Evangelism and the Topic of Sin

The Discussion of Sin Is Perhaps One of the Most Challenging Conversations a Christian Will Ever Have When Evangelising to the Unbeliever

The discussion of sin is perhaps one of the most challenging conversations a Christian will ever have when evangelising to the unbeliever. This is especially true in today’s society, where both older and younger generations of unbelievers are typically aware of the basic concept of sin but have often come to regard it as harmful, negative, judgmental, or simply irrelevant.

I believe this has been developing for generations. The cultural revolution of the 1960s gave birth to new attitudes and behaviours that were frequently met with legalistic judgment and condemnation by Christians and the Church. For many, it seemed hypocritical that Christians might condemn an individual for going to the movies, dancing, or drinking, while at the same time supporting the idea of sending young men to Vietnam to fight, kill, or be killed in a war that, to many of that generation, made no sense. A generation that felt wounded by what it perceived as Christian judgment and condemnation became increasingly apathetic toward the legalistic message of sin—the message that seemed to say, “Be good and God will be pleased with you.” That same generation found deep healing in the message of God’s unconditional grace, and it naturally raised and nurtured its children with a greater emphasis upon that grace.

With each passing generation, however, the pendulum has continued to swing. What was once perceived as a “fire and brimstone” message emphasizing sin and judgment has increasingly been displaced by a message emphasizing God’s grace, love, forgiveness, and acceptance. I am certainly not suggesting that the message of God’s grace is unimportant, nor am I suggesting that sin should somehow take precedence over grace. Without God’s grace, we have no Gospel. What I am suggesting is that we cannot fully appreciate God’s grace and forgiveness without first understanding what we need to be forgiven of and why we need His grace in the first place.

Grace Cannot Be Separated From the Problem It Solves

Much of today’s evangelism and ministry seems to assume the reality of man’s sin. We assume that everyone already understands that we are sinners, and therefore we quickly move on to God’s love, God’s forgiveness, and God’s offer of salvation. But when the reality and consequences of sin are assumed rather than explained, something important can be lost. If evangelism speaks continually about God’s forgiveness while giving little attention to what sin is, what it does, and why repentance is necessary, it should not surprise us when sin eventually comes to be perceived as irrelevant.

After all, if everything is simply forgiven, why should sin matter? Taken far enough, this can contribute to what has sometimes been called “easy believism”—the idea that one can simply believe something about Jesus, receive forgiveness, and then continue living with little concern for righteousness, repentance, or the destructive nature of sin. But grace was never intended to make sin irrelevant. Grace is God’s remedy precisely because sin is so devastating.

The message of God’s grace and forgiveness cannot be fully appreciated without understanding sin, its consequences, and our need for repentance. We should therefore be careful that in correcting the errors of legalism we do not swing the pendulum so far in the opposite direction that we diminish the very problem Christ came to remedy.

The Generational Growth of Sin

I describe one consequence of this as the Generational Growth of Sin. By this I do not mean that children inherit the personal guilt of their parents. I mean that attitudes toward sin, compromises with sin, and increasing acceptance of sinful practices can be passed from one generation to another.

What one generation reluctantly tolerates, the next generation may accept, and what that generation accepts, another may eventually celebrate. In this way, each passing generation can inherit an increasing apathy toward sin and its devastating consequences. Relationships with other people suffer. Society suffers. Families suffer. And most perilous of all, mankind’s relationship with God is increasingly disregarded.

The answer, however, is not to swing the pendulum all the way back toward legalism. The answer is to faithfully proclaim both the seriousness of sin and the extraordinary grace of God.

What Is Sin?

I have heard many Christians define sin as disobedience or the breaking of God’s moral law. Webster’s dictionary similarly defines sin as an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

There is nothing inherently wrong with these definitions, and there is certainly nothing wrong with a definition drawn directly from Scripture. The difficulty arises when we attempt to communicate that definition to a society in which many people have adopted some form of moral relativism.

The moment we say, “Sin is breaking God’s moral law,” someone may respond, “Who decides whose moral standards are right? Everyone has different standards. What makes Christians think theirs are the right ones?”

