Sin: Missing The Target

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)

In the Bible the word "sin" is being translated from the Greek "hamartia" or "hamartano". It literally means "to miss the mark", like when an archer shoots an arrow and misses his target. Figuratively, sin is missing the mark of God's perfect law, a failure to obey.

Hamartia/Hamartano

literally "to miss the target"

to be without a share in

to make a mistake or error

to wander from the right path

to break God's law; to sin

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12)

In theology, we use a term called imputation when we talk about sin being transferred from Adam to us, or from us to Christ, and the transferral of Christ's righteousness to us through our faith in Him.

Imputation: the attribution of righteousness, guilt, etc, to a person or persons vicariously; ascribed as derived from another"

Adam's sin was passed to his kids, like a hereditary disease. They passed it down to all humanity through the ages. Then God transferred the sins of believers to Christ on the cross so that our sins would be justly punished by God's wrath. Then Christ's righteousness is transferred to those who are believing in Him for eternal life. That's imputation in a nutshell. Thank God that He imputed our sins to Christ on the cross. Thank God He imputes Christ's righteousness to us. We would all be doomed without this imputation.

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

Sin is lawlessness, rebellion against the law of God, which is rebellion against God Himself. All sin is a failure to worship God correctly, a failure to give God the respect and obedience that is due to Him. Sin is idolatry, the worship of a false god. Sinning against God is like telling Him that He is not your God, that you are the one who determines your own behavior, you are your own god. Self-worship and self-governance is idolatry. Every human being is guilty of this. None of us are hitting the target of God's perfect holy standard. We have all missed the mark and fallen short of perfection.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)

"Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." (1 John 3:4)

But Jesus Christ lived a perfectly obedient life. He had to be perfect and sinless because we aren't. We need His perfect righteousness to be imputed to us because perfect righteousness is required of anyone who would enter the kingdom of God.

"So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him." (John 8 28-30)

"If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1)

Jesus Christ is the only human who was ever sinless. He had to be sinless so that His perfect life could be imputed to us who believe. His sacrificial death on the cross atoned for our sins and caused them to be wiped out, but at best this would only leave us in a neutral position, still not having the required righteousness to enter the kingdom of God. We must also have His perfect righteousness transferred to our account. His sacrificial death took away our sins, but His perfect life granted us access to God. Perfect righteousness is required of us.

"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

For us this may be impossible, but not for Jesus Christ the righteous. He did it. He lived a perfectly righteous life. He never did anything that the Father was displeased with, not even once. He was the ultimate sacrifice, the fulfilment of the Jewish sacrificial lamb. He lived perfectly, kept the law perfectly, and died perfectly, all according to prophecy. He was the passover Lamb.

"Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight" (Exodus 12:6)

"For you to be accepted—it must be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you." (Leviticus 22:19-20)

"The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29)

"If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:17-19)

"For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7)

"And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

'Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.'

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”

And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped." (Revelation 5:6-14)

Do you understand how thankful you should be to Jesus? These heavenly creatures are doing the right thing when they fall to their face and worship Him. We should all be doing the same thing every day, and indeed we will spend eternity worshiping Him. Jesus' perfection gets transferred to believers through our faith in Him. We are perfect in Him because He is perfect. We are pleasing to God because Christ is pleasing to God, and we are in Christ. When the Father looks at us, He sees His perfect Son, instead of a disgusting sinner. It will take forever to thank Him for what He has done.

"Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.'" (Romans 4:1-8)

In Matthew 5:17-48, Jesus magnifies the necessity of perfect righteousness and obedience. The scribes and Pharisees were the experts in the Jewish law. They outwardly followed it to the letter, and would have lengthy debates about the law so that they would be certain not to break it. One famous debate among the rabbis was whether an egg may be eaten if the hen laid it on the sabbath. This kind of legalism and works-based righteousness still exists today among the religions, especially Judaism. Is it considered work if you walk around with something in your pocket on the Sabbath? We'd better remove all pockets from our clothing just in case. That's how legalism goes. But removing pockets and abstaining from eggs does not make you righteous, it only magnifies your imperfection for having to go to such lengths. Avoiding pockets and eggs doesn't remove your sinful nature. It doesn't stop you from sinning in your heart. You can make all sorts of rules but it will not solve your actual problem, which is that you're a sinner and you deserve death and hell. Even the things we think are good and righteous are actually disgusting to God because it's still being performed by a sinner.

"For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)

"All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6)

Jesus had a way of magnifying things and showing you that even when you think you're doing it right, you are still sinning because it's not just about doing the letter of the law, it's about your heart, your motivations, your attitude.

"You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." (Matthew 5:21-22)

"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28)

Jesus says murder begins with anger. When you get angry at someone, you're already guilty of murder in your heart. Adultery was also thought to be an outward action, but looking at a woman lustfully means you're already guilty of doing the deed, even if it's just a momentary sinful thought. He magnified the law and made it so even people who think they're good because they've never murdered anyone or cheated on their wife, and thought that they've followed the law perfectly, even they are guilty because their heart is still sinful. Who can withstand that judgement? We are all guilty. We all need Christ's perfect, righteous, sinless life to be credited to us.

In the following section of Matthew 22, Jesus had just finished dismantling the incorrect teachings of the Sadducees, and the crowd was amazed at Jesus' clarity of thought and the authority that He had when He taught. The legalists always seemed to be hanging around in the background listening to Him and challenging Him. Jesus consistently turned their objections upside-down and showed them their faults in the most brilliant ways. Jesus is the most intelligent human who ever lived. Einstein has nothing on the Son of God.

"When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies beneath Your feet”’?

If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question. (Matthew 22:33-46)

Jesus did this frequently.

"When He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." (Matthew 21:23-17)

These experts of religion and law were always questioning Jesus and getting these amazing answers from Him that would just leave them speechless. These were considered the most righteous men, and Jesus would shut them down every time by showing them their sin and hypocrisy. Even the priests who religiously washed themselves, and did the sacrifices and the repetitive prayers, and all of those outwardly religious things, they were still inwardly unclean, unrighteous, unholy, unworthy, ungodly, and still in need of a Savior.

"As it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one'" (Romans 3:10)

"There is no one who does good" (Psalm 53:1)

"Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Psalm 53:3)

We have all missed the target. But Jesus came down and hit a perfect bull's-eye. He won! He's the Champion! No one is good except Jesus Christ the righteous. He's the only One who could succeed at being perfect. Only He can grant us access to the perfect Father. Without faith in Him, you are dead in your sin. Through faith in Him, we have eternal life. Our faith is counted as righteousness. How thankful should we be to Christ? How much reverence should we have for Him? How much of our lives should we give to Him? How closely should we follow Him? How much should we worship Him?

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11)

Thanks for reading. God bless.