p. 341 | What Is Sin? by William Kincaid

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 22.

What Is Sin?

By William Kincaid

"SIN is the transgression of the law." That is, any indulgence which violates the law of love is a sin. It becomes conscious sin in him who, perceiving it to be a violation of that law, still continues to practice it. The process of converting unconscious transgression into conscious sin is continually going on where the truths of the gospel are applied to the lives and consciences of men. As the constant prayer of the true Christian, "Search me, O God, and see if there be any wicked way in me," is progressively answered, the "wicked ways" in which he had ignorantly and hence innocently walked, become in him subjective sin in which he cannot continue without guilt.

These simple principles remind us that the initial step in every reform must be the distinct and emphatic bringing men to a knowledge of sin. In this the Spirit of Truth takes the lead. He convinces men of sin. The human tongue, or pen, he uses in the same great work. That men generally, that Christians generally, nay, that "a few of the most earnest, most honored, and most successful workers for Christ," do not recognize a sinful practice as sin is the very fact that makes necessary this work. It is the Christian's lament that he cannot "understand his errors." It is his prayer that he may be "cleansed from secret faults." The voice that points out his failings is to him "a voice crying in the wilderness," and he bids it "cry aloud and spare not."

The false charity that should hesitate to stamp a sin as sin because there are godly men who do not recognize it as such, would put an effectual quietus on all reform. There have been godly men in all ages who have been radically mistaken in matters of right and wrong and have afterwards acknowledged their mistake. Let it be emphasized, indeed, that the lips that are moved to speak the truth upon such themes should speak in all humility, tenderness, and love, keeping ever in mind the distinction between sin that is conscious, incurring guilt, sin that is unconscious and hence without present condemnation, and all the varying degrees of light between. But to wait until all Christians recognize a sin as sin before exposing and denouncing it is to expect the result before using the means divinely appointed to secure it.—William Kincaid.