The first answer should be that Christians should not believe that our morals are the ultimate standard. God’s morals are. God’s moral standard is not right because Christians happen to agree with it. God’s moral standard is right because God Himself is perfectly righteous. “To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Psalm 92:15). Likewise, Scripture says: “The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and just is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Therefore, when we speak about sin to an unbeliever, our purpose should not be to impose our morality upon another person. We are explaining God’s standard while recognizing that we ourselves also fall short of that standard.

We Are Transmitters, Not the Author of the Message

I am both an advocate for and an adamant believer in the power of God’s Word. Whenever we speak God’s Word directly from Scripture, we in essence become a conduit—a transmitter through which the message of God is communicated.

A transmitter is not the author, source, or essence of the message being transmitted. Likewise, when Christians proclaim God’s Word, the message does not belong to us. We did not create God’s truth, we did not establish God’s moral standard, and we do not possess the authority to change His message.

But communication requires more than a transmitter. It also requires a receiver.

When a message is not received, that does not necessarily mean there is something wrong with the message—especially when the message is God’s Word. Nor does it automatically mean there is something wrong with the transmitter. We can examine ourselves and determine whether we are faithfully communicating what God has revealed.

But there is another possibility worth considering: perhaps the transmitter and receiver are operating on different frequencies.

Are We Speaking on the Same Frequency?

If we as Christians are attempting to transmit an important message to an unbeliever who may not even be expecting that message, we should ask whose responsibility it is to make sure that the message is communicated in a way the receiver can understand.

Before we simply conclude that the unbeliever’s receiver is turned off, perhaps we should first consider whether we are speaking on the same frequency. This does not mean changing God’s message. It means understanding the person to whom we are communicating it.

Scripture itself provides examples of this. In Acts 17:16–34, the Apostle Paul stood in the Areopagus of Athens and communicated with people whose worldview was profoundly different from his own. He understood their religious and philosophical environment. He referred to their altar “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD” and even quoted their own poets as he directed the conversation toward the true God.

Paul did not change the truth. He changed the point from which he began communicating that truth. Jesus Himself repeatedly used parables drawn from things His hearers understood—seeds, farming, fishing, money, families, vineyards, sheep, and everyday life. The truth did not change, but the truth was communicated in ways people could understand. That should teach us something about evangelism.

We Cannot Catch Something If We Are Too Busy Scaring It Away

Jesus told His disciples: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Anyone who understands anything about fishing understands that you cannot catch something if you are too busy scaring it away.

That does not mean hiding the hook. It does not mean changing God’s Word, avoiding the subject of sin, or telling people only what they want to hear. It means understanding that our purpose in evangelism is not to win an argument, demonstrate our righteousness, or personally pronounce judgment upon another human being.

Our task is to bring people to God the Son, to leave judgment to God the Father, conviction to God the Holy Spirit, and the conversion and sanctification of unbelievers to Him. We cannot persuade someone into genuine faith merely through superior argumentation. But neither should we forget that God can use us as part of the means through which His truth reaches another person.

If God has chosen to use human voices to proclaim the Gospel, then we should desire to become faithful transmitters—speaking the truth accurately while doing everything reasonably possible to communicate that truth in a way the person before us can understand.

Speak About Sin Without Pretending We Are Without Sin

In no way am I suggesting that Christians should avoid speaking about sin. We must speak about sin. Without understanding sin, an unbeliever cannot properly understand why Christ’s sacrifice was necessary. But being sinners ourselves, we can speak with tact, humility, and empathy rather than coming across as judgmental, condemning, or better than the person to whom we are speaking.

Instead of beginning by pointing our finger at every particular sin in another person’s life, we can begin with the truth that applies equally to all of us: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

That includes the unbeliever, but it also includes me. John likewise tells us: “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Evangelism is therefore not one group of righteous people telling another group of sinful people how terrible they are. It is sinners telling other sinners about the Savior.

The Best Way to Reveal Sin Is to Point People Toward God

None of this means that we should avoid speaking about sin. Quite the opposite. We need to help people understand what sin is and why it separates us from a holy and righteous God. But there is an important difference between explaining the reality of sin and simply pointing our fingers at the sins of another person.

I am reminded of Isaiah. Before the account of Isaiah’s vision of God, we find him pronouncing judgment and repeatedly speaking of the sins of others. Isaiah 5 contains a series of declarations beginning with “Woe.” But then something remarkable happens.

