Sin is Against God

“Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight” (Psalm 51:4).  David prays these words after the prophet Nathan had confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah to cover up his adultery (2 Samuel 11-12).  This prayer should strike us as odd, given that David seems to have sinned against both Bathsheba and Uriah.  Yet David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, prays for forgiveness for his offense which was against God, and God alone.  Another related passage is found in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.  There, when the young man returns to his father, he says to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18-19).  Here again the son seems to have sinned primarily against his father, seeing that he was very disrespectful to his father and wasted his money.  But he says that he sinned against God and before (the Greek word is ?ν?πι?ν which can mean “in the presence of”) his father. 

These passages should challenge our typical understanding of sin.  Contrary to what the modern world and social justice activists tell us, sin is not primarily an offense against our fellow man.  Even when we do sin against justice (like both scriptural examples), our offense is primarily against God.  Why and how is that?  Because by sin, all sin, even sins wherein we attack our neighbors, we are rejecting and attacking our nature and purpose as human beings.  This is especially true when we attack our neighbor (sins against justice). 

Part of our human nature is that we are social beings, “it is not good for man to be alone.”  This was designed by God and is also a reflection of God’s inner trinitarian life.  Furthermore, our final end, the purpose for which we were created, is to have a relationship with God, to share in His inner trinitarian life.  And, we are to share this inner life of God in our community, whether that be Adam and Eve as a family, or us as members of the Church.  Human life is communal, at its beginning, middle, end, and eternity in heaven.  Human nature was made this way by God so that we could share in His relational life. 

All sin is a rejection of some part of our nature, an attempt to create our own nature for ourselves and decide who and what we are, as opposed to accepting what we are as God created us and doing our best to live up to that calling.  Therefore, all sin is an offense against God because by sin we reject His gift to us which is creation.  And furthermore, we reject His invitation to us of intimate communion with Him (what we were created for).  This remains true even of sins against justice (wherein we attack our neighbor in some way), because our social nature is also from God, and is supposed to lead us to God as well.  By attacking our relationships with our neighbors, we are attacking the order God established, attacking those whom God loves deeply and died for, and attacking the help that God has offered to us (our neighbor).  God gave us fellowship with other humans because it is good for us, “it is not good for man to be alone,” so when we attack them, we are attacking God’s help.