I heard the results of a poll the other day concerning the most irritating words and phrases in English. Apparently, it is important that we know what irritates people I guess so that we might better irritate them. My own thoughts on that poll are: “Whatever…you know, it is what it is. Anyway, at the end of the day it’s fairly unique. But, I personally at this moment in time with all due respect don’t care, absolutely don’t care." So, are you irritated yet? You should be at least 12 times over according to the poll.
Well, if there was a poll on biblical words that people find irritating, at the top of the list for me would be the word "sin". It’s not that I have a problem with sin. It is that much of the Church for centuries has taught that sin is primarily a moral problem and in so doing has reduced the Christian faith and work of the Church to simply being the maintenance of morality in society. But, morality is not the primary business we, the church, are in. Our business is proclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord and that he has defeated sin and death by his death and provided a way for us to be healed from its effects both now and when we like him have been raised from the dead. To pretend that sin is primarily a moral problem is to do it the very great favour of underestimating the full extent of its power over us. If sin were just a problem of moral behaviour, then we would be able to take care of it ourselves by not doing it and doing good instead. If that is the case then what did Jesus die for? Was it just an example for us to follow where we do the moral good until it gets us crucified?
Usually, those who teach that sin is only a moral problem will explain Jesus death as simply being the means of forgiveness that gets us into heaven. For them forgiveness is simply a legal transaction that Jesus’ death secured for us by assuming upon himself the penalty of death we deserve for having offended God by our sinning. All we have to do is believe this legal fiction and we will find ourselves acquitted come judgment day and it’s off to Heaven we go. Friends, sin is bigger than simply being a moral problem and the forgiveness Jesus wrought by his death is more than a legal transaction that in no way touches our inner self that suffers because of it.
Sin is a relational problem, a relational disease more caustic and deadly than any cancer. Its death rate is 100%. It eats us up on the inside and eats away at our relationships. The forgiveness the Bible proclaims that Jesus wrought with his death is an internal act of grace in which we are healed of
inwardly of shame, guilt, hatred, hurt, and so on, the darknness that we carry deep within us because of sin. It is also an internal act of grace upon the network of our relationships that are so marred by our sinning. An integral part of the Gospel the Bible proclaims is that being healed of the internal and relational effects of sin is a result of God’s reign breaking forth here on earth now as it is in heaven.
Let’s return to the word “sin” for a moment. Part of my problem with the word sin is that it is right down to its etymological roots not the right word to use and unfortunately we do not have a word in English that adequately translates the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible. If you find yourself a good dictionary you can find where our word sin comes from. Linguists trace it back to the Proto-Indo-European language in which most European languages are rooted that was spoken by people in the area of the Black and Caspian Seas around 4,000 BC. Their word was “es-ont” and it meant “to be truly the one (who is guilty)”. “Es-ont” made its way into Old English as the word “sinn” which meant “a moral wrong doing”. Our word sin means a wrong doing that incurs guilt.
The ancient Hebrew words come from a different people who had a much deeper understanding of this thing we call sin. In Psalm 32 David uses three of their words. The first one, pesha, which we translate as transgression, means a breach of relationship between two parties and in its most extreme, rebellion. To transgress is to throw off the yoke of the bond of relationship between persons by breaking trust. It is a refusal to live with other people in a way that is conducive to peaceful community. Next is the word, khata’a, which we translate as sin means to miss the mark, to fall short, or to fail to live up to expectations.
The third word David uses is ‘awon, which we translate as iniquity. Iniquity automatically comes with transgression and sin. Iniquity is an inner state of self-reproach for wrongdoing or supposed inadequacy that flows out into one’s relationships and is characterized by deceitfulness (Is 59:13), a distorted love for this false sense of "independence" from God (Amos 4:4), a dullness and apathy in one's knowledge of the right (Hos 8:1; Ps 51:13), and a hard-heartedness towards correction (Jer 2:8, 29; Hos 7:13; Zeph 3:11; Amos 4:4). Iniquity is a perversion of the inner self. It is that sense of a gulf between oneself and God and oneself and others and manifests in a tendency to hide one’s actions (Job 34:6), apathy (Ps 36:1), illness (Ps 107:17), a love for strife (Pr 17:19), a sense of enslavement (Pr 12:13), a quickness to anger (Pr 29:22). If one still chooses to come to worship while iniquitous, one comes as a hypocrite (Isa 58:1) and with a sense of defilement (Ezek 14:11) that is a heavy crushing weight (Isa 24:20).
Ever felt this way? Iniquity is the given of the inner life of being a human being and I haven’t even added what happens to us when we are on the receiving end of the sins of others; the shame, the self-blame, the anxiety, the sense of futility, the rage, the depression, the disconnectedness, the hatred. All this pain and hurt that we bear and cause others to bear is why sin is more than just a problem with morality and why forgiveness has to be more than just an external transaction of religious legal myth. Only God can take away iniquity. Only the loving communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can heal iniquity. Jesus died to take away our sin and heal us of our iniquity. Come back on Good Friday to hear that sermon. But for now let’s briefly look at Psalm 32.
David writes in verses 1 and 2: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit (actually breath) there is no deceit.” The word we translate as blessed is more like blessedly happy in an enviable kind of way. A blessed happiness achieved by someone who has done something that is worthy of congratulation. It is strived-for contentment that others find enviable. David is describing an enviable position to be in because what you have done is worthy of being congratulated for, an ‘at-a-boy that everybody would like to hear, but not everybody is going to try for it. According to David, this blessed happiness is having your transgression not legally forgiven, but in Hebrew it means rather "born away", "lifted away" and this by God himself. It’s having God cover over your sin with his very self as if sweeping your sin under the carpet. It is living free of a mind full of iniquity. It is when your breath (spirit) doesn’t smell like a lie.
David then tells us how to get that clean mind. He recounts how he was withering away on the inside because of iniquity, how God’s hand was heavy upon him wanting him to do the right thing. Finally, in an act of personal worship David admitted his sin and confessed his transgressions to God. He couldn’t hide anymore. The result of this worshipful confession was as David writes, “And you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
The Hebrew word we translate as forgive is nasa. Yes, think NASA. It will help you remember. Nasa means to lift up, to carry away. The Hebrew idea of God’s forgiveness is God’s lifting up our iniquity and carrying it away. It is a real inner cleansing of the self. This is why Jesus died. In or by his death Jesus lifted up and carried away the iniquity of our sin and transgressions. Like Moses raising up the serpent in the desert when we look to Jesus in the act of prayerful and worshipful confession, he gives us that healing of the inner self and from that healing the relationships in our lives that have been broken by our transgressions will also begin to heal.
Imagine what your life would be like if you were a part of a group that gathered together weekly or more frequently to sit in a circle and without fear of judgement we admit that we are powerless over sin and that our lives are truly unmanageable because of it; that only the Triune God of grace by his act of grace in, through, and as Jesus the Christ can deliver us and restore us to our true humanity; and therefore, we yet again turn our will and our lives over to the care of God who is the loving communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Imagine being in a group of people who have owned up to the fact that they are sinners and are there only to listen and share your struggles and who only want to help and to see each other find healing of the inner mess that iniquity is. Imagine being able to pull aside one person whom you’ve come to envy for their blessed happiness and admitting the specifics of your iniquity to them out loud and their only response to you is “In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.” Friends, what I am asking you to imagine is true church, truly the kingdom of God here on earth. It’s where you will find Jesus, the Lamb of God who carries away the sin of the world. Do you want this blessed happiness, this enviable position? Amen.
