Corporate Sin: A Second Look

I was reading Nehemiah 9 recently, and was struck by the parallels between the corporate sin of Israel and the corporate sin of America. After the wall was re-built, the Israelites set aside a time to fast and pray --- and confess their sins. Then their church leaders helped lead them in prayers to God, confessing the sins of their ancestors, confessing their corporate sins, and praising God for His faithfulness to forgive all this and restore them.

What can we do? We are certainly mired in sin for it is all around us. We must speak out and do something when we see something wrong and immoral. We must not just let things pass by if we see anything being done by others when it breaks the two great commandments of our Christian faith: love God with all our hearts, soul, and being, and love our neighbors as ourselves (John 13:34). Otherwise, we become guilty of sin and partaking in the sin of others.

Fear of retaliation is not an excuse for participating in corporate sin. God doesn’t take that as an excuse to sin for it is written in the 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.”

What is the punishment being mentioned here? We fear the thoughts and reactions (therefore punishment) of others. So what? Who cares what anyone thinks? All I care about is what God thinks of me because it is Him that is my destiny forever. We are here for a purpose and mission and that is to make the love of God and the dignity of each human being present and real --- loving others as we would love ourselves.

When we fail to do this individually and as part of a group of human beings, we will be held accountable for it. But we can thank God for his mercy and forgiveness. Through His mercy and forgiveness, we are able to learn from our mistakes and begin to live free from fear; especially the fear of being rejected by others for standing up for what is true and good.

Hebrews 12:1 tells every Christ-follower to lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, so that we may run with endurance the race that is set before us. Are we doing that? Or are we just sweeping up our side of the street and trying not to look at our filthy neighbors? Are we doing that? Or are we just denying our own sin and gossiping about the sins of others?

A Biblical understanding of the doctrine of sin is important to those of us who desire a vibrant life in Christ. The weight and severity of sin is not overlooked in the Bible and can not be glossed over with mere theological terms. Our understanding of corporate sin must be fused with the awareness of our own sin in order have a complete doctrine of sin. The Christian doctrine of sin must help us understand the nature of humanity's social or corporate existence. It must not be a mere addition to our understanding. So it is important to understand what corporate sin is and how extensive it is.

If you're not clear about corporate sin, let's just look briefly at what this animal looks like. We must first identify what sin is. In simple terms, sin can probably be defined as any act -- any thought, desire, emotion, word, or deed - or its particular absence that displeases God and deserves blame. Sin is, as I explained the other day, offensive to God. And it doesn’t matter whether it is active or passive sin. It doesn’t matter if it is sin which we are aware of it. It’s offensiveness to God remains the same. It is sin, no matter who knows it.

Specifically, the Bible refers to sins in many ways including the following: murder, adultery, idolatry, greed, fornication, slander, envy, sexual immorality, anger, deceit, orgies, malice, quarreling, impurity, lust, boastfulness, drunkenness, and evil desires. So corporate sin is simply anything committed (or lacked) on a larger scale, from a community or society that is equally as offensive to God. Thus it is also referred to as group sin, communal sin or social sin. These corporate sins are characteristic sins of a group, and can also be committed as individuals and/or collectively as a group.

In general, we do not know to what extent individuals in the group are themselves guilty. We can't know to what extent they may have fallen into a trap set by others. Only God knows these matters. Only God knows the human heart. Only God knows how much of our evil is chargeable to us as sin. I noticed that we Christians are excellent at leaning into this philosophy --- one of the greatest excuses I hear for not dealing with corporate sin in churches is that "we are not to judge others."

Folks, I'm all for not judging others. But ask yourself if it is really all that difficult to look at a group of people and be able to see sin amongst the group. People who are obese from gluttony, people whose kids are not properly parented, people who live above their means, people who don’t tithe, people who are indifferent to poverty and suffering … the list goes on. Yes, this is corporate sin and you know it. You don't need to judge anyone to get there either. The guilt is obvious. What isn't obvious is the repentance.

Read Nehemiah, Chapters 9 & 10, and see what corporate repentance can look like. Ask yourself what it will take to bring that kind of repentance to YOUR church today? Then set yourself about the business of leading that corporate repentance!