SIN – ORIGIN, CONSEQUENCES AND VICTORY
As one peruses the pages of our Daily News papers and magazines; listens to our radio stations and watch television sets, we come across news of social ills, violence’s, crimes, robberies and religious intolerance etc. Also as we read through the pages of the Holy Scriptures, hardly does any book end without mention of one type of sin or the other. Sin has been attributed to the fall of man and the sordid state of this world; hence becomes a barrier between man and God. The fall of man and his exit from the beautiful Garden of Eden would not be told without mention of the word, SIN. It will surprise you to read stories of atrocities, disobedience, idolatry, war, murder etc found in the scripture that you may wonder or even doubt whether really it is the truth of God’s inspired book. Since God is holy, His laws flawless and His ways perfect, one would expect everything in His book to be pure and clean. As you also study the lives of many great men of God, you will no doubt discover that they had their misdeeds and short comings. Indeed, sin is never a popular topic for discuss.
Today in our society, we live as if sin does not exist; people prefer to rename sin – fault, mishap, lapse, mistake, short coming, weakness, failure mention it or anything else but not sin (Isaiah 5:20). Each time the word sin is mentioned, it appears to put people off, makes them uncomfortable, prick their hearts, deeply strived, stripped naked and places us before the throne of justice and in a sinner’s place – place of self unrighteousness.
It is a matter of serious concern to observe that many pastor’s preach “another gospel” – less of sin and holiness but more of prosperity and blessings so as not to loose membership. Most church members have become experts in skipping God’s commandments and dipping His promises. They live and behave like every other person that it is becoming extremely difficult to differentiate between a Christian and non-Christian. Hence there exist “churchanity” and “Religiosity” and many qualifications/ adjectives to the word Christian such as orthodox, Pentecostal (or Penterascals), born again, Redeemed, etc.
It is this pathetic situation that I pause to ask, does sin exist? If it does, what then is SIN? How did it begin? What are the faces of sins today? What are consequences of living in sin? And wonder whether one can live above it. Brethren, this writer is convinced that there is something called SIN. It is found in all reference books. If it does not exist, the Bible would not record it. The Bible is God’s inspired word and God is not a liar. If you doubt the existent of sin, you do not believe in the Word of God and in the Son of man.
What then is sin? Literally sin means missing the mark (1 John 5:17) or fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). Sin may also mean anything not in harmony with God’s personality, standards, ways and will. It may involve, doing those things we are not suppose to do such as wrong conduct and attitude, impure speech, unclean thoughts, filthy desire and motive, unworthy action or response.
From the genesis of life, God created man in His own image for the ultimate purpose of glorifying Him. The Church catechism says the chief end of man is to glorify God. In effect anything short of God’s glory is sin. After creation, God saw that what he created was very good (perfect), He blessed them. No sooner man disobeyed God than he vacated his abode of love – Garden of Eden.
Little would one wonder why St Paul put it truly to the Romans, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Pharisees and the Jews regarded themselves faultless and sinless and the Gentiles as sinful and unworthy. Sin has also been defined as a transgression of the law, which is a violation of an accepted moral, religious or social status code (1 John. 3:4); not just certain laws but all the laws of God. For whosoever shall keep the whole laws and transgress in one is guilty of all (James 2:10). Also the Epistle of John identifies, “all unrighteousness as sin” (1 John 5:7). Sin has also been described as a failure in duty – to do what should be done (James 4:17) resulting in sins of Omission and sins of Commission. One could have thought that the righteousness of the law alone can keep one sinless. But this is not true since whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Analyses of all the above reveals that there are basically two groups of sins: sins of the flesh (body) and sins of the spirit (mind). Which ever and whenever any is committed results to missing the mark and falling short of what God expects of the person for a better living and harmonized environment. Just as we are akin to the principles of hygiene and nourishment which must be observed if one is to have a healthy physical life, so also is the soul/spirit. There must be holiness and obedience to the commandment of God and continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit for healthy spiritual life. God may not be saying, if you break these laws, I shall punish you in certain way but rather if you do not observe these laws you have failed to develop in the best way of which you are capable and you are likely to end morally stunted and distorted.