Isaiah tells us, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted” (Isaiah 6:1).

Isaiah saw the Lord. He heard the seraphim proclaiming, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). And confronted with the holiness of God, Isaiah’s attention was immediately drawn to his own condition:

“Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of armies” (Isaiah 6:5).

There is an important lesson for evangelism in that account. Isaiah did not suddenly discover that sin existed. He already knew about sin. What changed was that he saw himself in contrast to the holiness of God. When Isaiah saw God as He truly is, he also saw himself more clearly.

Perhaps that should influence how we speak to unbelievers about sin. Our purpose should not merely be to stand before another person saying, “Woe are you because of everything you are doing wrong.” We should point that person toward God. Show them His holiness. Show them His righteousness. Show them His goodness. Show them Christ.

When we begin to see God as He has revealed Himself, we inevitably begin to see ourselves differently. Sin is no longer merely a list of behaviours that Christians have arbitrarily decided are wrong. It becomes everything within us that falls short when measured against the holiness and righteousness of God.

And importantly, the Christian stands in exactly the same place. I cannot point an unbeliever toward the holiness of God without seeing my own sin in that same light. Like Isaiah, before I can concern myself only with “woe are they,” I must recognize “woe is me.”

So yes, we must speak about sin. But perhaps one of the most powerful ways of helping someone understand sin is not merely to point at the darkness in that person’s life, but to point him toward the holiness of God. In seeing Him more clearly, we begin to see ourselves more clearly—and then we can begin to understand why we so desperately need His grace.

But We Must Explain Why Sin Matters

Humility does not require us to minimize sin. Scripture tells us plainly that sin has terrible consequences: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Notice that the same verse gives us both sides of the Gospel problem. Sin brings death. God provides life.

We therefore need to explain both. We need to explain the destructive reality of sin, mankind’s inability to provide his own remedy, and God’s gracious provision through the substitutionary and sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.

We also need to explain repentance. God’s grace is not permission to embrace the very sin from which Christ came to save us. Confession acknowledges our sin before God: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And the Christian does not face temptation alone: “No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and God is faithful, so He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Sin and Grace Must Be Proclaimed Together

The solution to legalistic evangelism is not to stop talking about sin. The solution to an apathetic attitude toward sin is not to stop talking about grace.

We need both.

If we preach sin without grace, we can leave people condemned without showing them the Savior. If we preach grace without explaining sin, we can offer people a remedy without helping them understand the disease from which they need to be saved. The Gospel tells us the truth about ourselves while simultaneously telling us the extraordinary truth about God. We have sinned. Sin has consequences. We cannot save ourselves. But God has not abandoned us to those consequences. He has provided the remedy through Jesus Christ.

That is why our evangelism should neither sound like “You are a terrible sinner and I am better than you,” nor like “God loves you, so your sin really does not matter.” Instead, we can stand beside another human being and say, in effect, “You and I have the same problem. We are sinners. Neither of us can remedy that problem ourselves. But God loves us enough that He has provided the remedy through His Son.”

The Christian’s Responsibility in Evangelism

Our responsibility is therefore not to manufacture conversion. It is not to frighten people into Christianity, shame them into Christianity, argue them into Christianity, or pretend that the uncomfortable parts of the Gospel do not exist.

Our responsibility is to faithfully communicate what God has revealed. We should understand the person standing before us. We should speak in language that person can understand. We should explain sin honestly. We should proclaim God’s grace completely. We should point that person to Jesus Christ. And through all of it, we should remember that we are not the source of the message.

We are transmitters.

God provides the message. God provides the Savior. God provides the Gospel. God provides the truth. God provides the grace. God convicts. God saves. God sanctifies. And yet, in His wisdom, God has allowed people like us to carry that message to others.

If Jesus has called us to become “fishers of men,” then perhaps one of the first lessons we should learn is not to frighten away the very people we are hoping to reach. We do not accomplish that by hiding the truth about sin. We accomplish it by speaking that truth with the humility of someone who knows that he too is a sinner, with the compassion of someone who understands the devastating consequences of sin, and with the hope of someone who knows that God has provided the remedy.

Tell them about sin. Tell them why it matters. Tell them about repentance. But above all, bring them to Jesus Christ—the One who came to save sinners like them, and sinners like us.