[Pastor Ralph]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

[Tabatha]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

The real character of sin is rebellion against God. This constitutes its essence, its magnitude, its malignity. Doudtless fellow-men may be most grievously injured and outraged and afflicted. Many may be wounded; many tears may have been drawn forth, but the main evil assails God. The blow is aimed at God's supremacy.

Hence God's truth and justice are exalted to their highest pinnacles. In every threat, in every denunciation, in every execution of vengeance, homage is rendered to these essential attributes. When sin is punished, holiness is vindicated.

Sin is here traced to nature's original corruption. The tree is radically corrupt. No good fruit can hang from its branches. The spring is poisoned, the waters which flow from it are polluted. When Adam yielded to the tempter's wiles, the whole line of his descendants perished in him. Sad, indeed, is our case, except redeemimg grace transplant us from the ruined stock, and grafts us into the heavenly vine.

When sin is deeply felt and openly confessed, conscience feels that God requires true sincerity throughout the heart. The folly of mocking God with unmeaning tears or unreal prayers is felt; and there is most earnest supplication to God to implant wisdom in the heart and soul, to guide in the way everlasting.

[Commissioned]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

David is not minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. He is however, admiting that all sin is against God. David mentions that he was sinful from before his birth, in this he is not excusing himself or blaming Original Sin, he is however afirming the fact he, as a man is sinful.

[Elwood C O'Dell]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this?

No. David is recognizing that even though he sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, his greatest sin was against the Lord for David had rebelled against God.

When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

No. He is acknowledging the awfulness of his sin and confirming that he is sinful through and through. He is acknowledging that sin is a part of his inner nature before he is transformed by the grace of God.]

[charisbarak]

David is not minimizing the sin against Uriah & Bathsheba, he is looking higher--the big picture--at his rebellious acts against a holy God.

His sinfulness before birth simply says, sure there was the original sin, but that he, too, is affected by it. He was admitting he was sinful through & through--that he committed many sins by the one act.

[Stan]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

No,he is admitting that the greater sin is against the Lord, his Saviour and God. He know that the Lord is His one true Judge and that it is from Him that he must seek the upmost forgiveness. I think that he is admitting that as humans we are born into a sinful world and often led to do things not of God due to our weakness for things of this world. We are often tempted by **** to seek out things that we do not need and do not seek the Lord's favor in providing for our needs. We leave God out of our life by going after things instead of being contrite and waiting on the Lord.

5Surely I was sinful (‘āwōn) at birth,
sinful (hēt’) from the time my mother conceived me.
6Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place." (51:3-6)

Being sinful from birth I think is saying that from the time we open our eyes we are drawn to sin by cravings that we know in our hearts that we don't need but the worldly **** causes us to go after them any way. We sin against God by not recognizing that He is our provider and that we do not need any thing that He does not provide they are in fact idols and cuse us to again sin against God. Desiring only what God provides keeps our intermost delf protected from the world and it's lusts and keep the Spirit strong and working in our life. Daivd knew that that sin was from the day He first started haveing cravings after worldly things.

[JustJeff]

Personally, in the strictest sense, I don't believe that we sin against other people. I believe we violate, hurt, trespass, deceive and commit other great pains to our fellows but it is against God that we sin and that is what David meant.It is God who has established what He considers to be unholy and it is He only who is wholey holy.
We are born into sin. David confession is that he has a natural inclination to sin, as do we all.

[Patricia A]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6)



When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah?

Does this mean that David's sins against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah were meaningless, inconsequential? No, not at all. But David recognizes that the greatest sin of all is against the Lord that he purports to love. When he sins, he is flaunting his rebellion in God's face. Though David killed Uriah, it was God’s law that he did not obey. So David feels that it is only God that he has *sinned against.

What does he mean by this?

When we sin against people, we do need to make this right. However, our sin is even more against our Lord and that separation is what must be healed at all cost.

When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?



He is affirming that he is sinful through and through. He is acknowledging the awfulness of his sin in the clearest possible way by using these various synonyms of sin that describe its convolutions of rebellion, twistedness, missing the way, and wickedness.

[ella]

I don't think david is minimizing his sin against bathsheba or uriah.
I think that is is looking at the whole picture and that he sinned against a holy God.

I also don't think that he is making excuses. Because we are human, we are all prone to sin.
we are born with original sin.

[davidjjj]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this?

David had broken specific covenant commands (see Ex 20) and was acknowledging that he was ultimately accountable to God. I don’t think David was trying to downplay his sinfulness towards man (Uriah, Bathsheba, his own family and God’s people) in saying “against You only have I sinned” but I think he was declaring that the One who he would be ultimately accountable to was God. This is important for all of us to take hold of, what happens horizontally (with people) effects our relationship vertically (with God) because God’s greatest commands (which all others are hung on) are relational –i.e. loving Him and loving one another. If we don’t love one another it is sinful before the Lord!

