Well, if “sin is any transgression of the law of God,” what is a transgression? That is not a word I hear every day.
Q: What is meant by transgression?
A: Doing what God forbids.
(1 Samuel 13:8–14; 15:22, 23; Hosea 6:7; Romans 1:21–32)
For the background to our first passage we actually need to look back to 1 Samuel 10:8 where Samuel, the prophet of God, commands Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days. Then Samuel would come to Gilgal, offer sacrifices, and then give Saul further instruction. In 1 Samuel 13:8–14 we see the account of Saul’s failure. On the seventh day of waiting, Saul grew impatient, and took it upon himself to offer the sacrifices. No sooner had he finished, Samuel arrives and questions Saul. After Saul tells Samuel what he has done, and gives excuses for it, Samuel says to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you.” This is transgression at its most basic. Saul received a direct command from God, and he broke it. By instructing Saul to wait for Samuel, God was simultaneously forbidding him from offering the sacrifices himself. Saul did what God forbade by taking it upon himself to offer sacrifices.
Our second passage for today is also from the book of 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel 15:22–23 Samuel is again rebuking Saul for his failure to do what God commanded. With poetic flair, Samuel reproves Saul pointing out the Lord’s preference for obedience, even over sacrifice. Not only does Samuel point positively to obedience, but he also describes what Saul had done as rebellion and presumption, both of which are a rejection of God. Moreover, he compares his actions with divination and idolatry. Both of these are very clearly against God’s law and are known to be especially egregious. Rejecting God does not require verbal apostasy. It does not require going to temples and giving sacrifices to false gods. It does not require building statues of false gods. All one must do to reject God is to reject his word and doing what he forbids. Failing to obey is ultimately failing to recognize God as God.
As we have seen in an earlier study, in Hosea 6:7 we see that sin, like Adam’s first sin, is transgressing a covenant with God. It is to deal faithlessly with God. As we have seen before, it is clear that to sin is not simply a failure to keep a written code. It is that, but it is more than that. It is an offense to the God who gave the code. It is an assault on his person.
Romans 1:21-32 gives perhaps the strongest indictment of the whole of the human race in all of Scripture. Here we see the universal sinfulness of man. We see the universal rejection of God as God. Universally, man gave the worship of God up in favor of the worship of the creation. Paul includes a lengthy vice list containing many of the expressions of this rebellion. At the end of this indictment Paul says, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:32) According to Paul, men universally know enough of the Law of God to deserve death for “all manner of unrighteousness…” Universally, we know enough of the Law of God to know there are certain things we ought not do. And yet, we do what God forbids.
Let us see the danger, even as, and perhaps especially as Christians, of doing what God forbids. The proliferation of sin and misery in the world through the proliferation of sin is a fearful thing. The wrath of God on sin and sinners is even more fearful. Let us not presume upon the grace of God. By its nature, grace cannot be demanded. It is never owed. If it could be demanded or owed, it would not be grace. Instead, let us cling to the powerful grace of Jesus and abandon doing whatever God forbids. He never did what God forbade, and by his help we can grow. We can, with his help, grow to do what he forbids less and less. Also, we long for the resurrection when we will no longer do anything that God forbids.
Yours in Christ,