The Often Overlooked Great Evil of Sin
by DSB

“Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned,” said David in Psalm 51:4 (note also 2 Samuel 12:13). How could he say this? Had he not sinned against Bathsheba, Joab, Uriah, his family, his nation, and his own body? How could David say his sin was only against God?

If David’s sin was only against God why did so many people suffer as a result of it? Did not David’s “sin against God” include getting Bathsheba involved in adultery, drawing Joab into a murder plot, murdering Uriah, costing the life of his child conceived in adultery, putting his kingdom through an unnecessary coup d’etat, and having some of his wives forced into adultery by his son Absalom? When one considers the impact of David’s sin on all these people it seems his sin was against people far more than against God. So how could he say his sin was only against God?

David could say this because he understood that the great evil of all sin consists in the fact that sin, at its core, is rebellion against God – a rebellion driven by a low view of God fed by such things as distrust of God, anger toward God, discontentment, pride, unholy desires, and selfishness.

True, most of our sin is felt in some way by the people around us. Yet before anyone around us is impacted by our sin we have already rebelled against God. Before the fruit of our sin springs forth – be it in thought, word or deed – we have already chosen to reject God’s will, pridefully assumed we know better than God, decided that God cannot be trusted or depended on to care for us as we want to be cared for, chosen to take matters into our own hands and do things our way, and selfishly pushed God aside – at least for the moment – in order to go our own way. Make no mistake about it. Sin, at its core, is rebellion against God.

Sadly, it is this reality that too many of us overlook or ignore. Too many of us foolishly refuse to connect our sin with rebellion against God. In fact, many become offended at the insinuation they are, first and foremost, rebelling against God or at least directing something negative toward God when they sin. Most of us prefer to believe we are simply and momentarily disobeying God. We tell ourselves we can willfully sin by directing our sinful anger or ill-will or unkind words or selfish behavior at those around us without it being a simple and momentary statement of rebellion against God. This is not only foolish, pride-based, deny reality type of thinking, it is spiritually destructive thinking.

If you are one of those who finds it hard to believe you are rebelling against God every time you sin, consider what Nathan – speaking as God’s prophet on God’s behalf – said to David about his sin (2 Samuel 12:1-12). First, Nathan told David a story about a stolen lamb. After hearing David’s response that such a despicable thief deserved to die and at the least must make restitution fourfold, Nathan told David he was the thief. Now take careful note of Nathan’s next statement. Nathan told David that his sin was the sin of despising the word of God (God’s will and laws for living) and despising God himself (vs. 9, 10).

It is possible you may be wondering what it means to despise God in relation to sinning? And you may be wondering what despising God has to do with rebelling against God?

The first truth to keep in mind is that we must part ways with God and His word before going the way of sin. Though we might prefer to think we can part from God’s way without inferring anything bad about God’s word or doing anything mean-spirited to God himself, it just isn’t so. For Christians to part ways with God, we must first find some fault with God and His word. We cannot find fault with God and His word without judging Him. To judge Him we must exalt ourselves above Him – which means we are looking down on Him and to some degree despising Him and what He says about how we are to live. Therefore, parting ways with God and His word is never benign. It is always a deliberate rejection of God and His word – even if only for a short time. This is rebellion.

This is why Nathan told David his sin was, first and foremost, the sin of despising God and God’s word. David had rebelled against God’s law. David had looked down on God’s provision and protection as unworthy and insufficient. David, in those moments and following days, had treated the committed love relationship he had with God as lessor in value than the value of pleasing himself. David treated God and God’s word with contempt and disdain (despised God) in his pursuit of something God forbid. When we sin, we do the same thing.

Now I understand that most of us never think this far. Fewer still are willing to feel the horror of their sin this deeply. As already stated, we think of our sin as mostly or only against another person, while giving little or no consideration to what our choice to sin says about our view of God and His word. Though we admit to being sinners, we rarely think of ourselves as sinners who, when we sin, are sinning because we despise God and His word. We’ll admit we are bad, but few of us want to admit we are rebels rebelling against God.

At this point you may be wondering why all the fuss about despising God and His word when we sin? Here are two reasons. First, we will only go as far in putting off sin and putting on Christ as we see the need to. Second, the church will only be as pure and holy while on this earth as we make it.

Therefore I urge you to resist self-deception and pride driven thinking in relation to hidden, protected, treasured, self-excused, circumstance justified, “I deserve it” sin. You will not deal adequately with your sin without adequately dealing with the impact of your sin on your relationship to God. Responding to sin with a broken and contrite heart will be weak at best apart from realistically grasping the magnitude of what your sin says about how you view God and His word –  at least when you are sinning. The motivation to flee all known sin will be little more than a Christian ideal if you do not carefully consider or care all that much about how your sin severely degrades your love for God. And you will more easily allow yourself to practice certain sins, justify sin in certain situations, or ignore the sinfulness of sinful thoughts, words, and deeds when you entertain the notion that your sin is not a direct assault on God.

If every time you sinned you saw your sin as rebellion against God and yourself as a rebel despising God and His word – at least while sinning – you would be much more likely to go the distance in putting off sin and putting on Christ. If we thought this way as a church, we would be far more likely to make a worthy effort at protecting and promoting the purity of the church.

The writer of Hebrews put this same truth in different words – words which in a no-nonsense way speak clearly to my heart. He said that when we willfully continue in known sin we trample underfoot the Son of God. We regard as unclean the blood of the covenant by which we were sanctified. We insult the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:26-31). Are you willing to consider that this is what you are doing to God and His dear son, Jesus Christ when you willfully sin?

None of what has been said so far removes the need and the responsibility to apologize and seek forgiveness from those around us when they are impacted by our sin. The destructive consequences of our sin on others demands no less. What is more, God requires it of us. The point here is that our sin is not directed only or mostly at others. It is first and foremost directed at God – which should humble us, break our hearts, lead us to repentance, and motivate us to make and keep things right between God and us.

Will you give serious consideration to the reality that you are despising God and His word each time you willfully sin? Such thinking will serve you well in your pursuit of righteousness and intimacy with your loving Father. It will also serve us well as a church. To this end it is my prayer that we will cling to the truth so that when we sin we can say with David, “Against Thee only have I sinned.”  


Revised 2013