What Did Jesus Say About Sin?
Some people believe the gospel is all about
“preaching against sin.”
Don’t misunderstand me; sin is destructive, heart-hardening and affects us in many negative and unproductive ways. As believers, we should never entertain sin, not even for a second.
Over the years, I have heard many people say if you don’t preach against sin, you aren’t preaching the gospel. I was blessed to be taught by a wise old minister who drilled into us, “What does the Word say?” I have tried to honor this man’s life by following his wisdom in this area. In almost 40 years of ministry, I have heard many things taught and preached but at the end of the day, I only want to know
“what the Word says”
about the subject. So when I heard many years ago that we needed to “preach against sin” or we weren’t preaching the gospel, I wanted to see what God’s Word had to say on the subject. If preaching against sin was an important part of proclaiming the gospel, I didn’t want my message to be deficient in biblical wholeness, balance, and context. To quote the apostle Paul, I want to say,
“I have declared to you the whole counsel of God”
(Acts 20:27).
These sin preachers seemed insistent that Jesus and the apostles preached against sin in the New Testament and so should we. To find out if this was true or not, I thought I would do a simple Bible study. I wanted to see for myself if Jesus preached against sin in the four Gospels, and if the apostles did the same in the book of Acts.
Here is what I discovered. In the four Gospels, Jesus mentions the word
“sin”
in its various uses 33 times. 30 of the 33 times, the context of those words refers to being forgiven by God. In fact, in the first three Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke every mention of sin by Jesus is contextually about God’s forgiveness of sins.
Jesus told people to
“sin no more”
only twice; this happened after He had offered them forgiveness.
Only once did Jesus mention
“sin”
outside the context of forgiveness when He told Pilate he had nothing to do with Him being arrested (John 19:11).
So if preachers want to claim Jesus was preaching against sin the two times He said
“sin no more”
that would mean Jesus only preached against sin around 6% percent of the time He mentioned sin, and He preached forgiveness 94% of the time He mentioned sin. If you keep in mind He said
“sin no more”
only after He first told them they were forgiven, it would mean in every instance but one where He mentions sin,
the context was about God’s forgiveness of sin.
It appears that the way Jesus preached against sin was to proclaim God’s forgiveness to sinners. This fits perfectly with what He told the Pharisees about using mercy to turn sinners to God in Matthew 9:13.
Did the apostles preach against sin?
It looks as if the apostles followed Jesus’ example. When we study the book of Acts, we discover a very similar, if not identical pattern to what Jesus taught and practiced.
Sin is only mentioned 8 times in the book of Acts and in every single context, it is about God’s forgiveness of sins.
The evidence shows Jesus, the apostles, and Phillip didn’t preach against sin; they preached the cure for sin, which starts with receiving
the forgiveness of sins.
They didn’t teach people to use their
“will power”
to cease from sinning but to trust in God’s forgiveness and grace, which sets them free from sin.
From my perspective, Jesus’ emphasis was pro God’s forgiveness. He knew if people will receive it, they will make a divine connection to God
whose grace will set them free from the bondage of sin.
Keep in mind, religion always wants people to try and earn their righteousness, etc. by their own efforts. God desires people to receive His gracious gifts by faith. Religion wants people to be against sin, and Jesus wants people to receive His Father’s forgiveness that releases them from the bondage of sin.
So the secret to resisting sin comes from what you receive from God.
The power of resistance is in receiving from God.
“To open their [spiritual] eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness and release from their sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified (set apart, made holy) by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18, AMP).
