The Doctrine of Sin and a Pastor’s Ministry

Sin is an unpleasant subject. Many of us tend to avoid dealing with or talking about sin. Not only is sin ubiquitous since the Fall, it has serious consequences, and we should not ignore it. Sin disrupts our relationship with God and others and interferes with our marriages and families. Even for Christians, sin requires repentance and confession. The good news is that forgiveness is available in Christ, who took our sin upon himself. As we trust in him, the Holy Spirit will enable us to overcome sin’s dominion in our lives. However, we must continue to be vigilant because, as in Cain’s case, “sin is crouching at the door” (Gen. 4:7). In the following article, I will lead us to reflect more deeply on the importance of the doctrine of sin in a pastor’s ministry and caution us against neglecting to preach and teach on this vital subject.

Why the Doctrine of Sin Matters

In a previous post on the doctrine of humanity, I have already discussed that while God created humanity in his image and likeness to be fruitful, multiply, and exercise dominion over the earth for Him, humanity rebelled against God. The result is that now everyone is born with a sin nature. But Jesus, the Son of God, took on human nature to redeem humanity from sin and, as the perfect human, kept the law and showed us how to live. Here are seven truths about sin that pastors will do well to teach their congregations to equip them to live their lives more fully in keeping with biblical teaching.

7 truths to teach about sin

Scripture teaches the following seven truths about sin, and yet many preachers today regularly neglect it. The instinct to stay positive and encouraging is not wrong because we all need encouragement. Still, before people are ready for the good news that there is forgiveness of sin available in Christ, we must tell them the bad news: They’re all sinners—that is, sin has crept into their spiritual DNA—and they must thrust themselves on God’s mercy so he will deal with them not based on their depraved state but on the merits of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice on their behalf on the cross.

1. Sin disrupts our relationship with God and others.

When Satan approached the woman in the Garden, he flatly contradicted God’s Word and questioned God’s goodness, hinting that God had chosen to withhold from her pleasures that offered greater fulfillment. In this way, Satan sowed doubts in the woman’s mind that God had her best interests at heart and suggested she better look out for herself rather than trust her Creator. By encouraging her to act independently from her husband, Satan also drove a wedge between the woman and her husband. We must stress that sin always negatively affects our primary relationships and separates us from those God calls us to love.

2. Sin has gender-specific ramifications.

Some of sin’s consequences are generic. That is, they affect men and women alike. The most obvious example is that all people die. But there are also gender-specific consequences that affect men and women uniquely in their respective primary spheres of life. In the woman’s case, she experiences labor pains in childbirth and finds within herself a desire to control and manipulate her husband (Gen. 3:16). The man, for his part, experiences “labor pains” in his work (Gen. 3:17–19).

Sin always makes life more difficult.

As men and women, though, we experience sin’s consequences, each in our own unique way.

3. Sin has serious consequences.

One of the devil’s most egregious lies is that sin has no — or no serious –consequences. His lie is that sin will bring us greater pleasure and satisfaction and that, conversely, if we resist sin, we will miss out. The woman in the Garden desperately craved the delicious taste of the forbidden fruit and the hidden wisdom it would provide. But as the apostle John counsels, “All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires” (1 John 2:15–17).

We must warn people that sin always has serious consequences and never delivers what it promises.

4. Sin requires repentance.

To preach forgiveness without repentance is unbiblical. To be sure, God assures the Israelites in exile, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11), but such a hopeful future is contingent upon repentance and faith: “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:12–13). We must not be false prophets or teachers by preaching that God will bless people and restore them apart from repentance and faith.

5. Confession of sin is required for forgiveness.

Not only is repentance required for forgiveness, we must confess our sin: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Conversely, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). Time and again, I’ve heard believers say, or imply, that Christians no longer need to confess their sins; they’re already forgiven. But while, for believers, forgiveness is always available potentially because of the shed blood of Christ, confession is still required. This is the clear lesson of the foot washing: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (John 13:8).

6. Jesus took our sin upon himself.

As John the Baptist testified, Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). Paul wrote, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). The writer of Hebrews added, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). Our confidence must rest exclusively in what Jesus did for us on the cross. He bore the penalty for our sin, averted God’s wrath on our sin, and covered our sin by his sacrifice on our behalf.

7. The Holy Spirit enables us to overcome the power of sin.

Just as we must put our trust in Christ alone for salvation, we must put our trust in the Holy Spirit for sanctification. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is now at work in us to apply the saving benefits of Christ in our daily lives. When was the last time you preached a sermon on sanctification? This should be a regular occurrence, as this is where our people need the most help. Passages such as Galatians 5 or Romans 6–8 are life-giving and transformative and can deliver believers from the futile cycle of sinning, confessing, and sinning again as they learn how they are now dead to sin and slaves to righteousness.

Conclusion

Pastors, we don’t do our people a favor by focusing unilaterally on the good news while skipping over the bad news.

I plead with you: don’t neglect to preach regularly on the need for repentance and confession of sin. This contrite, humble posture is not only required for first-time faith but is an essential posture for believers as well. Balance is vital: Our preaching need not be morbid and given to excessive introspection, but neither should we omit to teach vital biblical truths such as God’s judgment upon sin, his holy wrath on unconfessed sin, and Jesus’ call to repentance: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).

©2023 Andreas Köstenberger. Used with permission.