What is the difference between sin and iniquity? Haven't we heard all this time that sin is sin? Indeed, we have. However, Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
Notice how Jesus did not call these people sinners? But rather, "workers of iniquity", "ye that work iniquity". This to me, emphasizes that there IS a difference. While studying the scriptures and other tools on the subject to prepare this message, I came across several articles concerning "sin of omission" and "sins of commission". While I was reading these articles, I couldn't help but notice the root words of omission and commission. The root word for omission would be omit. To omit means to leave out. Whereas commission means something that is active.
How many times have you heard the expression, "Out of commission"? What does that mean? It means something that was working, is no longer working. Your car breaks down, it is out of commission. The best way to understand the omission part is to think of something like movie credits. There may be an actor in a movie who made a brief appearance, but in the credits, that person's name was omitted. Meaning it was left out. It's not that they weren't in the picture, they were just left out of the credits.
Simply put, when we leave something God commands us in His Word out of something, we leave Him out of it. If we leave out our prayer time with the Lord, we leave Him out of a part of our lives. If we strike up conversation with someone and we leave out the blessings of God we received that week, we leave Him out of the conversation. Case in point, when a church leaves the Gospel of Jesus Christ out of the pulpit, you leave HIM out of the pulpit!
If we don't have our daily prayer time, if we don't read our Bibles that day, we leave God out of our lives, even if just for a time. Nonetheless, we have left God out of it, and we are now guilty of sins of omission. But what of sins of commission? Best example of that would be the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Luke 10:30-37, "Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So, he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So, which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Two men, a priest and a Levite both saw a man lying on the side of the road literally beaten half to death. But instead of doing what they knew was right and help this man, the crossed the street and walked right passed him, never giving him another thought. It was a Levite of all people. Levites and Jews in those days were sworn enemies. But this natural enemy would be the one to have compassion for this man and tended to his wounds and took care of him. It's like a viper rending aid and comfort to a bunny rabbit! This was unheard of! No one ever heard of a natural enemy having mercy on his foe like that!
And then Jesus asked the question, "So, which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” Obviously, it was his so-called "sworn enemy". The priest and the Levite KNEW it would have been right to help this poor man, but instead, they ignored him and left him there to die! In God's eyes, what they did was no better than the thieves who robbed him! That is a sin of commission. To know what the right thing to do is and still not do it.
James 4:17 says, "to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
It's true that sin is sin. However, when looking at sins of omission and commission, we see a world of difference! In the Old Testament, the Hebrew words translated as sin and iniquity are chattah and awon.
The word most often translated as sin is chattah. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary defines it as an offense (first used in Genesis 4:7). Sin can be both intentional (sins of commission) and unintentional (sins of omission). Sin is any thought, word, or action that is in disobedience to the will of God.
The Hebrew word translated as iniquity is awon (Genesis 15:16). Strong’s defines it as perversity, i.e. (moral) evil. Iniquity is a type of sin that is related to inner character. It is a moral uncleanness that is demonstrated and is often a very intentional twisting or defiance of God’s standard.
So, how can we tell if we have sins of omission or commission in our lives? The first thing we need to do is recognize that there IS sin in our lives, and it MUST be removed immediately!
While sins of commission are often blatant and deliberate, transgressing a known law or command, sins of omission can be subtle and sneaky. We may not even realize that we have failed to do what God commands. Even though you might not ever commit adultery, for example, you men could easily fail to love your wife as Christ loved the church and you women could easily fail to submit to your own husbands as unto the Lord Himself in life. In this example, committing adultery would be a sin of commission, while failing to love would be a sin of omission. When we consider and examine our own sins of omission, we should be humbled and flee any attempt to boast in self-righteousness.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines sin as “any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God”. Put simply, a sin of omission is any lack of conformity to God’s law, or failing to do what God commands, which is as grievous as actively transgressing what He commands. (James 4:17) James also explains that we must not be only hearers of the Word, but doers also (James 1:22). While it is certainly true that we can sin without realizing it, sins of omission are intensified by knowledge. When we know what God has commanded us in His Word and we fail to do it, then we have silenced the voice of conscience and sinned against Him.
I want to suggest three ways we commit sins of omission, in our thoughts/desires, words, and deeds and provide a gospel remedy. First, we commit sins of omission when we lack conformity to God’s law in our thoughts and desires. When we do not set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:2) or when we fail to love God with all our hearts and minds (Luke 10:27). We are commanded to “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5) and to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). But how often are we doers of these commands? When we fail to honor God with our thoughts and desires, we commit sins of omission. Our sins of commission and sins of omission have been laid on Christ and He has paid in full our debts.
