Sin & Sinfulness

Over the last few months I've been involved in a handful of conversations about sin in regenerate and unregenerate man via email, blogs and that old-fashioned thing called..."talking." (I know, I should be more technological and use the phone or something). Anywho, I read this a few days ago, and thought that it did a real good job of summing up the Biblical teaching on the subject, and figured I'd throw it up here to help some of these conversations continue in a profitable fashion (or, y'know not continue, but provide food for thought or whatever)

from: Are Five Points Enough? The Ten Points of Calvinism by Leonard J. Coppes

The first thing we should examine is the differences and relationship between sin and sinfulness. Sin has to do with the acts of men while sinfulness has to do with man's nature. Hence, the Christian whose sinful nature (the old nature) is destroyed (II Cor. 5:17) can still commit sins (I Jn. 1:9) because he still has sinful habits and inclinations (Rom. 7:20,21). Under this idea man is conceived as a violator of God's Law. Sin is known/identified not by man's thinking or feeling but by what God declares in His Word. Sin is man's violation of God's covenant.

Sinfulness, on the other hand, describes unregenerate man's rebellious nature. It is that which distinguishes man from God as a righteous being. God is all-righteous. He loves and seeks only righteousness. Everything that unregenerate man does or thinks is undergirded by rebellious inclinations against God or motivations that are sinful. He is a sinner and violates God's law because he is bound by that sinful nature inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12). He neither loves nor seeks after God nor His Law (Rom. 3:10ff).

Regenerate man, however, is a sinner who violates God's law because his sanctification is imperfect. He loves and pursues obedience to Divine law but fins himself unable to attain perfect obedience. Sinfulness, the old Adamic nature with its enslavement to sin (Rom. 8:12-15) and its mind set on flesh (Rom 8:6,7), however, is dead.

God's demand for repentance refers both to sin and sinfulness. Since sin is against God's covenant He demands our repentance form and restitution for that sin. Ultimately, however, repentance has reference to sinfulness. man's heart needs to be changed. Divine honor needs to be fully restored. The entire created relationship between God and man needs to be recreated. Man's innermost inclinations and motivations need to be turned around so that he will only seek to obey God's commandments and to be as holy as God is. Indeed, he must become as holy as God is (I Pet. 1:13-16).