Sinner?

Thanks to Mark Traphagen at Sacred Journey I am on a Mark Strom kick of late.  Mark Strom is the principal and CEO of The Bible College of New Zealand and author of The Symphony of Scripture and Reframing Paul.  He spoke at Westminster recently and Mark has audio of his sessions here.  I have gone ahead and ordered "Reframing Paul," and I have also downloaded a class he did at Regent University on Leadership.

I can't remember if it is in the talk at Westminster or on one of the lectures from Regent but in one place he says that the Bible never names us as "sinners."   He says that sin is something we do, but it is not a description of our identity.  We are named as "saints" as "beloved" as "justified" and things like that, we are not named, the core of our identity as Christians is not that of sinners. 

When he said that I thought that was a little off so I pulled out my handy dandy Logos software and did a word search in the New Testament on the word "sinner."  I think Mark was saying that in the New Testament, Christians are not named as sinners.  I may have to quibble a bit here, but I think even my quibble strengthens the overall case that Mark was making.

Paul does name himself as the chief of sinners in I Timothy 1:15 and in Romans 7 he uses words like wretched and unspiritual to describe himself.  Yet even those words in Romans 7 can be tempered with vv. 21ff where he says that in his inner being he delights in God's law and he treats the presence of indwelling sin as a foreign usurper, or invader.

There are many times in the gospels where Jesus refers to people as sinners, but, and here's the good news - it is nearly always in the context of welcome, invite and fellowship.  In other words, when Jesus identifies someone as a sinner, He does so in the context of welcome and embrace.  To be named a sinner in the gospels is to be a special object of His affection.

All of this leads me to rethink whether I should use the word "sinner" to name people, and whether I should see "sin" as an identity or an action.  I think it is neither.  Sin is not merely something we do, it is an inner disposition.  Yet, that inner rebellious disposition is not the sum total of my being.

Think of John Owen's famous words on "indwelling sin."  "Indwelling sin" speaks of sin as something that resides in the house, but it does not describe the whole house.  It is present, but it is not total.

This also calls to mind a prior discussion on the difference between utter depravity and total depravity (here and here). Total depravity means that sin permeates our entire being and influences all we do.  Utter depravity means that sin describes the totality of our whole being and that we are always as bad as we can do.  Total depravity takes sin seriously but it recognizes that our primary identity is found in being image bearers.  Utter depravity acts as if the image of God has been eradicated and all that is left is sin.

But the real payoff of that discussion and the little bit of research I have done on the word "sinner" is to reframe what it means to be a sinner in biblical categories.  When most of us use the word "sinner" we usually do so to connote alienation and unworthiness.  The intent of calling someone a sinner is often to make themselves feel really, really bad about themselves, and in doing so to cause them to cry out to Jesus.

Yet in the gospels it was the Pharisees and other religious leaders who used the term "sinner" in the derogatory fashion and seemed to be most concerned with making people feel really, really bad about themselves.

When Jesus uses the term it is almost always in the context of fellowship - sharing a meal, welcoming them.  In other words, when Jesus sees my sin or your sin, that is an occasion for welcome, not an occasion to make us grovel.

And yes I will admit that I have a burr under my saddle about this. Part of it is because I spend an inordinate amount of time feeling bad about who I am and this comes as very good news.  But the thing that drives the burr in the deepest is a horrid comment that came on a prior post to the effect that when God looks at abused children who flee their abusers, He looks as them as evil sinners, vipers, and that the abuse they endure in this life will look like a kindness compared to what God is going to give them.   

No, religious people look at people that way, not God.   Contrast that with Jesus words in Matthew 9:36:

³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

The Holy Bible  : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 9:36

It's interesting here that the crowds were probably not yet believers at the time Jesus said these words, and I say that because in vv. 37-38 Jesus speaks of them as those who are yet to be harvested.  Yet, He doesn't use derogatory terms to speak of them - He calls them sheep not sinners, He says they are harassed and helpless, not vipers deserving of whatever harassment or abuse they get.

The bottom line is that, though we may quibble with Mark Strom about whether Jesus ever names us as "sinners" that the derogation and alienation we import into that term are not intrinsic to our identity. True, we must repent and if we don't we will remain in a state of alienation, but my point is that when Jesus looks upon a sinner He does so with the intent of resolving the alienation, not making the sinner feel really, really bad about what a horrible person he is. 

And Mark's larger point is well taken - it is ok, and even desirable and proper for Christians to go through life naming, describing and identifying themselves as objects of His affection.

Related Tags: Religion, Theology, Christian, Christianity, Sin, Sinner, Calvinism, Depravity, Total Depravity