The Separation of Sin

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." --- Rom. 3:23

Today's lesson is a brief overview of a problem that every human being is confronted with at the time they are born. This is the first and most important problem we will ever be faced with. This problem is SIN. As a result of sin, we are separated from God. God's righteousness demands that all sin be dealt with, and because all have sinned then God must deal with each of us. Where God's righteousness demands, God's justice executes. God is completely just in dealing with us in 1 of 2 possible ways. He can deal with us as we are, or as we are in Christ. The choice is completely ours but only one of the options satisfies God's righteousness, and that is obviously that we allow God to deal with us as we are in Christ.

The Hebrew and Greek words for sin are chata (H) and hamartia (G). Both of these words have the same meaning, "to miss the mark." Think of an archer on an archery range (sorry but bow season starts in Georgia in less than a month and I'm excited). At one end of the range is the archer and at the other end is the target he is shooting at. In the middle of the target is the bullseye. The archer's goal is to hit the bullseye, any other place outside of that bullseye is considered a failure. If the archer misses the bullseye, the archer has "missed the mark." This is the image these words are meant to portray. Sin is any arrow that falls outside of God's divine bullseye standard. There are 3 different kinds of sin found in the Word of God, and each one of them applies to each person reading this.

1. Imputed Sin --- "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned" - Rom.5:12

Sometimes referred to as "Adam's Original Sin" (AOS), this is the sin that is imputed to every member of the human race at the time of their birth. That one sin by Adam was also charged (imputed) to each of us. It's hard to grasp how much this one sin has affected the entire world. I once heard a preacher explain it this way, "Sin brought out it's welcome mat and was here to stay." How true this statement is...just watch the news tonight and you will see just how deep that one sin in the Garden has impacted the world we live in. It is because of imputed sin that we are all born spiritually dead.

2. Inherent Sin --- "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" - Jn. 3:6

This is a direct result of AOS that is sometimes called "old sin nature" or "the old man." We inherit our sin nature through our earthly father, who inherited theirs from their earthly father, all the way down the line back to the Garden when Adam ate the fruit (AOS). Each of our sin natures are unique. Each of us has different areas of weaknesses and different areas of strengths.

3. Personal Sin --- "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Rom. 3:23

These are acts that "miss the mark." They are the choices we make that violate the divine standard of God. Personal sin occurs when we succumb to our sin nature.

Personal sin can be further divided into 3 categories:

A. Mental Attitude Sins

B. Sins of the Tongue

C. Overt Sins

That is a BASIC overview of sin. Of course the good news for us is that God's love also demanded that He provide a solution for us in regard to sin. All 3 of the different kinds of sin are dealt with by Jesus Christ' work on the cross.

1. Imputed --- We are viewed as "not guilty" in Christ. "For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" --- Rom. 5:17

2. Inherent --- We are made new in Christ. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." --- 2 Cor. 5:17

3. Personal --- Every sin we have committed or will commit was paid for by Christ on the cross. "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." --- 1 Jn. 2:2

It is important to have an understanding of sin because it gives the background for everything that Jesus Christ did on our behalf. It is because of sin that Christ had to go to the cross. It wasn't enough for Him to just live a perfect life and give us all that great teaching. He had to go to the cross in order to satisfy God the Father on a personal level for each of us, which was motivated by His love for us. All we have to do is accept his work on our behalf and we are no longer under the condemnation of sin. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." --- Rom. 5:8