What Is Sin
What is sin?
Sin is lawlessness, that is, doing one’s own will without restraint of God or man. It is missing the mark, or coming short of God’s standard of perfection in thought, word or deed. It is the failure to do what one knows is right. Romans 3:23; James 4:17; 1 John 3:4.
WHERE DID THE FIRST SIN TAKE PLACE?
The first sin took place in heaven, when Lucifer, the chief of the angels, desired to take God’s place. He was then cast out of heaven and became known as Satan. Isaiah 14:12-15.
HOW DID SIN ENTER THE WORLD?
Sin entered the world through Adam when he disobeyed God by eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1-13.
WHY DID GOD ALLOW SIN TO ENTER?
God made man as a free, moral agent with the power to choose between good and evil. His desire was that His creatures should choose to love and worship Him voluntarily, and desire good rather than evil. But if a creature has the power to choose good, he must of necessity have the power to choose evil. Genesis 2:15-17.
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ADAM IF HE HAD NOT SINNED?
He would have enjoyed long life in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:17.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ADAM WHEN HE DID SIN?
l. He became spiritually dead toward God.
2. He became subject to physical suffering, sickness and death.
3. He lost his innocence, became unrighteous and unholy, guilty and lost, an enemy and an alien. Genesis 3:7; Ephesians 2:1-3.
4. If he died in his sin, he would suffer eternal doom.
HOW DID ADAM’S SIN AFFECT HIS CHILDREN?
His sinful nature was passed on to all his posterity. “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Romans 5:12 (See also vv. 13-19.)
DO YOU MEAN THAT WE ARE ALL BORN INTO THE WORLD SINNERS BECAUSE OF ADAM’S SIN?
Yes! Adam could only beget children with his own nature, and that nature was sinful. All children have to be taught to do right, but they know how to do wrong without being taught. Psalm 51:5.
As an illustration of this principle, a metal jelly-mold gives its shape to all the gelatin desserts or salads that are made in it. If you should drop the metal pattern and it becomes dented, all the future gelatin molds will show the effects of the fall.
WELL, DOES THAT SEEM FAIR THAT ADAM’S SINFUL NATURE SHOULD BE PASSED DOWN TO ALL OF US?
Adam acted as a representative of the human race. Since we are all created as free, moral agents, perhaps we would all eventually have done the same as Adam did anyway.
IS THERE NOT SOME GOOD IN ALL MEN?
It depends on whether you are looking at it from God’s standpoint or man’s. God can find no good in man that would help to earn him a place in heaven. As far as righteousness or fitness for heaven is concerned, God says there is none. Man is totally depraved. Isaiah 1:6.
WHAT IS MEANT BY THE EXPRESSION “TOTALLY DEPRAVED”?
It means that sin has affected every part of man’s being, and that although he might not have committed every sin, he is capable of doing so. Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-18; Romans 7:18. In addition, it means that he is totally incapable of pleasing God, as far as salvation is concerned, Romans 8:8.
BUT WILL GOD FIND FAULT WITH A PERSON WHO HAS NOT COMMITTED THE TERRIBLE SINS OF MURDER, DRUNKENNESS, IMMORALITY AND SO FORTH?
God sees not only what a person has done but what he is in himself. What a man is, is a lot worse than anything he has ever done. A filthy thought-life, a hatred of some other person, a lustful look – these are terrible sins in God’s sight. Matthew 5:27, 28; Mark 7:21-23; Romans 8:7,8. They separate man from God. Isaiah 59:1, 2.
BUT ARE NOT SOME SINNERS WORSE THAN OTHERS?
Undoubtedly they are, but we must not compare ourselves with others. People who do that are not wise. We will not be judged in comparison with others but in the light of God’s holiness and perfection. Romans 2:1-3; 2 Corinthians 10:12.
WILL ALL SINNERS SUFFER THE SAME PUNISHMENT?
No! All who die in their sins will spend eternity in hell. However, there will be degrees of punishment, depending on the opportunities a man has had to be saved and the sins he has committed. Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 12:46-48.
WHAT ABOUT THE HEATHEN WHO HAS NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL?
God has revealed Himself to all mankind in creation as well as in conscience. If a heathen lived up to this knowledge, God would send him further light so that he might be saved. But the heathen has rejected the knowledge of the true God and has worshiped idols of wood and stone. Therefore, he is without excuse, Romans 1:20. Without Christ, the heathen is lost, and that is why Christian missionaries go into all the world with the Gospel.
HOW COULD YOU PROVE TO ME THAT I AM A SINNER?
If you have to answer “No” to any of the following questions, then you are a sinner. If you have never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are lost and you need to be saved.
l. Do you love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind?
2. Do you love your neighbor as you love yourself?
3. Would you like your friends to know the most impure thought you have ever had?
4. Is your life as holy in the dark as in the light?
5. Is it as pure when you are alone as when you are with others?
6. Is it as clean when you are away from home as when you are at home?
7. Have you always performed all the good you knew you should do?
8. Can you honestly say, “I have never taken the Name of the Lord in vain”?
9. Have you an unbroken record of never having told a lie?
10. Are you as perfect as the Lord Jesus Christ?
For more information: Southern Maryland Christian Information Service BBS (SMCIS) P.O. Box 463 California, MD 20619