Out Greek view of sin, is most unhelpful and even unhealthy, it creates and sustains this great and terrible divide between God, and us, with the solution always resting squarely on my shoulders alone. The Jews had a very different view indeed. The Greeks saw the whole of life as ‘separated and divided’ and sin as separating us from God; in truth no such divide has ever existed. For the Jews sin simple meant ‘missing the mark’ they likened it to target practice, with the arrow ‘falling short’ or ‘missing the mark’.
There is no sin in missing; it simple requires more ‘good ‘practice, as apposed to no practice or the wrong practice. This means practicing the ‘right things’ as apposed to the ‘wrong’ .The great ‘sin’ (if you will) is not that we ‘miss the mark’ but more, that we have no target in the first place. To shoot and to miss is human; we practice until we hit the target. We find in this God a loving compassionate lifelong companion who says; ‘lets do target practice together’ he not only draws along side us, but he draws the bow with us, and says ‘lets try that’.
God is never seeking perfection, merely practice, it matters not to God whether this is your 331st failure, we hear the same compassionate words each time; ‘lets do target practice together’. Paul says; “Fixing your eyes upon Jesus” we FIX our FOCUS then FOLLOW THROUGH. Its not that God will not separate himself, its more that he cannot separate himself from his creation, to do this would mean separating himself, from himself, this he simple cannot do…. So, rest in this.
Hi Bob,
I have read both your posts on a ‘re-defined’ notion of sin and I have pondered your thoughts on this topic. The word ’sin’ does carry with it a negative connotation of a legal transaction between us and God as you put it, but I wonder if the phrase of ‘missing the mark’ is just another euphamism to remove the dread and sting of this word? Of course ’sin’, loaded with the weight of condemnation and judgement, alienates people and paints a picture of an angry and judgemental God. But someone with a God conscience knows instinctively when they have done something that is contrary to what they know is right. I am reminded of the parable of the prodical son who squandered his father’s wealth in exchange for a hedonistic lifestyle believing it would lead to happiness. This is typical of our western lifestyle where we are manipulated into this ‘hyper-real’ life by subscribing to the media, retailers and even the property market in relation to how we spend our money and the attention we pay to our image, this is what I call societal narcissism; it breeds self-focused behaviour and human centred glorification.
What about our sex-saturated soceity that teaches people that it’s ok to be casual about the way we do relationships and the way we express our sexuality. Is this missing the mark? I think it is so, people who walk in relationship with God, must align themslves with right belief which translates into right behaviour or ‘orthopraxy’. This in my opinion is a Christ-centrered view of the world – where all things are God-breathed and imbued with the sacred. To not align ones morals, values, ethics and lives with the ways of God is missing the mark. It is paying attention to what is not important – all the things mentioned above that only deliver empty promises. A life missing the mark only leads to futility because of meanigless striving, for what? -recognition, importance in the eyes of the world, status etc…? Why do people do it, is it to satisfy a biological need for survival and a psychological need for security? If we are relational beings and bear the image of God, then we are drawn into a life of mutual giving and receiving as you so wonderfully put it. Cor 13 elaborates even further on the magnitude of God’s love and that nothing will come before His love for us.
Hi Eva,
Great to hear from you, your comments are excellent, thanks for taking the time to respond. I think a huge misunderstanding has now been lingering since the reformation, and of course beyound, its the mistaken view, that- to use a Lennon song- ‘all we need is…orthodoxy’ well this is important but only within the context, and no other, of orthopraxy, in fact the latter leads to the former, but by no means does it work the other way around, and this is the allusion to which I am alluding. Orthodoxy (which means right worship)seems powerless to create and or sustian change- James makes the point that even the devil believes the ‘right things’-. This wrong view of sin, has its origins largely, in a legal based understanding of God. When our view of sin is fueled by a relational and not legal definition, this is completely different, a whole different dynamic applies. I would like to write a long post on this, maybe I will. I must go!! thianks for your response Eva…..are you going to be a St Martins soon??
Thanks for your reponse Bob. I will visit St Martins again soon, I was there just two weeks ago. Hope you are well and I’m assuming you have finished your studies for the year. Cheers.