Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church
This article serves to explain what sin is and how evil sin really is.
Definition of Sin:
Sin is any lack of conformity to the law of God by transgressing its obligations or by failing to fulfill its commands. Sin is lawlessness. It is not being or doing what God requires; or it is doing what God forbids. To sin is to fall short of God’s perfect requirement of absolute obedience to His Law. Sin is not just bad behavior and outright wickedness but it includes motives of the heart, thoughts of the mind, words from the mouth and certainly conduct in one’s life. Sin infects all that a person is. No person is alive who is unaffected by the pervasive, extensive and tragic effects of sin.
Origin of Sin:
Sin entered the world when Adam, the first man God ever created, disobeyed God when he and his wife, Eve, ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. God clearly told them that they would enjoyably eat from any tree in the Garden of Eden but God commanded them to not eat of only one tree, and they chose, willfully, disobediently, and pridefully, to eat of that forbidden fruit. Adam’s sin brought about death and the curse. The soul that sins will die. Adam’s sin affected not only him but all of his posterity — all people, all generations that would ever come after him. Every person born naturally of a woman enters this world corrupted with the sin nature inherited from Adam.
Examples of Sin:
Sin can be classified in three main categories: sins of the heart, sins of the mind, and sins of the will. The desires, the thinking patterns, and the actions are all affected by sin. Selfish desires and prideful motivations are examples of sin that have taken root and flow out of the heart. Also, the mind of man (his thinking pattern/processes) is corrupted by sin. Man cannot think rightly and does not understand God properly. Man is blinded and corrupted in his mind and in his intellect. Furthermore, his behavior and conduct is sinful as an outflow of the sinful desires and selfish motivations of one’s heart. Evil desires, greed, slander, fornication, adultery, anger, wrath, drunkenness, impatience, selfishness and pride are all manifestations and examples of sin. Other practical examples of sin include evil, envy, strife, deceit, malice, gossips, haters of God, unbelief in Christ, arrogance, boasting, disobedience to parents, idolatry, homosexuality, transgenderism, masturbation, stealing, reviling, cheating, and using God’s name in vain.
Effects of Sin:
God says that the soul that sins will die. The true Word of God also declares that the wages of sin is death (spiritual). Sin has affected all of mankind, all of man’s makeup, all of human history, and it will remain until God creates a New Heaven and a New Earth. So pervasive are the effects of sin that all man’s makeup (thought, words, deeds, motives) are completely affected by the devastation of the curse of sin.
Magnitude of Sin:
Sin is so bad because God is so holy. The measure of sin’s magnitude has to be compared with the dignity and honor of the One sinned against. God is infinitely holy and perfectly just; indeed, God is absolutely perfect and infinite and eternal in all of his attributes and characteristics. Therefore, to sin even one time against God would mean that a person has committed a sin worthy of an eternal, infinite punishment because it has offended an infinitely holy and eternally righteous God. A human may ignore a sin or may pretend it doesn’t exist. God, however, remembers each sin that has been committed against His holiness and sees the mountain-like problem and gigantic tragedy that sin has caused.
Judgment for Sin:
Every single sin that has ever been committed in the history of the world will be personally, infinitely, and perfectly judged by God. No sin will ever be left unpunished. God is a righteous Judge who has indignation every day. Every sin that men ever commit slight His holiness and ignite His righteous and holy anger. God promises that He will repay men for all that they have done. Every thought will be judged. Every careless word will be judged. And every wicked deed will be judged by God. Even thoughts, and words, and deeds that men have forgotten about and even those which men aren’t even aware of will be brought to light on judgment day and God will fairly, righteously, and perfectly judge the sinner who stands guilty before God.
Devastation of Sin:
Sin brings forth death. The devastation of sin is that the moment Adam sinned, death entered the world and all sinned. The Bible says that men are totally depraved and radically corrupt. This does not mean that every person is as bad as he possibly could be, but the Bible means that the totality of man’s being, in all of his parts and faculties (thoughts, will, heart, intellect, and behavior) are all touched by sin, depraved by sin, and under the curse of God. Nothing is more tragic and more infinitely devastating in all the world than the committing of a sin.
Awareness of Sin:
No one can rightly understand the nature of sin apart from a true understanding of who God is and from the revealed Word of God, the Bible. Men are blinded by sin to their own sin. It’s like a blind person who walks into a cave full of snakes. He’s not even aware and can’t understand that danger is all around him. An awareness of sin comes from the Bible as it is read, God is understood, the Spirit of God gives understanding, and sin’s evil is exposed. Again, the sinfulness of sin cannot be rightly understood or dealt with apart from the written Word of God, the Bible.
The Law that Exposes Sin:
No one would understand the enormity of sin and the heinousness of sin without the clear revelation of the Bible. Where does anger come from? What makes coveting so bad? Why is pride a sin? Why is worry and anxiety a sin? The Law of God exposes the heart of men and the uncrossable gulf that exists between God and men because of sin. We would not know what sin is were it not for God’s clear revelation given to us in the Bible. The Ten Commandments expose the heart and the behavior of men that brings all men to the position of full and total guiltiness before a holy God.
