A sin of omission happens when we don’t do something bad, but could have done better in a situation. Now, what would be the thinking behind the sins of omission? If sin has two parts, the thought and the ensuing deed, then we must look for a corresponding pair in a sin of omission.
But we may have trouble locating the engendering thought, because it’s the lack of thought that leads to sins of omission. Remember, Jesus elevated the New Covenant paradigm of sin and righteousness above the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. We don’t consider doing a "bad work"as the full measure of sin any more than we consider a 'good work' as righteousness.
We’re looking at another level of measurement altogether, that of the mind. So when we consider sins of omission, we face a challenge to our understanding, namely, how can we sin when nothing at all happened? Can we be guilty of sin when we have done nothing wrong or even had a wrong thought? Absolutely yes, and the realization of this circumstance is a watershed issue in our maturity in Christ.
I recall years ago a young brother in a Bible discussion saying, "But what if you haven’t sinned that day?" Clearly, his understanding of sin at that time included only sins of commission, and probably big bad ones at that.
He would grow into a day when he would chortle at that statement. He would learn that the definition of sin includes far more than doing something wrong. He would learn how much good he could have done, had he had the awareness to do so.
Let’s take a simple example. You put money in the collection on Sunday. "good for me" you might think. If you think you have any merit because of this, you’ve essentially gone back under the law. That’s a sin of attempted justification by works, and an act of pride.
But what if you didn’t think "good for me" or anything like that. What if you thought, "God gives to me, and I give back." That’s better, but who knows what attitude is really lurking behind that? God knows.For God dwells in us. Let’s say He finds you pure even at that level, and wholly congruent in your act of love.
But why didn't you put two or three times that amount into the collection? Did you not think of that? Did it not occur to you that you could do so? If you could have, but didn’t, then that’s an omission. The omission is what we haven’t yet grown up to in Christ.
Now we’re getting at the main theology of sin in the New Covenant. It’s not so much what we've done amiss, but what we haven't yet done or even thought of doing, but could be doing.
Omissions come when we don’t preach, when we don’t make the opportunity to preach, when we don’t prepare ourselves to preach, when we don’t give freely, lend freely, help freely, love freely, serve freely. The sin of omission, though, occupies an even larger domain than specific behaviors. It also includes failing to take steps to increase our faith.
The greatest sin of omission lies not in the specific lack of any certain act or deed, it lies in our failure to become whom we ought to be in Christ.For now, we note the basic redefinition of the idea of sin as we move from law to grace. Law defined right and wrong behavior. Sin meant violating the code. This could mean failing to do a necessary ritual, but more commonly it meant doing a prohibited action.
Under grace, we move from the behavioral and tangible world to the realm of values, thoughts, and beliefs. Sins of commission now have labels such as "lust," "envy," "pride," "judging," and "party spirit."
Sins of omission, in terms of the New Covenant, don’t have a crisply defined category. Scripture says, "All that is not of faith is sin." This means that we define sin in the context of faith, not law. Sin goes beyond breaking a commandment. It now includes failing to live according to faith; this emphasizes performance rather than avoidance. We have a view of sin that exceeds the scope of sin as defined by law.
Our view of sin must go beyond "doing something bad." It must go past that, and beyond "thinking something bad." It must even go beyond "failing to do good." Our definition finally comes to rest at something like "falling short in our quest to live in faith and love." This is not to say that if we do bad, we don’t commit sin. Of course sin is still sin, adultery is still adultery, and lying is still lying.
If we commit sin, we need to ask for forgiveness. We also need to appreciate the breach of faith that is the root of our sin. And what we need to see most is the growth of our faith, and realize that the greatest sin is the indifference and unawareness that stunts our spiritual growth.
The question about life’s activities and challenges we want to ask is not "What’s wrong with it?" but "What’s right with it?" Better yet ask, "Is this consistent with the growth of my faith?"
God bless