Conviction Of Sin (II.)
Conviction of sin and of righteousness and of judgment is the comprehensive statement of the Holy Spirit's work. Any conviction that fails to include all three is inadequate. The righteousness of Christ is established, hence, confidence in his power to save from sin can be had. The judgment of the prince of this world has revealed that the power of the devil has been brought to naught; all who by their lives identify themselves with him will share in his judgment. Conviction of sin plus conviction of righteousness and of judgment will cause one to flee from the condemnation of the devil to the righteousness of Christ.
Definitions Two terms of the subject which need to be defined are "conviction" and "sin." Conviction is defined by the dictionary as "The act of convicting; act of proving, finding or adjudging guilty of an offense; as the conviction of a murderer. The act of convincing of error or of compelling the admission of a truth." Also the "state of being convicted of sin, as by one's conscience; a strong persuasion or belief." Belief is a synonym; uncertainty and doubt are antonyms.
The meaning of the term as used in the scripture will be determined largely by observing contexts in which the word, in some of its forms, occurs. The first of such passages is the one which has served as our main text, John 16:7-11. Here the act of convincing, proving and adjudging guilty is contemplated. When the Holy Spirit came to the apostles on Pentecost, as recorded in Acts the second chapter, he convicted about three thousand, proved that Jesus is the Son of God and adjudged the world guilty of sin. Acts the second chapter is the inspired commentary on our text. It reveals the means employed by the Holy Spirit in his action of conviction. The people were overwhelmed with perplexity, amazement, uncertainty and doubt by the miracle, but they did not have conviction — their hearts were not "pricked" until they "heard" the "truth" revealed by the Holy Spirit and uttered by the apostles.
The design of Christ's rhetorical question, "Which of you convicteth me of sin?" (John 8:46) is to make the people realize that their efforts at proving him guilty had all come to naught. Justice demanded that he be considered innocent until proved guilty. None were successful in this; all their efforts failed leaving them no alternative but to take "his judgment" away.
I Corinthians 14:24 contains the term we are studying — "But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved (convicted) by all, he is judged by all." Here again the emphasis is on the "truth" as the means by which the Holy Spirit accomplishes conviction. The miraculous exhibition of speaking in tongues would make a bad impression on those who did not understand the tongue. They would be unable to know that there was a miracle involved. Their impression would be that they had fallen among insane people. Not so with reference to prophecy. Prophecy involves the revelation and expression of truth. This truth would convict the hearer, causing him to "fall down on his face and worship, declaring that God is among you." It would prove God's presence and convince the unbeliever of hissin, "make manifest" to the unbeliever the sin of the secrets of his heart.
It is said of Apollos, that at Corinth, "he powerfully confuted (convicted) the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ." (Acts 18:28.) Apollos proved by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. He did not rely upon persuasive words of wisdom, or cunning contrivances of the wisdom of the world to confute (convict) the Jews. Apollos was mighty in the scriptures. And here is where the emphasis needs to be placed today. To be powerful in convicting the world the preacher needs to be mighty in the scripture. Every Christian needs to have the word of Christ dwelling in him richly.
James 2:9. "But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin being convicted by the law as transgressors." The law is the standard by which we determine guilt; by it we are convicted.
But conviction is also used in the Bible as a state. In defining faith the apostle says that it is "assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." (Heb. 11:1.) The wording of the subject under consideration suggests that primary consideration be directed toward the state "conviction of sin." However, before considering the state "conviction of sin" we will get our other term defined.
Sin
According to the dictionary sin is "to depart — to wander." The primary meaning of the word is "miss the mark." Sin can be a positive act or a voluntary neglect.
According to the scriptures sin is: (1) "lawlessness" or "the transgression of the law." (I John 3:4.) A person misses the mark when he goes aside from the law or beyond the law. (2) "All unrighteousness is sin." (I John 5:17.) This embraces all voluntary neglect to dispense justice. (3) "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (Rom. 14:23.) This specifically applies to acting contrary to conscience, e.g., eating meats which are by the eater counted unclean. (4) "To him therefore that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (James 4:17.) This is neglect — the sin of failing to do.
The Means By Which Conviction Is Effected
Conviction of sin as a state may be thought of as our moral judgment. Correct conviction of sin requires that we be aware of the fact of sin, the identity of sin and the universality of sin. We must "know" sin. The way whereby we know sin is through revelation of God. This is the force of such statements as found in Romans 7:7b: "Howbeit, I had not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting except the law had said, thou shalt not covet." Also Romans 3:20b, "for where there is no law, neither is there transgression."
God's law also reveals that sin is in the world. (Rom. 5:12.) "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned." These passages suffice to establish that the scriptures reveal the fact of sin, its presence in the world and what it is.
But conviction of sin also involves recognition of the universality of sin. The apostle writes that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23.) Also note the question and answer he has already expressed in the 9th verse, "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin." No responsible being is exempt from this indictment. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (I John 1:8.) Conviction of sin must embrace one's own sin as well as that of others. We must not allow considerations of "whose ox is gored" to intrude themselves into the matter either to modify or intensify our convictions.
The necessity of conviction with respect to the universality of sin is seen in the fact that the apostles worked toward this goal in their epistles — this is most obvious in the Roman letter where Paul devotes a large part of the first chapter to establish that the Gentiles were under condemnation because of sin, and all of the second in convicting the Jews of sin. It would have been an easy matter to convince the Jews of the sin of the Gentile world, but this would not benefit the Jews. They must be convicted of their own sin. Hence, the apostle writes, "Wherefore thou art without excuse, 0 man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practice the same things." (Rom. 2:1.)