Sunday Hymn: Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed

Alas! and did my Sav­ior bleed
And did my So­ver­eign die?
Would He de­vote that sac­red head
For such a worm as I?

Thy bo­dy slain, sweet Je­sus, Thine,
And bathed in its own blood,
While all ex­posed to wrath di­vine,
The glo­ri­ous Suf­fer­er stood!

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned up­on the tree?
Amazing pi­ty! grace un­known!
And love be­yond de­gree!

Well might the sun in dark­ness hide
And shut his glo­ries in,
When Christ, the migh­ty Mak­er died,
For man the crea­ture’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blush­ing face
While His dear cross ap­pears,
Dissolve my heart in thank­ful­ness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er re­pay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.

—Isaac Watts

Theological Term of the Week: Sin

sin
Rebellion against God; any failure to conform to, or transgression of, any law of God.  

• From scripture:

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4 ESV)

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…. (Romans 3:23 ESV)

• From the Westminster Larger Catechism:

Question 24: What is sin?

Answer: Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, page 232:

Sin always has a relation to God and His will. The older dogmaticians realized that is was impossible to have a correct conception of sin without contemplating it in relation to God and His will, and therefore emphasized this aspect and usually spoke of sin as “lack of conformity to the law of God.” This is undoubtedly a correct formal definition of sin. But the question arises, Just what is the material content of the law? What does it demand? If this question is answered, it will be possible to determine what sin is in a material sense. Now there is no doubt about it that the great central demand of the law is love to God. And if from the material point of view moral goodness consists in love to God, then moral evil must consist in the opposite. It is separation from God, opposition to God, hatred of God, and this manifests itself in constant transgression of the law of God in thought, word and deed. The following passages clearly show that Scripture contemplates sin in relation to God and His law, either as written on the tablets of the heart, or as given by Moses….

• From Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, page 116:

Sin is another name for that hideous rebellion, that God defiance, that wretched opposition to the Creator that crouches at the door of every fallen human heart. Sin is both a condition, inherited from Adam (Rom. 5:12-21), and an action, manifesting itself in thought, word, and deed, which, when full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:15).

In simplest terms, sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). It means we have broken God’s commands and have fallen short of his glory (Rom. 3:23). But sin goes deeper than merely missing the mark. Sin is idolatry (Col. 3:5; 1 John 5:21). It is worshiping false gods, whether these deities are overt and physical, of more subtle and internal. Sin can also be considered adultery, a spiritual whoring after other lovers and other sources of satisfaction and meaning (Ezek. 16:15-42). Sin is pollution (James 1:27). Sin is pervasive (Rom. 3:9-20). And sin is the problem in the universe.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is the definition of sin?
2. Don Stewart: What Is Sin?
3. Tim Challies: The Essential: Sin
4. R. C. Sproul: What Is Sin?
5. Tom Schreiner: What Is Sin?
6. Paul Carter: What Is Sin?

Related terms:

• fall of humanity
• image of God
• noetic effects of sin
• original sin
• total depravity

Filed under Anthropology

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Sunday Hymn: Jesus Shall Reign

Jesus shall reign wher­e’er the sun
Does his suc­cess­ive jou­rneys run;
His king­dom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and wane no more.

To Him shall end­less pray­er be made,
And prais­es throng to crown His head;
His name like sweet per­fume shall rise
With ev­ery morn­ing sac­ri­fice.

People and realms of ev­ery tongue
Dwell on His love with sweet­est song;
And in­fant voic­es shall pro­claim
Their ear­ly bless­ings on His name.

Blessings abound where’er He reigns;
The pri­son­er leaps to lose his chains;
The wea­ry find eter­nal rest,
And all the sons of want are blest.

Where He dis­plays His heal­ing pow­er,
Death and the curse are known no more:
In Him the tribes of Ad­am boast
More bless­ings than their fa­ther lost.

Let ev­ery crea­ture rise and bring
Peculiar hon­ors to our king;
Angels des­cend with songs again,
And earth re­peat the loud amen.

—Isaac Watts