Sin
All the great religions of the world were born with a desire to rid themselves of the conscience of sin. Others also try to silence it by doing penance, pilgrimages or giving money to the most deprived in society. In all non-Christian religions, sin is considered as an act, where Christianity asserts that it is part of the nature of man and therefore cannot be avoided.
Believers of other religions think that by observing laws and traditions they will be kept from sin. Laws have no power to keep men from sin. Yes, they can sometimes prevent them from committing visible sins but they will never prevent them from committing inner sins. For no law can cleanse the heart of man from his unclean desires. His only hope is in a Saviour.
The Word of God says:
Romans 3: 23 « 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God » KJV
We have all sinned and are all deprived of the glory of God for we have all transgressed His law in at least one point.
Sin means “miss the mark”. This term refers to an error, a failure. Sin is present in any human context. Nothing can eradicate it, neither education, nor good education, nor wealth, nor hygiene, nor even religion. Every thought, word or deed, even good, is tainted with sin.
Sin is not only in transgressing a divine commandment. It is sin all that in our life is not in accordance with the will of God revealed in the Bible. Sin is not limited to doing what is wrong; it is also failing to do what is right.
It is to neglect to love God with all our heart, soul, thought and strength (Mark 12:30). It is neglecting to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31).
Mark 12: 30-31 «30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. » KJV
It is not persevering to the end, refusing to share the Gospel whenever the opportunity arises, not coming to the aid of our brother when he is in need.
Who among us can say that he has no sin (1 John 1:8)?
1 John 1: 8 « 8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. » KJV
Most of the men and women around us seem to be decent and not unfair. Yet all men are unjust because they love each other more than they love God. In the sight of God, man’s priority for his own will is the greatest and most important sin.
Let us learn to see ourselves as God sees us. One of the tricks of Satan is to deceive us, to blind us to our own sin and wickedness.
As for the Christians, the vast majority of them do not commit crimes, do not steal and do not indulge in debauchery. On the other hand, other sins, those mentioned in 1 Peter 2:1, are much more common among them. One can perfectly sin without being in immorality.
1 Peter 2: 1 « 1Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings » KJV
Sin is a serious matter; if it were not, Jesus would not have come to die on the Cross for the sins of mankind.
What are the consequences of sin? We are deprived of the glory of God. Because of sin, man dies spiritually and the consequence of this death is physical death.
The Word of God says that no man can be free from sin without Jesus Christ. The answer to sin was the Cross of Jesus. The salvation of Christianity, based on the Bible, is a free offer of life and hope in Christ. Some accept this offer, by faith, and others reject it. Man is morally free; he has the capacity and the right to make his own choices. He can choose to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, or reject Him. This is called free will.
Adam was the leader of the old fleshly humanity; Christ is the leader of the new spiritual humanity, the seed of this new humanity.
Christ has delivered us from sin. This does not mean that we will never sin again, rather that sin can no longer dominate us and that we now have the strength to renounce it. When we sin, our position with God does not change but it is our walk with Him that is interrupted. When we have sinned, rather than hiding, we should run to God to beg for forgiveness.
For in Christ, God has forgiven our sins
By virtue of the perfection of the offering of Jesus Christ, God forgives sins in such a complete way that He ceases to remember them! Our past no longer exists, it is God Himself who says that He has erased it.
Hebrews 10 : 17 « 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. » KJV
God declares righteous those who trust in the work of His Son Jesus Christ. And the culmination of this work is the Cross.
The Blood of Jesus – The Cross
The blood of animals in the Old Testament was used to cover sin but it could not be removed permanently. No animal sacrifice is needed since the coming of Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross, for where the blood of animals covered only sins, that of Jesus has blotted them all out and established eternal righteousness for us. The Lord has made all our sins expiated!
The Cross, the atonement sacrifice of Jesus Christ, has restored our relationship with God.
The sacrifice of atonement – The propitiation
God intended Christ as the atoning victim for the sins of mankind (Romans 3:25).
Romans 3: 25 « 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God » KJV
The term “expiatory victim” is translated as “propitiation” in some versions of the Bible. The sacrifice of atonement allows one person to take on the sins of all others. Once this person has been struck because of their sins, they can no longer be blamed for them; all have become in good standing with God.
To make propitiation is to make God propitious, that is to appease His anger. When Jesus died on the Cross, He satisfied the holy and righteous requirements of God. For the penalty which God strikes to sin is death.
Romans 6:23 « 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. » KJV
Because God is righteous, He had to punish the sin, ours. Christ having substituted for us, it was necessary that He died. It is to show His righteousness that God has punished Christ for our sins. We can say that Jesus Christ is our propitiation, or « means of atonement. » At the Cross, He paid for our sins which God will not charge us with anymore!
The Cross was replaced by a penal substitution: Jesus suffered in our place the punishment that deserved our sins.
At the Cross, there was also a transfer of our sins onto Jesus and of His righteousness on us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 «21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. » KJV
By faith in Jesus Christ, in His death, we are declared righteous. His righteousness has been imputed to us.
Why Jesus alone could restore the relationship between God and man
Salvation is based on the fact that man has been cut off from God and was forever lost. To be redeemed, he needed a Savior. That Saviour is Jesus Christ, who came into the world for the salvation of lost humanity. He alone, fully man and fully God, could do this work. Only one man was to suffer the punishment in reparation for the evil committed by man (Adam); but only God could accomplish this reparation, He alone could meet the requirements of His holiness. Now Jesus, fully God and fully man, combined human duty and divine power.
Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men for He alone has settled the question of sin definitively by His sacrifice; therefore He alone can lead us to God.
1 Timothy 2: 5-6 « 5For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. » KJV
Christ died for the whole world; so the whole world is potentially saved but to be truly saved, it still has to accept Christ. In the face of God’s grace, man must manifest his faith.
Salvation belongs to all men. Why are not they all saved, then? Either because no one has told them and therefore they know nothing of salvation; or because someone has spoken to them of the salvation which is in Jesus Christ, but they have not believed it and have not accepted it.
Sin that leads to eternal death
There is a sin that leads to death:
Hebrews 6: 4-6 « 4For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. » KJV
This sin is to have believed in Jesus Christ and then deliberately reject
Him.
Hebrews 10: 26-29 « 26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? » KJV
