This is part two of three-part series. I recommend you read part one if you haven’t already.

As Christians, I don’t really think we have that much of a place to call ourselves sinners.

I know that’s a bold (and maybe somewhat arrogant) statement, and I could be wrong. In 1 Timothy 1, Paul refers to himself as a “chief of sinners.” This is the only verse in the Bible where I have found a believer calling themselves a sinner in the present tense. And ironically enough, in the surrounding context, he only uses past tense (in fact, he emphasizes it). Again, I could be wrong, so I’m not going to act like I have it all figured out.

But what I do know, is that when we start putting our identity in things other than God, we immediately enter some dangerous ground.

The basic definition of the word sin is “missing the mark”. If we constantly identify ourselves as “sinners,” we are repeatedly telling ourselves that we are OK with the fact that we are missing the mark all the time. Many of us have heard the simple metaphor here of an arrow and a target, but I liken it more to going to a shooting range with a hand gun. I load up the clip, and then I just go nuts, blasting away with one hand, alright with hitting the target sometimes, and being just as alright with missing it. It’s more for just the thrill of shooting than anything. Sure, it might be fun. Sure, I might hit the target a couple of times and feel good about myself. But in the end, I’m not any better off.

Paul talks about not using grace as a license to sin. Personally, I think this is what can happen if we identify with our sin. Is there grace for missing the mark? Sure. Do we, as humans, sin all of the time? Of course. But there’s a huge difference between doing and being. Here’s the basic idea:

Being: I sin. I am a sinner. God’s grace is sufficient. Shit happens, and it will happen again. Oh well.

Doing: I am created in the Image of God. But I do sin. And God’s grace is definitely sufficient. What steps can I take to “go and sin no more”, as Jesus often says?

Let’s go back to the shooting range idea (by the way, I know that some might find this kind of metaphor uncomfortable or distracting, but the bigger picture just seems to work). I see this as putting both hands on the gun, holding it the right way, meticulously standing the way that is best for aim, and if need be, letting the person more experienced put their arms around you to help guide your shot.

And of course, sometimes you’ll still miss the target.

Throughout his letters, Paul is always very clear about his issues with sin. He never acts like he has it all together. He is very open and honest about stuff he struggles with. But in Romans 7, Paul talks about how it’s the sinful nature in him that causes him to do what he hates—verse 20 sums it up specifically: “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” He has a fundamental understanding that in Christ, he is “a new creation.”

The old has gone. The new has come. One of my favorite quotes from any theologian is this quote from Marcus Borg (emphasis added):

“The Way of Jesus is the way of death and resurrection. The transition and transformation from an old way of being to a new way of being.”

I love the repetition of the word “being” in that quote. The fact that he just knows who he is in Christ. But he’s also come to terms with the fact that it’s a transition as well as a transformation. That our humanity—the sinful nature Paul speaks of—will still rear its head and get in the way sometimes. And that’s just one thing that God’s perfect, beautiful, transforming grace is for.

There’s a difference between doing and being. There’s a difference between coming to terms with our sin and identifying with it. The more we identify with it, the more we tell ourselves that we are (you fill in the blank) and nothing more, the more we open our hearts to believing lies about ourselves that just aren’t true. The more we fill our hearts and minds with this idea that we are something other than the image of the Most High God, the sooner we lead ourselves to our own destruction (more on this in part 3).

If we are created in the image of God, and we are considered “good,” is identifying with anything other than that missing the mark? Put more simply, is truly identifying with our sin—and telling ourselves this over and over, as we often do—in itself sinning? I think so. Is God’s grace still sufficient? This is one thing I definitely still know.

On to part three »