- 1 John 5:14-21
Most people think sin is a specific action that breaks a divine law - sort of like a spiritual "crime."
But the root meaning of "sin" in the Hebrew Scriptures means to fail to live up to the covenant with God which, briefly put, says: "I will be your God and you will be my people."
With the coming of Jesus, you can now be even more specific and say that sin is the failure to live up to your connection with Jesus - the failure to live up to the gift of his own Spirit that is within you, the failure to live the way of life that flows from the holiness that God has given you.
"Holiness" means to be like God. This God-likeness has been given to you as a gift because Jesus has taken you as his brother, his sister. If you realize that "sin" is not so much the specific violation of a specific divine law, but rather a failure to live up to the holiness/God-likeness which you have received, then you see sin differently. Much differently.
That's worth thinking about.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw