The Depth of Our Sin - Koinonia Bible Studies

As we move into the first full week of the Lenten Season, we want to focus our thoughts on the reason for the Easter season. Though we can point to the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden, the truth is Easter is about all our sin. Our Bibles are opened to Psalm 32 as we begin to ponder the depth of our sin.

Psalm 32

New English Translation (NET)

New International Version (NIV)

Easy-To-Read Version (ERV)

By David; a well-written song.

32 How blessed is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven,
whose sin is pardoned.
²How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish,
in whose spirit there is no deceit.
³When I refused to confess my sin,
my whole body wasted away,
while I groaned in pain all day long.
⁴For day and night you tormented me;
you tried to destroy me in the intense heat of summer. (Selah)
⁵Then I confessed my sin;
I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.
I said, “I will confess my rebellious acts to the Lord.”
And then you forgave my sins. (Selah)
⁶For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you
while there is a window of opportunity.
Certainly when the surging water rises,
it will not reach them.
⁷You are my hiding place;
you protect me from distress.
You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance. (Selah)
⁸I will instruct and teach you about how you should live.
I will advise you as I look you in the eye.
⁹Do not be like an unintelligent horse or mule,
which will not obey you
unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit.
¹⁰An evil person suffers much pain,
but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him.
¹¹Rejoice in the Lord and be happy, you who are godly!
Shout for joy, all you who are morally upright!

By David; a well-written song.

A maskil of David.

32 It is a great blessing
    when people are forgiven for the wrongs they have done,
    when their sins are erased.^[a]
²It is a great blessing
    when the Lord says they are not guilty,
    when they don’t try to hide their sins.

³Lord, I prayed to you again and again,
    but I did not talk about my sins.
    So I only became weaker and more miserable.
⁴Every day you made life harder for me.
    I became like a dry land in the hot summertime. Selah

⁵But then I decided to confess my sins to the Lord.
I stopped hiding my guilt and told you about my sins.
And you forgave them all! Selah

⁶That is why your loyal followers pray to you while there is still time.
    Then when trouble rises like a flood, it will not reach them.
⁷You are a hiding place for me.
    You protect me from my troubles.
You surround me and protect me,
    so I sing about the way you saved me. Selah

⁸The Lord says, “I will teach you
    and guide you in the way you should live.
    I will watch over you and be your guide.
⁹Don’t be like a stupid horse or mule that will not come to you
    unless you put a bit in its mouth and pull it with reins.”

¹⁰Many pains will come to the wicked,
but the Lord’s faithful love will surround those who trust in him.
¹¹Good people, rejoice and be very happy in the Lord.
All you who want to do right, rejoice!

OTHER TRANSLATIONS

NASB Psalm 32 NASB

NCV Psalm 32 NCV

ESV Psalm 32 ESV

MSG Psalm 32 MESSAGE

KJV Psalm 32 KJV

NKJV Psalm 32 NKJV

RSV Psalm 32 RSV

HCSB Psalm 32 HCSB

NLT Psalm 32 NLT

LEB Psalm 32 LEB

New English Translation (NET)

New International Version (NIV)

Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

What Kind of Psalm is This?

Psalm 32 contains the second of the so-named “Penitential Psalms” – psalms that reflect a repentant heart or spirit. The other such psalms are Psalm 6, Psalm 38, Psalm 51, Psalm 102, Psalm 130, and Psalm 143. The psalm might better be called a psalm of instruction. The heading maskil seems to mean the giving of instruction. There are twelve psalms that carry this title.

Interpretation of Psalm 32 connects with the understanding of Psalm 51, David’s powerful psalm of repentance. David sinned in committing adultery with Bathsheba, who became pregnant. The King then manipulated battle plans so that Uriah, her husband, would lost is life in the war. David tried to cover up the sins, but an eventual confrontation with the prophet Nathan brought David to repentance.

Psalm 51 reflects the confrontation and repentance. It appears to have been written before Psalm 32. The latter psalm shows reflection and understanding. Leupold suggests that Psalm 32 is the fulfillment of the vow that David made in the earlier psalm: “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you” (Psalm 51:13).

The Psalm certainly developed as a means of instruction. Paul would later quote from this psalm in Romans 4 as he developed his argumentation that justification is by grace through faith alone – not through works. He links David’s testimony with the experience of Abraham found in Genesis 15:6.

This Psalm was St. Augustine’s favorite psalm. He had it inscribed on the wall of his cell before his death. He liked it because “the beginning of knowledge is to know oneself as a sinner.”

