Thinking About Sin

Someone recently asked me, “Is it a sin to speed?” The question naturally arises from Romans 13—where we’re told, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities…” (Rom 13:1). Clear enough. But why ask the question at all? Well, almost everyone speeds … even “good Christians.” (Not a good reason; just a reason to ask.) And Scripture does say, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” (Rom 13:10), so what if going slower than the speed of traffic causes harm to a neighbor? Now, before you go too far down that trail, let’s first consider a new line of thinking for me, then see if it applies and/or clarifies—maybe even clarifies the “answer a fool” dichotomy.

I contend that Scripture argues that the bottom level—the primary form that sin takes—is not behavioral, but relational. We see that in Romans 1 where God’s wrath is against our refusal to acknowledge Him (Rom 1:18-21). We see in Romans 3 that sin is falling short of His glory (Rom 3:23).

Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). It stands to reason, then, that if we don’t keep His commandments, it’s a failure of love. Jesus said that the whole Law depends on love—love first for God and second for others (Matt 22:37-40). Sin, then, is fundamentally a failure to love. That failure produces those behaviors we recognize as “sins.”

Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries …” (Mark 7:20-23), so sin isn’t a behavioral problem as much as a heart problem—a relational rupture first with God and then with others.

In Romans 3, Paul summarizes our fundamental sin problem as “There is no fear of God in their eyes” (Rom 3:18). Sin as an entity is the failure to properly relate to God, and “sins”—those “bad things we do or good things we fail to do”—are simply the necessary outcome of that fundamental relationship with God.

Jesus intensifies this relational focus in the Sermon on the Mount. Anger is relational murder (Matt 5:21–22). Lust is relational adultery (Matt 5:27–28). Sin is relocated from the hands to the heart—from behavior to relationship.

Paul’s vision of salvation follows the same pattern. In Ephesians 2, sin is described as alienation—“far off,” “without God,” “dead.” Salvation is reconciliation—“brought near,” “made alive,” “reconciled.” The problem there not that we behave badly, but that we're “dead in sin.” The gospel restores relationship, and restored relationship produces transformed behavior.

This means that even seemingly small behaviors—like speeding—can reveal deeper relational issues. The sin is not the speed; the sin is the heart behind the speed. Is it a refusal to submit to rightful authority (Rom 13:1-3)? Is it indifference to the safety of others (Rom 13:10)? The behavior is morally small, but the relational posture it expresses may not be. Do we answer a fool according to his folly or not? That wouldn’t depend on the letter of the law (which, in this case, is ambiguous), but on the intent of the heart. Which response best expresses love for my neighbor?

Viewing the topic like this takes all of sin into a different line of thinking. It allows for “if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” as a function of “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:1-2) rather than “righteous indignation” over a specific violation. It leaves room for “love the sinner but hate the sin” without being overly judgmental. It recognizes the root problem of the sins of others as a relational issue—just like our own sins. That recognition fosters compassion, because sin is fundamentally a breakdown in relationship before it is a moral failure. It also focuses attention on the root cause rather than trying “moral therapy” (“You just need to try harder.”) to solve a relational issue.