Why is every sin ultimately a sin against God?

(v. 4) However much we may sin against man, all sin is against God. The repentant man has a deep conviction of the true character of sin as against God, and in the sight of God. Sin is a defiance of God, and being so, God will be justified in judging the sinner.

First, let us recall that all sin is against God. It affects Him and not only us who are sinners. Truly, it ruins us and brings us under the power of death and judgment; but it is also an outrage upon His holy nature, a flouting of His authority, an attempt to dishonour Him in the sight of His creatures. Hence the sacrifice of atoning virtue must not only be such as shall relieve the sinner by removing his sin, but shall also, and first, meet all the demands of God's holy nature, and of His righteous throne, and so thoroughly vindicate Him.

The Lord Jesus has dealt with sin in the flesh and also with the sins of believers-the root and fruit of sin. All sins are primarily against God, whoever else may be affected by them. This is shown very clearly in the case of David, in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah. The wickedness of David was brought home to his conscience by Nathan: "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon" (2 Sam. 12:9). The words of the prophet led David to confess what he had done and Psalm 51 is the record of that confession (see the heading of the Psalm). In verse 4 we read the remarkable words, "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." All sins being primarily against God it follows that only God can give eternal forgiveness for them.

317 In the sin in the garden we get the character of man's evil as against God; Cain's sin is sin against a neighbour. Of course both are sins against God (all sin is against God); but whilst in the sin of Adam and Eve we see lust and disobedience, in Cain's there is something more - it is sin as exhibited against a neighbour.

In the sin in the garden we get the character of man's evil as against God. Cain's sin is sin against a neighbour.* Of course, both are sins against God (all sin is against God); but whilst in the sin of Adam and Eve we see lust and disobedience, in Cain's there is something more, it is sin as exhibited against a neighbour.

"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned" is never true in an absolute way of any sin that man can commit. We are too closely united together in the world for this to be possible. If I have another god than Jehovah; does this hurt no one but myself? If I degrade Him by an idol, or take His Name in vain, is there no reflex influence of such acts upon others around me? Who that was truly convicted of sin could say this or believe it? and how above all the man who has need to plead for deliverance from the guilt of blood-shedding!

On the other hand, as Delitzsch well says; "Every relation in which man stands to his fellow-men; and to created things in general, is but the manifest form of his fundamental relationship to God:" at every point at which we touch His creatures; we touch God Himself; every blow struck at them is struck at Him, just as obedience to Him necessitates harmonious relationship to all His creatures. The guilt of every sin is fundamentally the same, revolt against God: this is; in a true sense; the only sin.

There is this difference between the principles of the law as laid down by Jesus, and the Ten commandments, that the principles drawn by Him from the books of Moses comprehend absolute good in all its extent without question of sin, whilst the Ten commandments suppose sin to be there, and, with one exception, are prohibitory of all unfaithfulness to the relationships of which they treat. It is important to notice that the last of these commandments forbids the first motion of the heart towards the sins previously condemned: "the sting is in the tail." Moreover, the various relationships were the basis of duty, the commandments forbidding men to fail in them. But the principle of law, of any law, is this: that the approbation of Him to whom I am responsible, my reception in favour by Him who has the right to judge of my faithfulness to my responsibility, or of my shortcomings - in a word, my happiness - depends upon what I am in this respect, upon what I am towards Him. For the relationships are established by the Creator's will and authority, and when I fail in them, I sin against Him who established them. Although the sin may be directly against the person I am in relation with, yet as the obligation was imposed by the will of God and is the expression of His will, I in fact despise His authority and disobey Him. The principle of law is that the acceptance of the person depends upon his conduct; grace does what it pleases in goodness, in conformity to the nature and the character of Him who acts in grace.

Then came a time of fierce and prolonged testing, and we see how great is the contrast with Judah's action in the previous chapter. There the sin was committed at once and was hardly recognized as sin. Here the testing met him day after day, and he was only preserved by his fear of God and recognition of the great wickedness of the seduction laid before him. Whether young or old we do well, as we pass through this defiling world, to have continually in our hearts this question, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Had he complied he would have sinned against the woman, against Potiphar and against himself, but the controlling and saving thought was "against God."

How good is it for us to notice that Joseph, in the presence of the most terrible temptation, resists and escapes. What is the secret of his being kept? He says, "How can I sin against God? "His eye is upon God. He lives before God. Happy man! He has the sense before God of what is right and wrong, and that every sin, whether "against his own body" (see 1 Cor. 6:18) or not, is a sin against God. "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" is a splendid rejoinder. It bespoke a godly state of mind, a tender conscience. Blessed man! "Blessed is the man that endures temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love him" (James 1:12).

It is all in vain. Conscience was at work, but not before God or toward Him: else had they cried to Him in self-judgment and sorrowful confession of the evil they had done. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in thy sight," said the penitent king. Yet it might be said that his iniquity was grievous wrong to a devoted servant and his wife, hitherto blameless. Adulterous seduction of the woman! Planned death for the man! What could be worse offences against one's neighbour? But the contrite heart, even in such a case, justly feels that, whatever the crime before man, sin is against God so as to eclipse all else.