Sins of Omission; Sins of Commission

Sins have been contemplated and yet ...
...not carried out for want of opportunity. God's law makes a record of all these. These hidden away, secret sins form character. Like when Jesus said just refraining from committing adultery is not enough... even if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, it is sin.


Then think of when Jesus said Thou hast heard thou shalt not kill but I tell you even if you are angry with your brother then you are a candidate for condemnation in the Judgment.


It is not enough that by your own measurement of character you prove you have done no positive wrong. The fact that one has done no positive good will be enough to condemn him as a wicked and slothful servant.


Think of the story of the man who swept and garnished. It wasnt enough that he simply stopped doing wrong things he needed to have the Holy Spirit. The man got rid of the demons but failed to fill the vacancy with the Holy Spirit. Stopping doing wrong things isnt enough.


We can purposely avoid studying the Bible to learn what it is God requires of us and then claim "we didnt realize".


Then there is the ten talents parable... you can bury your talents into the dirt, neglecting to use them.


Think of all the people we could be helping towards salvation but we dont. We congratulate ourselves for what we do but dont realize what all we could be doing. When we closely look at the Pattern, the life of Christ, we can more clearly see what we are not doing that we ought to be doing.


Failing to study Bible doctrines so that you can discern the difference between true and false teachings is a sin... a sin of ommision.


Failing to help others who are deceived to see the truth, is a sin of ommision.


You can fail to take the best care of your body so that you will be healthy and thus live longer... the longer you live the more people you will be able to lead to Christ.


Wasting the time that we have. Time is a gift from God and every bit of it we waste on frivilous things when we couldve been doing things for God is a sin.


There are all sorts of things that are sins of ommision but the way to know what they are... is to study closely the life of Christ.


Claudia

 

Just another thought. Like I said, if you look at others it will seem to you that "at least you arent doing THAT bad thing that someone else is doing". But when Isaiah looked at the glory of God, his attitude changed. He saw himself and others in a different light.

Isa:6:5: Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

I think that it was not realizing sins of omission that caused the Pharisees to have the attitude that they did.


Unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others," Christ spoke the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee goes up to the temple to worship, not because he feels that he is a sinner in need of pardon, but because he thinks himself righteous and hopes to win commendation. His worship he regards as an act of merit that will recommend him to God. At the same time it will give the people a high opinion of his piety. He hopes to secure favor with both God and man. His worship is prompted by self-interest.

And he is full of self-praise. He looks it, he walks it, he prays it. Drawing apart from others as if to say, "Come not near to me; for I am holier than thou" (Isa. 65:5), he stands and prays "with himself." Wholly self-satisfied, he thinks that God and men regard him with the same complacency.

"God, I thank thee," he says, "that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican." He judges his character, not by the holy character of God, but by the character of other men. His mind is turned away from God to humanity. This is the secret of his self-satisfaction.

He proceeds to recount his good deeds: "I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." The religion of the Pharisee does not touch the soul. He is not seeking Godlikeness of character, a heart filled with love and mercy. He is satisfied with a religion that has to do only with outward life. His righteousness is his own--the fruit of his own works--and judged by a human standard.

Whoever trusts in himself that he is righteous, will despise others. As the Pharisee judges himself by other men, so he judges other men by himself. His righteousness is estimated by theirs, and the worse they are the more righteous by contrast he appears. His self-righteousness leads to accusing. "Other men" he condemns as transgressors of God's law. Thus he is making manifest the very spirit of Satan, the accuser of the brethren. With this spirit it is impossible for him to enter into communion with God. He goes down to his house destitute of the divine blessing.

The publican had gone to the temple with other worshipers, but he soon drew apart from them as unworthy to unite in their devotions. Standing afar off, he "would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast," in bitter anguish and self-abhorrence. He felt that he had transgressed against God, that he was sinful and polluted. He could not expect even pity from those around him, for they looked upon him with contempt. He knew that he had no merit to commend him to God, and in utter self-despair he cried, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." He did not compare himself with others.

Overwhelmed with a sense of guilt, he stood as if alone in God's presence. His only desire was for pardon and peace, his only plea was the mercy of God. And he was blessed. "I tell you," Christ said, "this man went down to his house justified rather than the other."

 

Diane,

bmerr here. May I call you Diane?

It is quite common among those of faith (or at least is seems it ought to be) that we frequently take notice of the fact that we could do better for the Lord. This is the kind of self-examination commanded in the Scriptures (2 Cor 13:5). It is certain that we are not all that we ought to be, even on our best days.

Concerning the sins of ommission, this is especially true. Frankly, James 5:17 has been quite troublesome to me in the past. Can any of us recall a day in which we did EVERYTHING we ought to have done? I can't.

However, I think (as is often the case) that context is the key. If we go back just a few verses, we can see what James was talking about when he made the statement found in 5:17.

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

I believe that the good which these people ought to have known to do was simply to include God in their plans. Instead of having the attitude of "If the Lord wills", they were just taking for granted that they were going to live long enough to carry out their plans ("...we will go...and continue there a year...").

The difference was in their attitude about life. They knew better, and thus, their failure to do as they ought was sin.

Of course, I would encourage everyone to be regular in self-examination, and appropriate repentance, but I want people to know that there is security in Christ, and that the faithful need not lose sleep worrying that they failed to be perfect each day.

Those are my thoughts. I hope they are helpful.

In Christ,

bmerr

 

Diane I agree with you that sins of omission are serious sins. But I am not sure of why you disagree with that quote unless I am missing something.

The author of this quote seem to recognized that both "misdeeds" as well as "missed deeds" are both sins

 

These are examples of sinning by not doing the good one knows to do.

 

A young man came to Christ, and said, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" Jesus bade him keep the commandments. He replied, "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?" Jesus looked with love upon the young man, and faithfully pointed out to him his deficiency in keeping the divine law. He did not love his neighbor as himself.

The rich young ruler thought that he was keeping the law of God and not sinning because he was refraining from doing the negative, such as not committing adultery, not stealing, not killing, etc..

But he was also neglecting to do the positive. Thus he really was not keeping the law of God... he couldnt really love his neighbor if he stood by watching the poor suffer without lending some of his money to help.

So that is a sin of ommision. And thats what I mean when I say that refraining from committing sins can lead one to feel superior till he or she realizes just how many sins of ommision they are doing.

 

"purposely refraining from telling the whole truth, etc."

God misquoted Sarah to Abraham at Mamre for the sake of peace in the family.

 

Aint semantics fun?