Terribly Distracted from the Goal
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:7 ESV)
Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
The first time sin is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 4:7 where Cain is warned that temptation to sin is coming. If we look at this passage, does the definition from the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) make sense? Can we replace the word sin with definition from the catechism? It then becomes thus:
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, a want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:7 Catechism Definition Substitution Version.)
Does this make sense?
Let us first examine if this makes sense from a cultural point of view. From a modern point of view, we don't think of sin as our basic problem, rather we think that some technical issue is the problem. So we call in the technicians to solve our problems: doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, school counselors, environmental scientists, etc... By the way these are all fantastic means of service to human kind. There is only one who can solve our sin problem though, the Lord Jesus Christ. No, it does not make sense for our culture, but it is the Biblical teaching. Our main problem is that of sin.
What is this sin?
Let us secondly examine if this makes sense linguistically. Linguistically the word "sin" in the Hebrew of Genesis 4:7 is khatah (חטָּאת) and means "to miss the mark". As in, if you are shooting at a target and you did not hit it. So there is a target which is metaphorical. That target is a standard of word, thought, or deed which was not met. The target or standard is missed and that is sin. In Cain's case, his behavior goal was to not kill his brother. However, we could say his sin is complex and he had other goals he should have met, like worshiping in faith. It is possible he knew that a blood sacrifice was needed and he gave the fruit of the ground rather than a blood offering. If that is an issue, it is not explicitly called out, but it is clear that he was going about worshiping God on his own terms rather than God's terms. There is so much no spelled out on what specific sins were crouching at his door. Likely, he was already doing things according to his own terms. He then hated his brother because of the lack of acceptance of his own gifts. As is often the case, one sin begets another.
Back to the linguistic question, sin is a moral mistake. All morality has implied authority. God is the authority who defines right and wrong. So the metaphorical target he is missing is God's direction. He instead is lacking conformity to what is good and right. He is doing his own thing.
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 NET)
Using the technique of paraphrasing it in order to meditate on the meaning, let's try this on for size:
But if you do not do what is right, moral failure is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Strange paraphrase - ethics paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, rebellion against God is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Stranger paraphrase - authority paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, disastrous self-assertion is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Strangest paraphrase - utilitarian ethics paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, a personified cosmic disorder is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Stranger than Strange paraphrase - natural order ethics paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, not a little mistake is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Simply Stranger Than You Would Think paraphrase - hyperbolic understatement paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, downright mean, evil and despicable actions are crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Absolutely Strangest paraphrase - political attack ad paraphrase)
Then again, the word "sin" works too. All the major English translations I keep up on my Bible software uses that English word.
When I took Arabic, if we made a mistake in Arabic class, the teacher would say "khatah" (خطأ). This was the teacher saying were were "wrong". This was not a moral mistake rather an academic mistake. We were missing the mark, but it was not moral but academic.
It is a common teaching technique for God to make an oblique reference on a topic in order to help the mind and heart to be ready to accept a hard or uncomfortable teaching. Jesus used parables so that a person could enter the issue slowly. This technique recognizes the need for perspective, context, and background information in order to embrace. We are not going out on a limb here by saying, Cain did not understanding what was happening to him. He could not receive it all. He needed to stop and ponder. Instead he went on a rampage. We often are in this sort of situation where we need God to help us understand what is going on. God teaches via questions. We often look for answers, but that is less important than the question. With bad questions we get answers that really are not all the relevant or insightful. Perhaps someone should write a Bible study called "Divine Questions: Answers to Stuff We Did Not Know Were Terribly Relevant".
Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
The first time sin is mentioned in the Bible is Genesis 4:7 where Cain is warned that temptation to sin is coming. If we look at this passage, does the definition from the Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) make sense? Can we replace the word sin with definition from the catechism? It then becomes thus:
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, a want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it." (Gen. 4:7 Catechism Definition Substitution Version.)
Does this make sense?
Let us first examine if this makes sense from a cultural point of view. From a modern point of view, we don't think of sin as our basic problem, rather we think that some technical issue is the problem. So we call in the technicians to solve our problems: doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, school counselors, environmental scientists, etc... By the way these are all fantastic means of service to human kind. There is only one who can solve our sin problem though, the Lord Jesus Christ. No, it does not make sense for our culture, but it is the Biblical teaching. Our main problem is that of sin.
What is this sin?
Let us secondly examine if this makes sense linguistically. Linguistically the word "sin" in the Hebrew of Genesis 4:7 is khatah (חטָּאת) and means "to miss the mark". As in, if you are shooting at a target and you did not hit it. So there is a target which is metaphorical. That target is a standard of word, thought, or deed which was not met. The target or standard is missed and that is sin. In Cain's case, his behavior goal was to not kill his brother. However, we could say his sin is complex and he had other goals he should have met, like worshiping in faith. It is possible he knew that a blood sacrifice was needed and he gave the fruit of the ground rather than a blood offering. If that is an issue, it is not explicitly called out, but it is clear that he was going about worshiping God on his own terms rather than God's terms. There is so much no spelled out on what specific sins were crouching at his door. Likely, he was already doing things according to his own terms. He then hated his brother because of the lack of acceptance of his own gifts. As is often the case, one sin begets another.
Back to the linguistic question, sin is a moral mistake. All morality has implied authority. God is the authority who defines right and wrong. So the metaphorical target he is missing is God's direction. He instead is lacking conformity to what is good and right. He is doing his own thing.
But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 NET)
Using the technique of paraphrasing it in order to meditate on the meaning, let's try this on for size:
But if you do not do what is right, moral failure is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Strange paraphrase - ethics paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, rebellion against God is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Stranger paraphrase - authority paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, disastrous self-assertion is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Strangest paraphrase - utilitarian ethics paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, a personified cosmic disorder is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Stranger than Strange paraphrase - natural order ethics paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, not a little mistake is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Simply Stranger Than You Would Think paraphrase - hyperbolic understatement paraphrase)
But if you do not do what is right, downright mean, evil and despicable actions are crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it. (Gen. 4:7 Terry's Absolutely Strangest paraphrase - political attack ad paraphrase)
Then again, the word "sin" works too. All the major English translations I keep up on my Bible software uses that English word.
When I took Arabic, if we made a mistake in Arabic class, the teacher would say "khatah" (خطأ). This was the teacher saying were were "wrong". This was not a moral mistake rather an academic mistake. We were missing the mark, but it was not moral but academic.
It is a common teaching technique for God to make an oblique reference on a topic in order to help the mind and heart to be ready to accept a hard or uncomfortable teaching. Jesus used parables so that a person could enter the issue slowly. This technique recognizes the need for perspective, context, and background information in order to embrace. We are not going out on a limb here by saying, Cain did not understanding what was happening to him. He could not receive it all. He needed to stop and ponder. Instead he went on a rampage. We often are in this sort of situation where we need God to help us understand what is going on. God teaches via questions. We often look for answers, but that is less important than the question. With bad questions we get answers that really are not all the relevant or insightful. Perhaps someone should write a Bible study called "Divine Questions: Answers to Stuff We Did Not Know Were Terribly Relevant".
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