7 Famous Sinners and What We Can Learn From Them

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“Failure is a better teacher than success.” Variants of this old saying have been attributed to a number of different people over the years. It has also been the rallying cry of sports teams, working professionals, academics, entrepreneurs and almost anyone else who has struggled, failed and been determined to come back stronger. People make it a point to learn from their mistakes, and countless generations of parents, grandparents, older siblings and extended families have laid their own flaws bare in an effort to keep younger loved ones from making the same mistakes.

Both one’s own mistakes and the mistakes of others can act as powerful teaching tools. Oddly enough, however, few Christians bother to look at what biblical sinners have to teach them. Many Christians take only the surface lesson of “do not sin” or “obey God” from such stories and never look any deeper. This denies them both wonderful teaching moments and important lessons.

The story of the Bible is ultimately one of redemption. Mankind falls into sin in Genesis, struggles to adhere to God’s instructions throughout the Old Testament and is finally redeemed through Christ in the New Testament. Yet, despite this, most sinners are dismissed as being no more than that–sinful. Their lives and stories are ignored when their situations may speak more clearly to one person’s struggles. After all, a woman who has committed adultery may not find much solace in the Virgin Mary but could be reached with the story of the prostitute, Rahab. A man who abandoned a pregnant girlfriend and walked out on those who need him may not feel that he can relate to the life of Elijah, but he may be able to connect with Jonah who ran from God’s own instructions. Saints have a great deal to teach people, but sinners offer their own unique lessons. Here are seven famous sinners and what one can learn from them.

Samson

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Samson was a great warrior in the Old Testament and a sworn Nazirite. He is well known for his incredible strength. He used this extraordinary strength to kill a lion with his bare hands and slaughter 1,000 men using only a jawbone. Samson, however, became arrogant due to his physical prowess and began drifting away from God’s laws. He slept with a prostitute, ate honey that came from an animal’s corpse and fell in love with a woman who he does not appear to have married despite spending multiple nights with her. The Bible, at least, is rather pointedly silent on that account. This woman, the infamous Delilah, learned that the secret of Samson’s strength was his long hair. She shaved his head in the middle of the night, breaking his vows and stealing his strength so the Philistines could take him prisoner. Samson was blinded and imprisoned, but during his captivity, his hair grew back, and he used his renewed strength to bring the Philistine temple down on all those gathered inside.

The story of Samson makes it clear that eventually, the bill for sin comes due. He was not faithful to God, and for a while, it seemed as if Samson would get away with it. God, however, is always watching. Samson also, however, shows that a person can return to God and to righteous life. Samson paid a terrible price for breaking his vows, but he eventually began following them once more. When he did and turned back to God, God granted him the strength he needed for one final strike against Israel’s enemies.

Eve

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One of the most famous sinners in the Bible is the first human to sin. In Genesis, Eve is tricked into eating the forbidden fruit by the serpent in the Garden of Eden. This infamous mistake is the catalyst for the events that end with humanity kicked out of paradise and God’s divine order thrown into chaos.

The story of Eve is often read as merely a warning not to listen to the Devil or as a more simplistic moral tale of what happens when people do not obey God. The lesson of Eve’s mistake, however, runs far deeper. Eve’s mistake was not thinking about the consequences of her actions and listening only to what sounded appealing. This is a common mistake, especially among young people. Age and experience make it easier to think through the inadvertent consequences of a decision or situation. Even so, it can be very tempting to simply choose the option that sounds like it will yield the best results. People do this often in politics. They favor policies that sound attractive only to be blindsided by the fallout they did not predict. Sometimes, these consequences were unknown, other times they were ignored. Eve reminds people, however, that there are consequences to listening to clever words and being so delighted by the picture a silver tongue paints that one forgets about what will follow. Actions have consequences, and good intentions will not erase them.

Peter

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The Apostle Peter is not someone that most people think of when they hear the word “sinner.” He may have a better track record than many other characters in the Bible, but Peter was far from perfect. Jesus reprimanded Peter and the other disciples repeatedly while He was on Earth. Then, when Jesus was arrested, Peter denied knowing Him three times in one of the most famous moments in history.

When Christ was arrested, Peter acted out of cowardice. He was afraid and, despite having claimed that he would gladly die beside Jesus, he frantically denied knowing Him. There are many people who have done something wrong or betrayed something or someone that matters to them out of fear. Many, like Peter, immediately wish they could take back their actions. Unfortunately, there is no way to go back in time and stop oneself from doing or saying something terrible. Peter’s story, however, shows that a person can make a new ending at any point in time. Peter panicked and denied Christ three times when He was arrested. Later, however, Peter went on to spread the Gospel across the world, and when he was once more confronted with the choice of denying Christ or dying, Peter chose to die faithful rather than live in betrayal. This decision shows that a single moment of cowardice does not mean a person can never again be brave. In fact, it might be the catalyst that shows someone exactly how brave they will need to be in life.

