Sin is More than Just Actions

Does changing the music we listen to and the movies we watch change our affections? Or does it just change our actions?

The Desires, the Affections, the Passions

When Paul describes the sin that we need saving from, he doesn’t just talk about things we do, he talks about the passions and desires of the heart.

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:1-3)

This article is part 3 of a series on grey areas within Christian living.

Article 1 - Do grey areas even exist within Christian living?

Article 2 - Which Issues are ‘grey’ and which ones are not?

It is these same passions and desires that a person is called upon to crucify when they follow Christ.

“And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).

This idea of God being after our passions and desires is consistent throughout Scripture. God’s criticism of Israel often mentions their hearts being far from Him, as opposed to just their behaviours. For example, “this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13).

With all this in mind, we know that the answer to the question, ‘what is sin?’ is that it is a series of misplaced desires. Therefore, living a life free of sin doesn’t just mean living a lifestyle with a certain set of actions, it means having a heart that has had its passion for sin dealt with.

Why This Matters

Seeing sin primarily as an issue of desire changes how we navigate what we are calling ‘grey areas.’ The idea that “if the Bible never says it’s wrong, it must be right,” is done away with. The Bible hasn’t gone about naming every action that is wrong. Instead, it has told you that your outward actions may look good while having a heart far from God.

Certainly, there are actions in the Bible that are named as sin. But what is named explicitly in the Bible isn’t sufficient to help us navigate a complicated 21st century world. When someone wants to know what is okay to do online, they can’t go looking for specific verses that give an answer. They’ll need to think about what their choices do to their heart.

Making a list of things other Christians should avoid isn’t helpful, it’s legalism. Sin is an issue of the passions, not the actions. Suggesting that ‘Christ has set us free and therefore I am free to do what I want’ isn’t helpful, it’s dangerous. Actions spring from the heart. They are a telltale sign of what is going on inside.

When Jesus summarizes the law, He doesn’t point to any particular action, but to the affections, “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38).

Photo by Ryan 'O' Niel on Unsplash

In other words, a person can avoid halloween, Harry Potter and hunting, but if they don’t love God with everything, they aren’t actually living in holiness. “People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

In the Sermon the Mount, Jesus, 7 times, reassesses an action named in the law and clarifies that God is looking at the heart. For example, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus isn’t lowering the stakes for holiness when He says this, He is raising them.

Learn to Mourn

This is important, because it changes how I view sin and how I view myself. If sin is defined as merely actions, I am doing okay. I haven’t murdered anyone or committed adultery, so as long as I keep my tongue in check and love others generously, I can conclude I am being sanctified. But if sin is primarily desires - what I want, even when I restrain myself from doing something - then “woe is me! For I am a man of unclean lips” (Is 6:5).

The action of sin, flows from the desire. This is why Jesus teaches, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matt 15:1819, emphasis added). Note that the action (and He does name some specific actions!) proceeds from the heart. It would be common to hear teaching that says if you sin, the sin dirties your heart. But this is backwards. We do sinful actions because we have sinful hearts.

Actions can be changed. Self-control can be taught. But desires require genuine heart change. In order for my desires to be changed, I need a God who can take away my heart of stone and replace it with one of flesh, and I need Him to do that everyday.

If you don’t understand that sin is in the affections, you won’t see the depth and severity of your own sin. And if you don’t see the depth and severity of your own sin, you won’t cry out unceasingly for grace and mercy. And if you don’t cry out unceasingly for grace and mercy, you won’t worship Him the way He ought to be worshipped.

Inside Out and Outside In

We have noted Jesus teaching that action proceeds from the heart. We might say that sin starts inside and works its way outside. It is also true, that what happens outside the body affects what is inside. Jesus says, “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness” (Luke 11:34). What your eye looks at will affect the health of your heart.

In other words, we are caught in a cyclical cycle. If the heart is filled with sinful passions, the eye will look where it ought not to. If the eye is looking where it ought not to, it will feed the sinful passions of the heart. This is why, when fighting sin, behaviour management is not going to help on its own; Christ must come and remake the heart.

Paul says, “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful” (1 Cor 10:23). Some may take this as permission to watch what they want, listen to what they want and celebrate what they want. But the fact that Christ is concerned with our heart and not our actions doesn’t lower the bar for Christian living, it raises it.

This makes everything we interact with more spiritual than we realize: everything we interact with is closer to being an object of worship than we realize. It not only matters how we live, it also matters what we desire. And the things we look at and listen to can fuel what we desire. By watching your actions, you are “Keep[ing] your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Prov 4:23). But by watching your actions and ignoring your heart, you are missing what God actually desires.

The Grey Areas

Every week, some Christian, somewhere, is in an argument about whether or not it is okay to listen to their favourite singer. Christians will always fight over what it is acceptable for Christians to listen to. It’s not entirely bad - this comes as the result of pursuing holiness in community.

The affections are what matter. On the one hand, we are not defiled by what takes place on the outside of the body (see Matt 15:20). On the other hand, what happens outside the body fuels our affections.

One person will declare that they are avoiding certain music in the name of piety. They want to be holy, and she has themes that may add fuel to the fire of sinful passions. Another person will call this legalism. They rest in grace, knowing that what is outside a person does not defile them, and even if they could avoid everything that is imperfect, if they don’t love the Lord with everything, they’ve still fallen short. Making symbolic outward changes won’t accomplish anything.

And so both the one who abstains and the one who does not abstain must go back to Romans 14, learn to worship together and not tear down what God is doing for the sake of a musical choice. Both have something to learn from the other. And both are in danger of something: one of moralism, and the other of relativism.

Life is a battle for your affections. An unrelenting commitment to remove yourself from everything that looks sinful or has a dubious past won’t change your heart. Shrugging, calling others legalists and living life without discretion - this will feed the fire in your heart that is already raging. And so we are left with the two ditches on either side of the road I described in my first article: we tend towards either moralism or relativism.

These are the grey areas of Christian living. The first step to navigating them is understanding the Biblical view of desires, affections and passions.