Why Sin is More Than Just a Mistake
Because we are human we tend to be beset by weakness. God knows this. “He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). This is why His gracious and merciful nature abounds towards His creation. He has not dealt with us according to our sins. Aren’t we thankful?!
The phrase, “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” originates from the English poet Alexander Pope, in his work: An Essay on Criticism, Part II (1711). Pope was trying to convey in this phrase that forgiveness is a superior response to human failings. Ultimately we can see this in our Father’s answer to our sins through the gift of His Son at Calvary. The cross is God’s loving and compassionate solution to our sins.
We know God loves us. We know he wants to forgive us. So this being the case, when comes the time that God’s mercy is no longer available and all that is coming in response to human sin is the execution of His just wrath?
Sometimes when reading the Old Testament we see what we might describe as the immediate and final judgment of God. Throughout the wilderness wanderings, there were times when God struck people on the spot for their sins. The classic case comes during the reign of David in Israel (2 Samuel 6), when a man named Uzzah dies instantly for disobeying the direct commandment of God.
What the Bible says about that occasion is really quite enlightening. “Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God” (2 Sam. 6:7). Two things pop out to me in this text. 1. God was angry. 2. Uzzah was guilty.
We do not serve a God who walks around with a chip on His shoulder. I think His natural way of being loving and merciful has already been explained. But we do serve a God who is holy. His goodness has revealed to us His will, and when He is plain with it, He does expect us to respect His authority. Everyone to a man should have known the rules concerning the ark of God. God’s anger “was kindled (burned hot)” because Uzzah knew better. Uzzah disregarded or profaned the law of God by his decision to act in direct opposition to what God has said.
The fact that Uzzah was completely guilty is further explained by the Hebrew word rendered “error” in verse 7. Some versions such as the NASB give the word here as “irreverence” or “irreverent act.” This is the only time we see this Hebrew word in Scripture. But it means “fault.” It was more than just an “oops!” It was more than just bad judgment, an accident, or a human misstep. Uzzah violated and disrespected the word of Jehovah. Because of his choice God struck him immediately and he died.
There is a significant difference between a human mistake and a willful sin. When Jesus was in a debate with the Sadducees about heaven, he told them, “Ye do err (KJV) [you are mistaken] (NKJV), not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). This word here for “err” or “mistaken” is very different than the word “error” in 2 Samuel 6:7. It means “to be deceived or to go astray.” The Sadducees were wrong because their understanding and their doctrine were not in line with the true doctrine of God. Jesus revealed this was their major hang up. Thus Jesus was making his best effort to teach them and appeal to their hearts and minds in the hope that they might change.
It seems to me that we need to make a firm distinction between willful disobedience and mistake in understanding or judgment. To call sin simply a mistake is to be soft on sin! While we can be certain that both the ignorant and the disobedient will not enter heaven (2 Thes. 1:7), to call sin merely a mistake is to encourage the continual practice of it, while at the same time neglecting the divine nature of a holy God who has implicitly revealed His will.
At the end of the day, (well even at the beginning of the day and all the time), God is God and we have no right to question what he is doing or why. But the account of Uzzah has been given to us by the Holy Spirit for a reason. It is to help us understand that God will swiftly punish even to destruction those who know His will but choose to disregard it. Sin is more than just a mistake we make because we are human. The sin that condemns happens when those who have been created in the image of God decide with their eternal, inner man to think differently and act differently than the One who created them to love Him and live with Him forever.
“And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” – 1 John 3:5
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