We are made by God and the purpose of our existence is to know and love God and show that love in our lives and in our relationship with Him and one another. These are controlled by the laws of equity and justice which guide human co-existence and whatever we do that is outside these marks/ targets of God is sin.
Missing the mark has two aspects:
(i) Failure to be one’s true self and not knowing self and God’s love towards you; one neither recognizes God for whom He is nor for the great things He has done. He is Almighty God who can do anything He likes and has sovereignty over everything. He’s the Lord of all. He is the Divine Creator and should be seen in His creature – seen in the trees, in the rain, in the winds, in the sea, in the sunshine and in other human beings, etc. One may never have committed adultery, murder and even robbery but failed to recognize God in the centre of his being and in His creation. It could also involve having a deceitful and willful opinion of ones’ self; always seeing yourself better than another person. This is an aspect of missing the mark and is sinful.
(ii) To choose some lesser good in the place of a Living God. God created man as a free thinking agent, with abilities to choose either good or bad and to bear the consequences of his choice. This may involve a desire for immediate pleasure, to isolate little ego-self and to experience new things- such as power to be like God. God created man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and tend it. He was to work and in process develop his faculties and capacities and also that of the garden. Man has a moral nature, the power of choice and the capacity to remain innocent or sinful. Adam chose a lesser good – his own glory rather than God’s glory. Today, some people still choose to do what God’s word forbids; that which grieve the Holy Spirit and which is not of God’s nature and life.
ORIGIN OF SIN: Two biblical accounts seem to suggest the advent of sin into the universe. The first is the story of Satan – He was an Archangel and his name was Lucifer “The light bearer”. He was God’s most respected messenger whose duty was to carry that light into the affairs of mankind and to bring to light – man’s real self. Satan having seen the glory of God, decided to put himself in place of God. He rebelled and coaxed (caused) other angles to join him in his rebellion against God. God showed them a way out of heaven. Satan fell from God’s glory to the grass of hell because of spiritual pride. Since ever then, He has become the source of temptation and spiritual pride in us. (Ezekiel 28:12- 15; Isaiah 14: 9-14)
The second account is the awful tragedy of the fall of man as recorded in Genesis chapter three. Adam and Eve were living in harmony with God, in peace with nature and with each other. The serpent came and deceived them saying “God has asked you not to eat this fruit so as not to be like Him.” They ate and their spiritual life died (Eph 2:1) Adam disobeyed God’s commandment. Perhaps it follows the saying that “it got to be bad, to be good.” Adam as well as other mankind could have found out whether they can ever be like God. The two stories ended in disappointment and tragedy.
As we take a critical look at our daily experiences involving the wrong choices we make, our influences on other people and on the evil in the world, it becomes difficult to exonerate ourselves, not only of concern for, but involvement in and responsibility for the sins of mankind, both individually and corporately.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN:
The Bible warns that “the wages of sin is death’’ (Romans 6:23) and “the soul that sinned it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). From the two stories of Satan’s rebellion and fall of man, three effects of sin are revealed.
i) ALIENATION FROM GOD – Apart from being stripped naked before God, the veil was removed and a sense of shame set in and consequently man gained
expulsion from the Garden of Eden – sin involves a loss of innocence and loss of relationship with God (Colossians 1:21).
ii) Change of man’s relationship with God. For this reason, the earth has ceased to be a garden but a desert and work has become toil. There appears hostility between man and some members of the animal kingdom, which man was created to have dominion over them.
iii) The corruption of human relationship. Man had come to know the difference between look and lust; there has since after then been dominance between wife and husband; hatred and murder among brothers while division, strife, confusion, doubt and fear have eaten deep into human relationship. Instead of joy and fulfillment, man has continued to experience, greed, anger and hatred which in turn bring desolation.
