The Pastor’s Pen Moral Principles Do Not Exist “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4, NKJ). (The Very Rev. Dr. Curtis Crenshaw, Th.D.)
We’re entering Lent again, the season of repentance, but to repent there has to be sin to repent of. But what is sin? Sin is not something physical; we can’t put a chunk of sin on a table to analyze it.
Also, sin is not metaphysical, which means it is not human to be sinful. In other words, God did not make us sinful when He created us. Sin is a distortion of who we are. When we say sin is not metaphysical, we mean it is not sinful to be a creature. In some religions, people think they need to be a god or part of god to overcome “sin.” In this view, “sin” is just not being infinite like “god.”
Moreover, sin is not a violation of some abstract principle, like “do not murder.” (Now I really have your attention.) That would imply that morality was also a principle. There are no moral principles, regardless what the government says. So what is sin? From the above verse, we can see that sin is “lawlessness.” Well, aren’t God’s laws principles? Yes, and no. They are His principles alright, but they are moral principles based on His unchangeable character. Do you get the point? Sin is relational, a violation of some person’s law code. Every law voted on in Congress is some person’s morality, for all ethics are personal.
Moreover, since the Triune God is the supreme ruler, His law is the only moral law that exists. If the law voted on in Congress is what God says, then it is an application of His law. If it is contrary to God’s law, it is rebellion. There is no neutrality. He will not allow us to make up our own morals, for that would imply that He is irrelevant. There is no morality without persons. Moral principles in the abstract do not exist because all morality is the product of persons in relationship. It is the will of persons that imposes morality. But that does not mean that morality is just arbitrarily agreed to by persons. All morality is the product of the Triune God personally, revealing His moral character and imposing that on us personally. Murder is sin because the personal Triune God said it is, and because it is an attack against the image of God in man that He made.
We can take or leave principles, but we cannot take or leave someone—especially if that someone is the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). We have to reckon with Him. We all know how frustrating it is to deal with someone who is fickle, who changes his mind all the time about things. We call that person a hypocrite, inconsistent, but God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, does not change. Thus His morality does not change. Indeed, He has given His Ten Commandments, imposed them on us by His sovereign will for our own good, and we are accountable to Him.
Even children learn morality from their parents (or worse, peers), not from impersonal principle. Our absolute moral standard is an absolute person, the Triune God. If morality were just principle and not personal, there could be no forgiveness. A live wire will shock anyone and everyone without exception that touches it. It cannot make a loving decision to give someone immunity from the consequences, but the Triune God can and does.
One reason people want to get rid of the infinite personal God is that they don’t want to be judged. Abstract moral principles are not threatening. But if there is such a God as we are describing, and He has given us His moral law in the Ten Commandments, which law is a revelation of His own character, and we break His law, that implies judgment. We all know that sinking feeling when we’ve done something wrong and have to face the boss. If morality was not personal, it would really not matter.
Every law system is some person’s project, someone’s morality. Adam and Eve wanted to make up their own morality, they wanted to eat from the forbidden tree and not die, contrary to what God said would happen, which would have meant that they were their own gods. Every law system implies a god who gave it. Contradictory morals in society reveal contradictory gods. Every law voted on in Congress is someone’s morality, for all ethics are personal. Some would like to make up their own Ten Commandments. But moral law is His commandments to us to obey Him.
So what is sin? It is disobedience to the one personal God, and there is only one way to escape His judgment: repent of our sins, which means to admit them, to turn from them, and to trust in the death and resurrection of Christ for our sins on the Cross. Amen. ?
