There have been some excellent posts in this thread so far. I am excited to see my brothers and sisters working together to study.
How do we know if something is sin or not today? How did others previous to our time know what sin was?
I have thought about sin over time and began to understand that although sin has been around since the beginning of creation, it didn't have a good definition. We are told that from Adam to Moses sin was in the world but not being imputed without law. Did those who lived know that they were sinning since they had no law (Rom 3:20)?
Abraham was said to have kept God's law (Gen 26:5) 430 years before the law came. The word Torah translated law has a broader meaning than our English word law. It can simply mean instruction or teaching. It could include something like the command given to Noah not to eat of the blood of animals. A law which Abraham must have kept. To eat of the blood would have been sin as God had commanded them to abstain. It wasn't that there was no 'law', just not 'the law' as commonly referred to.
By the time of Moses there were a lot of transgressions and God introduced 'the law' to the Israelites through Moses (Ex 20:1-18). By the law was the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). The law did not cover every possible sin (Ac 13:39). And only the Israelites had it (Rom 2:12). Sin now had a fairly good definition but not complete. There were some parts of the law, such as dietary laws, that were implemented not because it was sin to eat the animals. We can look back to Noah who was given permission to eat all animals without restriction. We know that God would not have given Noah permission to sin. And again the restriction is not enforce according to Paul in 1 Tim 4:4.
Enter Jesus Christ, the Son of God, The brightness of Gods glory, the sinless one. The righteousness of God without the law manifest in the likeness of sinful flesh. The Just and Holy one. The Word of God walking among us. The Way, the Truth and the Eternal Life. The exact opposite of sin.
If it is said that the law entered due to transgressions, we should equally say that Jesus Christ entered to remove all doubt of what sin is. To paint a picture of true obedience to God the Father. We are told that we are under grace and that it does not mean that we can sin (Rom 6:15-16). Even though we are under grace we will still die if we are obedient to sin.
One of the most perplexing arguments is whether we are still under Old Covenant law (Torah). If so then the things contained there in would establish a basis for understanding sin. An excellent argument to support this idea would be that Jesus himself was a Jew and kept the law, therefore we as followers of him would naturally keep the law. Jesus taught the law to others. Jesus told people they would have everlasting life by keeping the commandments.
An interesting thing is shown to us in the book of Acts. Paul goes to Jerusalem and declares Gods work among the Gentiles to James and the elders. Due to rumors that Paul is telling Jews to forsake the law, James and the elders tell him to do a public display of obedience to the law to show that he keeps the law. But they added that the Gentiles were given no such command to keep the law (Acts 21:17-25).
Looking over the books of the New Testament we see various writings to various people. The four gospels cover the time of Christs life. Acts shows the birth of the church and its spreading over a greater area. Romans is a letter to the church in Rome and appears to be written to both Jew and Gentile (Rom 1:7). 1 Cor, 2 Cor, Gal, Eph, Col, Phil, 1 Thes and 2 Thes, 1 Pe and 2 Pe are all letters to Gentile churches. Through these letters we get a solid understanding of what God says to gentile believers. 1 Tim, 2 Tim and Titus are written to Gentiles and give instruction on the church as they were helping Paul to establish Gentile churches. Hebrews and James were written to Jews.
Although things found in the book of James may apply to Gentile believers, we need to consider that it was written with Jews in mind. If I were writing a letter to my female children, some of the things included may apply to my boy children but I would write the letter as if it were to my female children alone. This James who wrote the letter to the 12 tribes is the same James who also wrote to the Gentiles that they were not to keep the law. The book of James is full of references to the law and keeping it.
I must admit that I am still unsure about whether the law is still applicable to the Jews. But I am confident that it is not for the Gentile believer as it never was. So how does the Gentile understand sin if not by the law? The answer is Jesus Christ and the Word in the form of the New Testament. We are still expected to follow Jesus (not by keeping the law as he had to do being a Jew) but putting on the Lord Jesus. His character. The divine nature. We begin by doing as he did and empty ourselves of self Phi 2:7. Then humble ourselves and become obedient Phi 2:8. The corruption that is in the world is due to lust or human desire 2 Pe 1:4. One who truly empties himself of self looses all desire for material possession, all need to be respected by others and quests focused on personal fulfillment or enjoyment. There mind is focused on the task at hand, fulfilling the great commission and edifying the body of Christ until the Lord returns.
My conclusion for how a believer is to identify sin is to understand the selflessness of Jesus Christ. And to realize that the divine nature is selfless while the human nature is selfish. Selfishness and selfcenteredness are sin. If we keep ourselves from these we shall then be loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul and body and our neighbor as our self. Whether Jew or Gentile.
