Doctrine of Sin
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Some of the terms that describe or speak of sin seem to be weightier than others. Sin as “iniquity” sounds more sinister than sin as “missing the mark,” even though sin is sin whatever term is used to speak of it.
“Iniquity” denotes something deeper than a sinful action; it gets at the very character or nature of that action.
David is a case in point. He lusted after Bathsheba in his heart. Failing to repent of his lust, he progressed in his iniquity to an act of adultery with her. Continuing in unrepentance and ignoring God’s law about adultery, David went deeper into iniquity when he arranged for the murder of Uriah.
Iniquity in the heart has a way of growing. The iniquity in David’s heart grew and grew as a willful and progressive violation of God’s law that dominated his actions. Only later did David realize that iniquity filled his heart. Thus in Psalm 32:5 he used the phrase “the iniquity of my sin” where “sin” refers to David’s actions and “iniquity” speaks of the seriousness or character of those actions.
What David did weighed heavily on him because of the uncommon grossness or sordid depth of his adultery with Bathsheba followed by his reprehensible action of engineering the murder of her husband. We might say that iniquity connotes the horrible depth of sin against our infinitely holy God.
The word most commonly used in the New Testament for “iniquity” is one built on the root term for “law,” with a negative prefix added to give the idea of lawlessness or illegality.
First John 3:4 says it succinctly, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness and sin is lawlessness.”
People who ignore God’s law and act without regard to what He prohibits are in essence choosing their own will instead of God’s will.
Such is the idea in Isaiah 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Choosing one’s own way over God’s way amounts to iniquity, which the anticipated Man of sorrows would one day bear in the sinner’s behalf. Sin as iniquity puts the focus on a person’s heart condition in relation to God’s standards.
Jesus characteristically looked past outward actions to focus upon people’s hearts. He called what He saw in the heart “iniquity” or the sinful character that lay behind outward deeds.
Jesus observed certain religious people whose hearts were bent on ignoring God’s law and called their behavior “iniquity” or lawlessness, putting the emphasis on the inward condition more than the outward acts.
On one occasion He spoke about some who outwardly called Him “Lord” and even appeared to perform outward deeds of power but inwardly followed their own wills rather than God’s will. In the estimation of Jesus, such empty words that were used to call Him “Lord” were only camouflaging the sinister condition of their hearts.
He said they were practicing iniquity or lawlessness: “Not everyone who saith unto me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, ‘I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity’” (Matt. 7:21–23).
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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