A righteous sinner?

This was written on 13 December 2008 as a reflection paper handed in weekly for the Christian Doctrines in the Thai Context course at my Bible school.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3: 23)

At my first Thai church, it was said, with great conviction, that we believers were all righteous! But “We were actually sinners!” confirmed the American pastor at my second church in Thailand, which was an international one. Taking First Timothy 1: 15–16 into consideration, which go: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life,” where Paul considers himself the worst of sinners, I thought it was more likely that the latter pastor’s was a righteous view, though, admittedly, the former’s did not appear less right.
Discussion of the three aspects of sin last and this Tuesdays helped clarify things for me. Sin can be seen as our acts of transgression, our tendency to break the laws of God, and the sinful status which, as Adam’s descendants, we were all born with. The Thai pastor above must have been contemplating our status as the slaves of righteousness while the international God’s servant would seem to be pondering over our sinful actions and inclinations. Neither proved comprehensively right or wrong.
A note of caution given in the two classes to bear in mind all the three aspects of sin when reading the Scripture was definitely a sound one. The word sin in “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins” (James 4: 17), “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (Galatians 5: 13), and “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness” (Romans 6: 18) possibly refers to the sinful action, tendency, and status, respectively. From the linguistic points of view, this explains why the word sin, at least in English, may be either a count noun when it denotes each transgression, or an uncount noun when it signifies disobedience to God’s will and the condition as a result of this disobedience.