Lutheranism 101 - Part 6 - Sin

Before we dive into the First Commandment I would like to look at the whole issue of sin. We see the effects of sin all around us. We see death and destruction, we see earthquakes and weeds and pimples. These are all the results of sin. At the same time sin is something that people today don't want to deal with. It is an offensive word. It is not politically correct to refer to people as sinners, instead words like mistake or misunderstood are used. Sin you could say is a dirty word, but it is also a Scriptural word. So what do we mean when we use the word sin?
The Catechism defines it as every thought, desire, word, and deed which is contrary to God's Law. It is in other words every imperfect thing that we do. Other names for sin include disobedience, debts, wickedness, rebellion, fault, trespass, and wrong. Like I said it is a dirty word.
The next question is how did sin get here? Scripture tells us that Satan brought it into the world by tempting Adam and Eve who gave into the temptation and disobeyed God. We all know the story of the Fall of Man that happened in the Garden of Eden.
When we talk about sin we are really talking about two types of sin. There is original sin and actual sin. Original sin is what we inherited through our original parents Adam and Eve. Because of their disobedience we are all born sinners. It is like a disease that there is no cure for. The result of this original sin in our lives is that we are born with no fear or love of God. In other words we are born spiritually dead in sin. It separates us from God himself. This original sin also corrups all of nature. When you read the account of the Fall you see that the ground was cursed along with man. So every imperfection in life is the result of original sin.
Then as an outgrowth of our original sin we commit actual sins. Actual sins are things that we do, think, or say that are sinful. These are the sins that we and others see. Many times people concentrate on these actual sins and think well if I don't do this bad thing or that bad thing, then I am not a sinner, or at least I am not as bad a sinner as the person that does do those things. Our actual sins though are just symptoms of our original sin. A simple way to think about it is, because we are sinners we sin. Whether we committed any actual sins or not we would still be sinners. Just like even if a person who has cancer doesn't show symptoms they still have cancer. So when we confess our sins we are not just confessing our actual sins, but also the fact that we are by nature a sinner through and through. The ultimate result of our original sin is death.
There are two types of actual sin. There are the sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission are things that we do that we shouldn't do, like cursing or breaking a law. Sins of omission are things that we don't do that we should do, like not helping someone who is in need, or not taking care of our families. Both are equally bad and again are symptoms of our original sin. The important thing to remember about sin is that it leads to death both physically and spiritually.
When we realize our sinfulness that is when we need to hear the Gospel. The only answer or antidote to the disease of sin is the forgiveness that God gives us through His Son's death on the cross. The blood of Jesus washes away our sins and restores our relationship with God and gives us spiritual life. We are still going to die physically because of the effects of sin, but we are not going to die spiritually because we have forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus Christ. This is the whole Law/Gospel thing that we talked about in an earlier lesson
Here are some Bible verses concerning sin to look up: 1 John 3:4, 8; Romans 5:12; Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:19; Ephesians 2:3; Genesis 8:21; Ephesians 2:1; Galatians 5:19; Matthew 15:19; James 1:15; James 4:17
Here is a question for you: If Jesus has already forgiven all of our sins, then why do we need to keep confessing them?

Pastor Fred