Sin and Faith (Rom 14:23)

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. - Romans 14:23

Here Paul gives us a very interesting definition of sin.

According to Paul in his letter to the Romans, sin is "whatever does not proceed from faith."

The NLT renders this phrase, "If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning."

Now this is not the only definition of sin, but it is an extremely valuable one.

These are not rigid categories but for the sake of clarity, we may call this the "subjective" aspect of sin, while the "objective" aspect of sin could be considered the types of things that are wrong regardless of my beliefs about them.

For example, if I truly believe that eating meat is sinful, and I eat meat, I have committed subjective sin. But if it is in fact not sinful to eat meat, then I have not committed objective sin.

It also works in the reverse. If I truly believe that killing an unborn child is permissible, then I may not have sinned subjectively, but I have sinned objectively.

Avoiding objective sin requires my proper understanding of God's moral law in specific circumstances.

Avoiding subjective sin requires obedience to my conscience.

It is not always in my power to have a full, comprehensive view of God's moral law on every issue of life. It is inevitable that at some point I'm going to do and say things that I think are correct, but actually turn out to be incorrect.

However, it is in my power to obey my conscience in every circumstance no matter how much objective moral knowledge I possess.

And so this is where personal virtue must begin - with faith. Before we start debating about what exactly constitutes "right and wrong," we must make sure that we are actually obeying what we believe to be "right and wrong."

What does it profit us to have a perfect list of right and wrong actions, but fail to comply with them?

And here is the best part: Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, when I do truly begin to follow my conscience and eradicate this "subjective" type of sin from my life, not only does my heart get cleansed, but so too does my mind.

In other words, the reason I am still blinded to certain "objective" sins in my life is not because I'm not smart enough, it is primarily because I have seared my conscience through disobedience, and have lost the ability to properly perceive reality.

By submitting myself completely to the will of God and choosing obedience to my faith in Him, slowly but surely my specific moral opinions will begin to align with God and I will gain the ability to walk in freedom not only from subjective sin but also objective sin as well.

And for the whole of Christianity it is one of the most decisive definitions that the opposite of sin is not virtue but faith - Søren Kierkegaard