Wouldn’t it be amazing

if a fallen leader today

would repent, reflect,

and then teach us

what they learned about

the depth of our sin

and how to really avoid it?

Lessons to be Learned

For our thoughts today, we want to learn about the depth of our sin, about forgiveness, and about the blessings of understanding the faithfulness of God. Wednesday we will spend our time talking about confession and on Friday we will center on being able to set aside the feelings of guilt.

So let’s talk first about sin. If we are going to understand why Jesus had to go to the cross, we first need to understand the depth of our sin. If I asked you to define sin, where would you start? How would you begin to describe what sin is? We rarely talk about sin today – making it all the more difficult to define.

Ordinarily, one defines sin as “transgression against the Law.” We usually see sin as an action. Adam and Eve disobeyed by eating the apple. David sinned at enormous level – adultery and murder. But sin is deeper than any one action. Sin rests within our nature. Our nature of sin repells – like opposite poles of a magnet – against the nature of God. When we sin, we transgress the very nature of God.

Words for the depth of our sin

This is why in Psalm 51, David is able to say “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). In Psalm 32, David uses three different Hebrew words for sin. The first, peshah, is often translated transgression. It literally means “a going away” or “departure.” It speaks of a departure from the authority of God. While transgressions can hurt others and have varying degrees of consequences, at the root the transgression rebels against God.

The second word, chattath, translated sin in verse 1, parallels the Greek hamartia – missing the mark. Literally, it means falling short of the mark. Imagine an archer shooting an arrow at a bull’s eye on a target. The image is not that he barely missed the bull’s eye but was in one of the outer circles. The archer did not have the strength to get the arrow to the target. The arrow fell to the ground long before coming to the target. If we are to be holy as God is holy, we don’t even come close to His holiness.

The third word for sin, hawon, iniquity, which some versions simply translate as sin. The word means “corrupt” or “twisted.” Sin corrupts – twists – the nature we are supposed to be. We indulge in sin because we are twisted.

There was no “Law” in the Garden. No Law told Cain that he shouldn’t kill Abel. The Law was not in effect when Noah escaped punishment in an ark. Adam rejected the nature of God and therefore sinned. The bite from the fruit was almost irrelevant.

I twist who God is in my heart. My mind rationalizes what God has done. The attitude starts long before committing the action.

Words for What God Does

The three words for sin in the opening paragraph are matched by a second set of words describing what God does with the sin of those who confess it to Him. God forgives sin, covers over the depth of our sin, and refuses to count it against the sinful person.

The first thing that God does – forgives sin – literally means to have the sin lifted off. The Scripture uses the image of sin as a weight or a burden. The hymnist wrote, “Burdens are lifted at Calvary. Jesus is very near.” To continue with the image of the magnets, our metal has been “de-magnetized” so that our nature and God’s nature can again be attracted.

Old Testament Imagery

The second thing that God does draws its imagery from the Day of Atonement. God covers over our sin. On the Day of Atonement, the High Priest took the blood of the sacrificed animal and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The blood on the mercy seat – the lid on the top of the Ark – came between the presence of God and the Law (the Ten Commandments inside the Ark) which had been broken by the people. The blood covered the broken Law, shielding the sinner from God’s judgment.

The third thing is actually what God doesn’t do. God does not count our sin against us. The word “count” is translated “impute” in other places. This word is an accounting term. Instead of adding the negative number of our sins in our column, Christ’s righteousness is added. Instead, our sins are placed in Christ’s column. In turn, He paid the cost. This is why Paul quotes these verses in Romans 4:7-8.

Understand the concept. It does not matter how you have sinned. Adultery or murder, like David. Lying and cheating. Stolen money or cursed God, He doesn’t count them, if you confess your sins to the Father. If God doesn’t count them, why should we? How many times should you forgive? Seventy times seven. More than you can count.

The Blessing

There is much more to discuss about the depth of our sin when we consider confession and removal of guilt later this week. Think for a moment about how you react when someone says you have done something wrong. In essence, it is the same reaction we have toward our sins. First, I deny that I have sinned. Then, I admit but I rationalize. I need to take responsibility and recognize the sin is against more than my neighbor – it is against the very nature of God.

“Did you … ?” “Of course not, I would not do something like that.”

“Well, I did … but it wasn’t as bad as my neighbor. Well, I did … but I wouldn’t have if I had been treated better.”

“Oh my Father! I have sinned against your very nature because of my selfish, rebellious ways.”

The forgiveness of God is for all. Everyone is equal at the foot of the cross. All sins are accounted for.