Denial of Sin:
The chief denier of sin is Satan. He said long ago in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve that if you eat of the forbidden fruit: You will not surely die. But the denial did not prevent the reality of sin’s devastating effects. So it is today as many people deny the reality of sin or the enormity of sin or the consequences of sin. But God does not ask men to agree with him nor does God seek to make a compromise with men. The denial of sin does not change anything in God regarding His certain and fair and infinite punishment against sin. For a man to deny sin exposes the reality that he is walking in the likeness of his spiritual father, Satan himself, who denied sin. But death surely came and everlasting judgment will most certainly come. To deny sin is to deny reality. To deny sin is to call God a liar. And God will punish all those who reject Him and His truth.
Cover up of Sin:
Sinners have cleverly and brilliantly devised many ways to try to cover up their sin. Lying, deception, manipulation, blame-shifting, outright denial, and remorse are a few of the many ways in which men endeavor to cover up sin. The Bible provides abundant accounts of men and women who sought to cover up their own sin (in a number of ways). But in every case, God sees the heart of man and no human cover-up can ever prevent the all-seeing eyes of God from fully observing the sin and assuredly punishing the sin. People may do their best to cover up their sin and may successfully cover up some sin and keep others from finding out but nothing is hidden from God. Every creature stands naked and fully exposed before the eyes of God before whom every person will have to give an account.
Consequences of Sin:
God lovingly & clearly declares that the soul that sins will die. God will repay sinners according to their ways. The consequences for sin are infinite, eternal, just, and fair as from the Righteous God who always does what is right. And this just judgment comes from the righteous God who powerfully and perfectly does what brings Himself greatest glory. The sinner who dies in his sinful condition — whatever religious background he may have or whatever perception of goodness he may have about himself — will be everlastingly punished under the fierce and just wrath of God in the Lake of Fire, in conscious, unending torment in God’s presence and holy punishment.
Conviction of Sin:
Lots of people feel guilty. Many people may do a bad deed and feel bad about it. Lost of reasons may exist for such emotions and feelings. Many may not want to get caught and they may not want the consequences, or they want to preserve their reputation. But the Bible reveals that there is really only one adequate response to sin, namely, true conviction over sin that results in repentance (turning from) and faith (turning to) in Jesus Christ Jesus. True conviction over sin can only come from God the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). On the final day when Jesus Christ returns in glory to judge the world, He will convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done. Everyone will either be convicted by God the Spirit and turn from their sin, or they will remain in their sin and be convicted on the day of judgment when it’s too late and they’ll be cast into hell.
Removal of Sin:
A day surely comes in the future when God will remove sin entirely from the world. But it will not come until the Lord brings great judgment upon the world that has rejected him, casts sinners into hell and believers enter glory, and then the Lord Himself will re-create a New Heaven and a New Earth where righteousness dwells. In this future estate of blissful joy and everlasting glory, no sin will exist and nothing unclean, impure, unholy or defiled will ever exist. Just as life existed without sin in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned, so there is coming a future time when sin will forever be eradicated and absolute righteousness will forever be the life of the redeemed in glory.
Inadequate Remedies for Sin:
Our world has sought to invent countless ways to remedy the sin problem. Religions abound in various stripes and forms to call people to moral living and kind actions to try to outweigh the bad deeds. Roman Catholics seek to purge their own sins by being good, praying prayers, and acts of penance. But any religion and any effort and any life of morality will always prove to be inadequate to save a soul from the all-seeing eyes of God and from the sure wrath that will come upon every sinner’s soul everlastingly. Religion, philosophies, worldviews, tolerance, self-denial, and philanthropies will prove on the final day of Judgment to all be worthless, demonic, deceptive and absolutely unable to save.
Forgiveness for Sin:
Only one solution for the sin problem exists. And the solution for the sin problem is found entirely outside of man. No person can ever achieve his own forgiveness or cooperate with God to bring about his own forgiveness. God alone can forgive and it is a work of God — and a work of God alone. If God were to keep a record of all wrongs committed, who could stand blameless before Him? But with God there is forgiveness. The only way a sinner can be forgiven is for God to intervene and graciously, mercifully, and undeservedly lavish forgiveness through the substitutionary, sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. God must punish every sin. God has provided one escape from wrath in hell. And that escape is not religion but the righteousness of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died, God reckoned/imputed sins of guilty lawbreakers to Jesus on the cross. This is the real reason for the cross: for Jesus to bear the curse of God and bear the wrath of God in his soul, infinite punishment from God for His people. Then, those who believe in Jesus Christ alone, by faith alone, by grace alone are imputed/reckoned with the perfect righteousness (obedience) of Jesus Christ that God requires to enter heaven. So the only way to be forgiven is through the redemptive, saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That way, God is just in punishing your sin (on the substitute) and He is just in reckoning you as being declared righteous not in your own righteousness but in the perfect merits of Jesus Christ your substitute. Come to Jesus Christ by faith alone! Turn to him and be forgiven of your sin and saved from the everlasting penalty that your sin deserves in hell! Flee to Jesus Christ and find life and joy and forgiveness.