Ps 51, 6 Against you alone have I sinned

(Ps 51, 6) Against you alone have I sinned

[6] Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight That you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.

(CCC 1850) Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight" (Ps 51:4). Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become "like gods" (Gen 3:5), knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of God" (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14, 28: PL 41, 436). In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation (cf. Phil 2:6-9). (CCC 431) In the history of salvation God was not content to deliver Israel "out of the house of bondage" (Dt 5:6) by bringing them out of Egypt. He also saves them from their sin. Because sin is always an offence against God, only he can forgive it (Cf. Ps 51:4, 12). For this reason Israel, becoming more and more aware of the universality of sin, will no longer be able to seek salvation except by invoking the name of the Redeemer God (Cf. Ps 79:9).