Rahab

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Rahab tends to be given extreme treatment by Christians. Either she was a whore and thus is not worthy of any attention in church services, or she is a perfectly honorable and righteous woman and all her sins should be swept aside. The truth is that Rahab is worthy of neither complete dismissal nor complete veneration. She was not a terrible person or someone who should be dismissed due to her unfortunate profession. That said, she was still a sinner. She was a prostitute and undoubtedly slept with married men and willingly took part in any number of sinful practices. Her sins, however, do not give cause for modern people to disregard her courage, strength and charity. When Rahab hid the Israelite spies, she did not know if they would be willing to spare her life or not. She had no way of knowing if they would simply kill her to protect their mission or if the men searching for them would find the spies and kill her as a traitor. That did not stop her from doing what she felt to be right. As an adult prostitute, Rahab shows that it is never too late for a person to turn their life around. As a woman who saved two lives when there was no guarantee she would gain anything from it, she reminds Christians that charity is meant to be given freely. If there is an exchange beforehand, it is just that, a trade, not charity.

Adam

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Like Rahab, Adam tends to be treated in extreme ways. He is either held solely responsible for the debacle with the snake in the Garden of Eden, or more often, he is seen as completely blameless. In reality, Adam holds no more or less responsibility in that mess than Eve. It is true that Eve was the first one to eat the fruit, but Adam was standing right beside her. Most likely, Adam was just as taken in with the snake’s lies as Eve. If he was not, however, then that still does not excuse him from the blame. When facing evil, doing nothing is not a neutral act. As Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Most Christians claim that the snake tricked Eve, and Eve tricked Adam. Assuming that this is true, Adam was not fooled by the lies of the snake. As such, it was his responsibility to step up and stop the entire mess. Had he simple pulled Eve away and pointed out that it was probably not a good idea to listen to the suspiciously friendly talking snake, mankind might still be living in paradise. Even if Adam was fooled by the snake, he still attempted to flout his responsibilities later by blaming Eve for his sins when God confronted Adam and Eve. Adam’s story shows the consequences of refusing to step up and take responsibility for what one should do or already did. After all, some scholars theorize that if Adam and Eve had confessed to their crimes instead of blaming each other and the snake, they would have been allowed to stay in paradise. Instead, they attempted to duck their responsibilities and saw to it that mankind would not return to Eden.

Tamar

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Tamar is a biblical woman that tends to get an unfairly awful reputation. She appears in Genesis as the daughter in law of Israel’s son, Judah. Judah’s eldest two sons, however, die while married to Tamar, and Judah decides that Tamar is cursed. As such, he flouts ancient law by refusing to allow her to marry his third and final son. If his son was unable or unwilling to marry Tamar, by law, Judah himself was supposed to marry her. Tamar knew this well and knew that Judah was breaking both cultural and divine laws. He was also forcing her to live in unearned shame and potential destitution as she had been cast off by the family she married into. Tamar, understandably, did not want to be the one to suffer for Judah’s sins, so she constructed a clever plot. She disguised herself as a prostitute and waited in an area she knew Judah visited. When he propositioned her, she agreed to have sex with him as long as he gave her his seal, cord and staff as a deposit while he fetched a young goat to pay for her time. He agreed, but when he went to get the goat after sleeping with her, Tamar slipped away with Judah’s seal and staff. When Judah found out Tamar was pregnant, he ordered her burned alive. Tamar, however, brought out his seal and staff to prove that he was the one who slept with her and that she had merely forced him to honor his family’s commitment to her. Judah declared that she was more righteous than him.

Tamar certainly deserves better treatment than she typically gets in church. Usually, she is described as nothing more than a temptress, and Judah’s own admission of her righteousness is ignored. That said, Tamar may have acted for the right reasons, but she is one of a number of tricksters in the Bible. She used misdirection, lies and other questionable methods to achieve her goals. She was a sinner, but her cleverness and courage make her a worthy teacher of modern Christians. Tamar knew that if her gambit failed, she would be facing destitution and shame at best and an agonizing death by fire at worst. That said, she knew that someone had to step up and take responsibility for the family. Many people look to authority figures to fix problems or correct issues, but sometimes they refuse to do their duty. When that happens, people need to be like Tamar. They must be the one to take on responsibility themselves and step up. Someone has to do the right thing, someone has to take on the risk, and sometimes the person who will do that resides in the mirror.

Paul

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Paul is another Christian who is not normally described as a sinner, but he was far from a perfect human being. Paul first appears in the Bible as Saul of Tarsus, and he is relentlessly persecuting Christians. It is believed that he is the same Saul that held people’s coats when St. Stephen was stoned. Paul when on, however, to become one of the main voices of early Christianity and a fearless advocate for the faith. His story is one of redemption, and it shows a side of redemption that is often overlooked. Paul’s redemption was not instant, and it was not free. His slate was not wiped clean magically. He earned his place in history and the love of the early church through his sweat, tears and toil. He lost the respect of his previous people, lost his high position and eventually lost his life. Paul did not come by redemption easily, but he proved that it is never too late to try for it and that no one is ever beyond saving.

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The Bible has as many sinners as it has saints, if not more. Those sinners made terrible mistakes, but they can teach valuable lessons. Just as the tale of a parent’s failure can convince a child to walk a better path, so too can biblical sinners teach believers how to stay on the straight and narrow. Sinners teach about responsibility, redemption, bravery and charity as well as the saints do. In some ways, the sinners may be better teachers. After all, when a person is down on their luck or struggling with past mistakes, it can be hard to see themselves in a saint. A sinner, however, has faced the same challenges and failed in the same way. If that sinner managed to find their way back to God, a person can look at the sinner and say, “If they can do it, so can I.”