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Sin

The Bible very straightforwardly defines sin as "lawlessness," or breaking God's law. 1 John 3:4  God Himself gave His law of ten commandments as an eternal standard of moral and spiritual conduct. Exodus 20:1-17  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that the ten commandments did not simply apply to outward actions, but to our very thoughts and motivations. E.g., Matthew 5:21-28  Thus even the good things we do, if motivated by selfish interests rather than love, are sinful. Isaiah 64:6

Jesus reiterated the Old Testament teaching that the very foundation upon which God's commandments were formed was love to God and others. Matthew 22:35-40  As the Bible portrays it, every selfish act, every unloving act, every attempt to meet our own needs and wants at someone else's expense, is sin. It includes the failure to help someone in need when we have the ability to do so. Matthew 25:31-45


The root sin which underlies every other, according to Jesus, is disbelief of what He has done for us in His life and death, disbelief that He loves us and is on our side, disbelief that He is able to restore to us everything that we have lost through sin. John 16:8,9  Disbelief spawns every other sin.

In light of the Biblical understanding of sin, it's not difficult to see how sin threatens everything we could experience, or conceive of or hope for, as truly good in our lives, and why the Bible would present sin as public enemy number one.

(The Bible doesn't teach that every death or affliction on this earth is a result of the afflicted person's sin. John 9:1-3  A tiny baby's death was not caused by his/her sin.  There is a "law of sin" operative in our fallen world that afflicts the innocent as well as the guilty. Romans 7:23  While the operation of sin in our world results in death for all, and many people contribute to their own death by things they do, the Bible's revelation that sin results in death refers primarily to the ultimate loss of eternal life. Romans 5:12; 6:23  For an explanation of how sin originated and why God allows it to continue, see our study, "Star Wars.")

When we sin, God doesn't move away from us so much as we move away from Him.  "Your iniquities have separated you from your God."  Isaiah 59:2  Of all the consequences of sin, this one is perhaps the most serious and tragic--it results in us  avoiding, fleeing from the only One who can save us.

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