Sin. Holiness. Grace. We see and hear these words in church and in the Bible all the time, but they’re pretty difficult to understand. What even is sin? What does it mean to be holy? And don’t even get me started on grace. Let’s take a deeper look at the meaning of these words in the context of the Bible. 

First off, this Sunday Chapel Time study is a little different than usual. Normally, we have three questions for one passage. But since we are looking at three different words, we will have one passage and one question for each word.

Sin

First, we’re going to talk about the word “sin.” What comes to mind when you think of “sin?” Maybe you have many ideas about what sin is. Or maybe you have no idea. That’s okay! Let’s see how the Bible describes sin. 

*Read James 4:17 on your own or in a group and reflect on this question: What does the Bible say about sin?

Sin is often portrayed as something really bad or evil, no matter the cultural context. Even in the Japanese context that I work in, “tsumi” (罪)―the Japanese word for sin―also means “crime.” Sin is viewed as something a criminal would do, like stealing or killing someone. But this is not what sin means in the context of the Bible. The original word for sin in the Bible―“khata” in Hebrew and “hamartia” in Greek―actually means “to miss the mark” or “to fail to meet the goal.” 

In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus gives us the two most important commandments. First, we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This is the main commandment we need to follow. This is literally what we were made to do! It’s the purpose God gave us. But we don’t always love God the way we should. In fact, we often don’t. The second commandment is to love others as ourselves. We also don’t always love each other as ourselves. Honestly, humans just aren’t very good at loving the way God wants us to. 

In a previous Sunday Chapel Time, we talked about how all people are created in God’s image. If every person is a reflection of God, then the second commandment to love others becomes even more important. Loving others is essentially another way of loving God. What we can infer here is that sin, simply put, is a failure to love God and others the way that God commanded us. Maybe we treat people poorly, or we think negatively about others or God. Or we choose to ignore God’s love and perfect will for us and live the way we want to instead. These choices aren’t loving or respectful towards God or people.

Sin is not necessarily a problem of behavior or actions (though it can be expressed this way). More specifically, sin is an attitude problem―a heart issue that occurs when we don’t love God or others the way we were meant to.

Sometimes, we know when we sin―sometimes even as it’s happening. And other times, we don’t even realize we’ve sinned. But whenever we fail to follow God’s commandments―intentionally or not―we defy God. Everyone sins. And everyone has sin inside of them. We cannot escape it.

Holiness

This brings us to the next word: holiness. God is always described as holy, but what does that mean, exactly? Let’s see what the Bible says. 

*Read 1 Samuel 2:2, and reflect on the word “holiness” and the following question. What does it mean to be “holy?”

The word “holy” in the Bible―“qodesh” in Hebrew and “hagios” in Greek―literally means “to be set apart,” or “separate.” In this verse, we see that only God can be holy. God is completely set apart from humans and everything else in existence.

In this way, God is kind of like fine china. Many people have special dishware that you only use for special events. Think Waterford, Lenox, Spode, Noritake…you get the idea. They’re high-quality. You would never use them for normal eating. They are “set aside” for special use only. They will never be mixed with your normal dishware. We are like normal dishes, and God is like fine china. He is absolutely separate from us.

No one is holy except God. Nor can we make anything holy; only God can do that. Holiness is one of God’s defining characteristics. God is separate from us because God is infinitely good and infinitely powerful. 

Here’s another way to think about God’s holiness. God is like the sun. We need the sun to live. It provides sunlight for us so we can get vitamin D, and plants use this sunlight to grow and produce oxygen. Plus, the sun heats the earth so it’s a livable temperature for humans, animals, plants, and all other earthly organisms. But we can’t actually get close to the sun. We’ll get burned and die if we try to reach it. In the same way, we will die if we get too close to God’s holy presence. Sin cannot mix with God’s holiness. Our sinful nature completely separates us from God. 

If we are separated completely from God and cannot make ourselves holy like Him, how can we possibly have a relationship with Him? How can we know God and be reconciled with Him? This brings us to the third word: grace.

Grace

Grace is a kindness that is given to someone when they didn’t do anything to earn it or deserve it. God shows us grace―this kindness and love―even though we don’t deserve it. We fail and mess up all the time. We’re sinful. We defy God every day. God wants us to be close to Him, but knows that we cannot reach Him because of our sin. So, God had grace towards us by sending Jesus Christ. 

If God is the sun, then Jesus is the sunscreen. Jesus saves us from destruction by God’s holiness. Jesus, who has no sin, took our sin as his own, and was destroyed and died in our place so we could be made holy―so we could be with God and be reconciled with Him. And God gives this grace freely. It is free for the taking. 

*To wrap up, read the last passage, Ephesians 2:7-9, and reflect on this final question. How do you feel knowing that God has this kind of grace towards you?

Final Reflection

I encourage you to think more deeply about the connection between sin, holiness, and grace, and how they manifest in your own life. There is so much more that can be said and explored with each of these words, but due to the time limit of the original study, I could only touch on a few points for each word. You could honestly write a book about each word…and people have, mind you.

The more you think about these words, the more you’ll understand the beauty of the whole narrative of the Bible and God’s ultimate promise through Jesus. We cannot understand the story of the Bible until we understand what these words mean in the biblical context.