Sin (5) The Gospels

According to the synoptic gospels (Mathew, Mark and Luke), John baptised people for the forgiveness of their sins and the angel announcing Jesus’ birth said he would save people from their sin, but Jesus did not talk about sin (missing the mark) very much. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus is only recorded as using the word sin on one occasion when healing the paralysed man (Mark 2:5-10). This is striking. If the first gospel (good news, only mentioned sin in one place, it is odd that insisting that people acknowledge their sin is at the heart of modern preaching of the good news.

When he did mention sin in Mathew, Mark and Luke, he almost always used the word “forgive” or “pardon” at the same time (Matt 9:2-6: 26:28; 12:31; Luke 1:77; 3:3; 5:20-24; 7:47-49; 11:4 24:27). He never accused ordinary people of sinning, but frequently promised to forgive their sins. If Jesus could not speak of sin without mentioning forgiveness, we should add this practice to our sharing of the gospel. This was true of the preaching of the gospel in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:38; 3:19: 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 22:16; 26:19). The apostles always mentioned forgiveness when they spoke about sin. If forgiveness was the heart of their preaching, it should be an integral part our ours too.

The word hamartia is used more frequently in John’s gospel. Jesus told the man by the pool of Bethsaida to stop sinning to keep his healing safe (John 5:14). He accused the Jews who rejected his good news of being servants of sin (John 8:21-46). He explained that the Holy Spirit will convict people of sin when he comes (John 16:8-9). He explained that a blind man was not blind because of his sin or his parent’s sin (John 9:5-31). Challenging and exposing the sins of ordinary people was not a dominant part of his ministry. I presume that the hardest thing to get people to understand was the extent of God’s love for them.