How is Sin 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. 

This is the basic reality that St. Paul is getting at when he writes, “the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).  Prior to God’s gift of the law, before God revealed the truths of the moral law to us, we could of course break the moral law (the natural law) and thus sin.  But, in such a state prior to God giving us moral commands, when we sinned (did any immoral act) we only knew the natural effects of our sin.  But these are not the chief effects of our sin, they are secondary. 

The main effect of sin is separation from God; the rupture of our relationship with Him.  God created us for intimate union with Him.  He gave us a way of life that strengthens our relationship with Him and finally leads to eternal happiness – the moral law.  Sin, by its nature, is any act contrary to our nature and which thus leads us away from God.  Sins are acts which, by their nature, make us incompatible for relationship with God.  Human relationships are no different.  There are certain types of acts which destroy relationships, regardless of our intentions in doing them.  Adultery ruins the marital relationship.  Spreading lies about someone makes it impossible to have genuine intimacy with them. 

            Thus, the main effect of sin is separation from God.  But it is precisely this truth that we did not know before God revealed the commandments to us; we did not know about the main effect of sin, that it was a transgression of God’s will.  Once God revealed the commandments, then we could see that all sin was at very least a disobedience, a rejection of God’s command.  This is the main reason we should avoid sin, to protect our relationship with God. 

            The other effects of sin are secondary.  Certainly, sin’s natural effects (that it ruins our lives and relationships) are genuine reasons to avoid sin.  But these are secondary effects of sin.  Sin is essentially an act against God which thus destroys our relationship from Him.  But we did not know this terrible reality until God revealed it to us.  God had to show us how terrible our sins are, we did not know the true depth of our evil.