When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

I’m not sure which translation is right NIV or NASB one speaks of “in sin my mother conceived me” NASB the other say “[I was] sinful from the time my mother conceived me” NIV either way it’s possible that David is pointing back to an ungodly inheritance. He is either pointing right back to Adam and Eve, or to his mother. I don’t think this is an attempt to take the heat off himself, but a confession of sinful solidarity with those who have gone before him, in effect David is saying that he is no better than those who have gone before him. Certainly the statement before in verse 5 makes it clear that David has been a sinner right from the word go (see NIV) - as Derek Prince said years ago no parent needs to teach their children to be naughty, it develops all by itself. Sin (from Adam) is with us from the start, disfiguring the beautiful image of God that is our godly inheritance- thank goodness for the second Adam (Rom 5 and 1 Cor 15) who closes the Pandora’s Box the first Adam opened! Thanks goodness that He counter acts the effects of the fall!

[Helen Williams]

I don't think David was making light of his sin against Bathsheba/ Uriah. He realized that none of the indictments were as serious as his offense against God. If David could come to this conclusion then he know how serious the offense was with Bathsheba/Uriah. This shows a person that truly wants God's forgiveness. It also shows that David had a repentant heart about what he had done. It is just good to admit the truth.

David is not excusing himself or blaming original sin. I feel David is taking responsibility for his action. This is hard for some of us because we want to put the blame else where. David meant that from birth he was inclined to sin. We all was born with a sinful nature, but only God searches the heart and the mind. Davis repeatly call for his cleansing. He expresses his profound sense of guilt. We can speak of David, his sin, and his action but what about us when we sin against God. Are we repeatly calling for God to cleanse us?

REMEMBER, DAVID WAS A MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART!

[nerradb]

Sin is sin and when we sin we end up hurting someone, somewhere, sometime. God is love and sin (hurting people), is against Gods ways and we will be accountable to Him. We are sinful from the fall of man, but we need to be aware of this and hand it over to God for His help and His salvation bringing victory over sin. David knows God is merciful and coming to God with a truely repentive heart he will be forgiven, before reaching heaven and being to late.

[csreeves]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

No he is recognizing that all sin are actually only between that person & God and we must go to God to repent. we are sinful from birth for we are born out of sin so David is recognizing his true need of repentance for our human-ness which we all should do.

[KelvinJC]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?


1) No, not at all, it is not minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah.

2) But David recognizes that the greatest sin of all is against the Lord that he purports to love. When he sins, he is flaunting his rebellion in God's face. Yes, we can sin against people and need to make these sins right. But our sin is even more against our heavenly Father. It is that breach that must be healed at all costs.

3) David is not excusing himself or blaming the sin.

4) He is just taking the responsibility for his action. David was a man after God's own heart. He is acknowledging that we are born with a sinful nature and only God can cleanse our heart.

[Ms CJ]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah?

* No! He understands that only God can hold him accountable for the sin he has committed.
* That God will judge him

When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin?

* His blaming Original Sin and he is affirming that he is sinful through and through.

What does he mean by this?

* He is acknowledging the awfulness of his sin in the clearest possible way by using these various synonyms of sin that describe its convolutions of rebellion, twistedness, missing the way, and wickedness.

[emmaus]

No, David realizes he has sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah and that was wrong, but he has sinned against God who he claims to love and that is what is most important to make right.

His sinfulness from before birth is admitting that there is sin in him and it's wrong, wicked.

[linda bass]

When David says "Against you only have I sinned", he wasn't trying to minimize his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. David was recognizing the fact that the greatest sin of all is against the Lord.
When David mentions his sinfulness from before birth, he is affirming the fact he is sinful through and through. He is admitting the awfulness of his sin in the clearest way possible by using various synonyms for sin.

[Don W]

No, David is not minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah but is stating that his sinning against his Lord God is much more drastic and He needs to confess and repent from his sinning against God before he does so with his sin against Bathsheba. He needs to clear this up first and foremost before God so he can have fellowship with God once more trusting in God to cleanse him from his sin and restore him to have a sweet and peaceful fellowship with God once again. David, upon his mention of his sinfulness before even his birth, was not excusing himself with or blaming original sin for his sin, but was acknowledging that in him before his Lord and Master, he was totally depraved in sin through and through himself and only his Lord God could remove all of his sinfulness and turn him into the man whom God loved by removing all of his sins from him as he turned to his Lord as his Savior. God will do the same thing for us as we acknowledge our sinfulness before Him and then turn around (repent) from this sin, and turn to the Lord Jesus for His total forgiveness for our sin and His restoration of fellowship with Him as we do so as Christians. Praise the Lord for such a Triune Godhead that we have that will do all of this for us very sinful and formerly wicked creatures as we are!!!!! Amen!

[masika]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?
David was feeling sorry to God because of his sin. He knew that even if he could ask forgiveness from Bathsheba and Uriah without forgiveness from God, it was useless. So true repentance is being sorry not just toward one’s self, or toward another person, but first foremost it is true sorrow toward God.
He was not excusing himself, but saying that we are all sinners, no one can say that he is righteous before God. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin affected everyone from that time, and only God can forgive us our sins through Jesus Christ our Savior.

[Rev. Moultrie]

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this?

No, he is not minimizing his sin. He is actually speaking/praying to God about the terrible sin that he has committed. When David mentions his sinfulness from before birth, I believe he is NOT excusing himself, but he is referring to the fact that we are all born under the shadow of Original Sin. David understands the seriousness of the sin that he has committed & he also understands that he has to repent before God in order to be forgiven.