.
God condemned Adam and Eve to a spiritual and physical death, saying, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you,… By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17,19)
As descendants of Adam and Eve, you and I are born under the consequence of that original sin that earned them God’s curse.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners… (Romans 5:12,19)
This means that, unlike Adam’s nature before he sinned, we are not born with a neutral disposition with regard to sin. Rather, we are born with an inherent proclivity toward sinful behavior. Our hearts, souls, minds and wills have been corrupted by sin to the degree that, if left to ourselves, we naturally run toward sin and not away from it.
…For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-12)
This state is what has come to be known as total depravity. We must not misunderstand the term total depravity to mean that we are as evil as we can possibly be. That would be utter depravity, which would mean that we were so utterly consumed by evil that we were incapable of even the smallest act of goodness. However, the bible affirms that even people who are fallen by nature can still do good deeds.
Matt 7:11 says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
Jesus’ words acknowledge mankind’s fallenness while affirming his capacity for goodness. Any of us can feed the hungry, give to the poor, or help our elderly neighbor carry her groceries.
To be totally depraved, however, means simple that there is not a single part of our being that has not been affected by the corruption of sin.
God’s law forbids us from lying, but from the time we are very young, we lie. God commands against stealing, yet all of us have stolen; either candy from a store or media off the internet – because that is our inclination.
This is what it means to be a sinner. It means that, because of our born sin-nature, you and I have broken God’s law and stand guilty, deserving of punishment. Because our crime is against an eternal being, our punishment is eternal torment separated from our Creator in Hell.
But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil… (Romans 2:8-9)
The Good News
But even though God is holy, perfect, righteous, and just; he is also merciful, gracious, loving, and kind. God, through his mercy, created a way for you and I to be pardoned from the condemnation of our sin.
He sent his Son, Jesus, to take the punishment we deserve on our behalf so that he could pour out his mercy and grace upon those who recognize their guilt and seek Jesus as the one who alone can rescue them from God’s just judgment.
The only way to be freed from the judgment we deserve is to admit our own fallenness before a holy God, repent of our sin, and believe in Jesus. When we do that, Jesus’ righteousness is transferred (imputed, to use a legal term) to us. When Jesus’ payment is credited to our account, God no longer looks upon us as violators of his law. Our fine is paid. We are no longer his enemy.
In that moment, by the power of the Spirit of God, our nature is changed from one of enmity to obedience. Our hearts now run toward God rather than away from him.
The bible explains this event perfectly when it says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)
So what about you? If you’ve heeded the words of this article, then you recognize that you’re a sinner like the rest of us. If you died today, would you stand guilty before God because of your unpaid debt of sin? Or will you choose the forgiveness that Jesus offers through his perfect work on the cross, place your total trust in him, and make him your Savior and Lord?
If you have not already, please put your trust in him this very hour!
~Tim Baker