On Sin and Righteousness - Part 1

Most people I know want to be a "good person". Generally, being a "good person" means doing the right things and not doing the wrong things. Thus, making sense of the notion of being a "good person" is definitely a behavioral challenge.  The language used by Christians for the life goal of "being a good person" invokes the language of sin (bad) and righteousness (good).

During the 2008 Presidential campaign Obama was asked what his definition of sin is. His response, "being out of alignment with my values." Now that is stinking thinking and a perfect example of the principle that "if a word can mean anything then a word means nothing." Whereas, the definition of sin in the original Webster dictionary (1828) said sin is "any voluntary transgression of divine law", the current expert on words, Wikipedia, states sin is "a term used in religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule."

I guess one can see why we lack clarity on making sense of "being a good person." Jesus complicates the whole matter when He says to the rich young ruler, "no one is good but God." The Apostle Paul says God's law (or rules) exist to show us our sinfulness, not a standard that we can achieve to provide us a way to be acceptable to God.

To make sense of the notion of sin and being a good person, we have to move past the idea that sin is about behavior and to the idea that sin is about our "aim". While occassionally the word "sin" in scripture references some form of transgression, the primary Greek word for sin is "hamartia", which simply means "missing the mark." It was used to describe an archer's being off target. In Romans 14:23 Paul gives us a straight forward definition of what is sin when he says, "anything that is not of faith is sin.".

I would conclude from this that our aim should be to believe God's model of Grace and walk accordingly versus relying on our nature (the flesh), which structures our walk to gain well being from the world around us. The criteria for "being good" is not the behavior itself but the heart of the beliefs by which we behave.   (more to come)