Second, we commit sins of omission when we lack conformity to God’s law in our words. The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesians exhorts the church to speak the truth in love and to speak “only such as is good for building up” (Ephesians 4:15, 29). We should speak truthfully (1 Peter 3:10), giving words of encouragement to one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Our speech should be gracious (Colossians 4:6) and gentle (Proverbs 15:4). But when we fail to speak in these ways, we commit sins of omission with our speech.
Third, we commit sins of omission when we lack conformity to God’s law in our deeds. The Bible contains a number of positive “one another” commands. For example, we are called to “be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50), to bear with one another in love (Ephesians 4:2), to be “kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another” (Ephesians 4:32), and “to seek to do good to one another, and to everyone” (1 Thessalonians 5:15). The prophet Micah writes, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). Jesus teaches that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). Then there’s the Ten Commandments, including keeping the Sabbath day holy (Exodus 20:8). When we fail in keeping these positive commands, we commit sins of omission.
As you can probably see, the more we examine our lives, our thoughts, desires, words, and deeds, the more we realize how much we fail to think, love, speak, and do those things that please and honor God. We fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23), and we fail to do what we know is right and good.
Sin is not just something we do, but sometimes it is something that we ought to have done. Oftentimes, we do what God has forbidden. We are very conscious of these things because they are visible. Of this kind, Paul says, “For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.” – Colossians 3:25
We know what Paul is talking about. We often repent of doing these things. But what about the other kind of sin, the sin of omission? Sometimes we sit on our hands and say or do nothing when we should have acted. “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” – James 4:17
One Commentary describes it as the sin of “knowledge without practice”. This person’s “faith” is empty if he only offers well-wishes to the cold and hungry person. When you know the right thing to do and have the means, then you offer the coat or food; to do nothing is a sin. Paul was guilty of it, saying, “the good that I want to do I do not do” (Romans 7:16). We often think of sin as the things we should not have done. However, being a Christian is characterized as doing what we are positively called to do. A person can’t say, “I decided I would not sin today and so I didn’t.” “How did you do that?” “I just sat down so that I would not step into sin, and I thought about nothing so that I would not think evil.” “I see, but don’t you think you committed the sin of being the useless fig tree?” “I didn’t think of that.” The command by Jesus to “deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me” encompass the things we ought not to do, but it also includes what we ought to. And so, the Christian quits drinking and cursing AND he praises God and tells the Good News to others (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:38-41). To not do the latter things is sin.
In a recent lesson my church and I learned how God commanded Joshua and Zerubbabel, the High Priest and the Governor of the remnant of Israel, to “walk in My ways” and “perform My service“. If they would, God said, “you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here” (Zechariah 3:17). The house of the Lord needed to be built. The service of God needed to be conducted. The idea that someone can be pleasing to God by turning from evil while remaining idle so as not to advance the work is the sin of omission. Truthfully, we understand that we must turn away from Satan’s vices. But Satan is just as happy if we sit idly by and let others do the work.
In closing, let each person consider the personal application of Christ’s words to: “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you“, and that, “It is more blessed to give, than to receive“, and finally, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel“, Jesus said. By doing God’s will, we avoid the sin of omission.
Before we can come to experience the amazing grace of God in Christ, we need to realize how serious these sins of omission really are. Paul, quoting Deuteronomy 27:26, writes, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” (Galatians 3:10). Think about that. If you do not abide by all things in God’s commands and laws, you remain under the “curse” of God. All of us, then, justly deserve His wrath, the wages of our sin. But God, being rich in mercy, has forgiven our sins through the shed blood of Christ, who “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”. Our sins of commission and sins of omission have been laid on Christ and He has paid in full our debts, which we can never pay ourselves.
With the assurance of God’s pardoning grace, all of His commands and laws come to us not with the threat of judgment but with the encouragement of a friend, leading us in the way that’s pleasing to Him. God’s law is good, and we should meditate upon His law day and night, that we might be well-watered trees bearing fruit (Psalms 1:2–3). And though we fail to conform to His law, our hope is in the One who has accomplished all that God has required of us. We should daily repent of our sins of omission and put our faith in Christ. We should confess with the saints of old, that “we have left undone those things which we ought to have done”, neglecting and disregarding God’s positive commands. And when we do, let us rest in the promise of God that He “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