ACCEPTING SIN: The hardest thing or position for persons to accept is sin or take a sinner place. Infact many never accept or take it at all; others who had came there before do not care to come again. Unknowingly to many, until you get there, Christ will not begin with you. Until one acknowledges sin, grace shall not reach him. It’s a point one accept blames without excuses, one no longer blame it on work, distance, time, circumstances, spouse, or other people. A place to accept criticism without self justification or arguments.
People find it difficult to acknowledge their sinfulness. They are afraid of hurting pride; prefer correctors’ role and not honest enough to call sin, sin. The bible records men who accepted their sin and had forgiveness – they are David, Isaiah, the publican, the prodigal son, Jacob, and Abraham, Judas (Matthew 27:3-6), just to mentioned but a few.
HIDING SIN: “Do you know that if you hide iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear your prayers (Psalms 66:18) and be sure no matter how, your sin shall find you out (Numbers 32:23). He that covers his sin shall not prosper (Proverb 28:13). Nowhere shall you go to hide your sin that the Lord does not see or know because He’s omnipresence (Psalms 139: 7-9). May God teach us to keep away from, forsake and confess our sins (1 John 1: 9)?
CAN ONE LIVE WITHOUT SIN: From the human point of view it appears extremely difficult, but by the grace of God, He put his perfection on us and we became perfect. He makes us conscious of sin and gives us the inward strength to run from it.
Every man needs two things desperately – forgiveness of the past and power for the future. Redemption includes both of them. Jesus did not only save us from the consequence of sin only but from the sin itself. Salvation is knowing self and God. Jesus in salvation did not only take away our guilt but also gives us victory over sin (1 John 5:4; 1 Corinthians 15:57). “Whosoever abides in Him, does not sin. Whosoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 John 3:6, 8). “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever has been born of God does not sin for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin because he has been born of God” (vs. 9-10). It therefore means that every Spirit filled; truly converted, committed child of God must be of sinless living and total victor.
It’s for this reason that Apostle Paul reassured in Romans 8:37, that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And again thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place (2 Corinthians 2: 14). When we are filled with the fullness of God, we live exceedingly abundantly above all sin (Ephesians 3:19-20). I do not mean sinless perfection!
Jesus Christ alone among the world great religious teachers and moralists lived a sinless life. Every other was to pray for the forgiveness of sin. Even the majority of those who did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord or believe in the existence of God nevertheless had much respect for His teachings and reverenced Him. Jesus, unlike others was inseparable from His teaching and was transparent in all his ways.
In conclusion, sin is real; the seven deadly sins are: pride, jealousy, anger, sloth, avarice, gluttony and lust. The root of most sin is spiritual pride. God in Jesus Christ is inviting us to repentance – to know Him; let loose our ego and pride and in a terrible emptiness return to Him. The closer we come to know Christ, the lesser we fall into the temptation of self pride. Do not bother how you are going to live above sin, for the fear of the Lord will be with us to keep us from sinning (Exodus 20:20) and while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us and paid the price. Jesus by this singular act has set us free and as we confess Him as Lord, we bear no more condemnation. Do not forget that He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. If at any point we sin against God, we are urged to confess it penitently. God is faithful and just and will forgive all our unrighteousness and put us back into our right position and disposition.
Finally like Apostle John would say in his first letter chapter 2: I – 6. “My dear beloved, I am writing this to you so you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, there is one who will go between him and the Father. He’s Jesus Christ the one who is right with God. He paid for our sins with His own blood. He did not pay for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.” Glory be to God who is able to keep us from falling and can bring us before Himself free from all sin. He can give us great joy as we stand before Him in His shinning greatness. He is the only God who saves from the punishment of sin through Jesus Christ our Lord (Jude 24-25).
Reach: Evangelist/Elder Ogbonnaya, Godswill @weefreeministries.org or P.O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas 77272.