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Sin and its SolutionMankind’s biggest problem isn’t poverty, hunger, armed conflict, infectious disease, racism, terrorism, artificial intelligence, global warming, social media, or the fact that we can’t all get along. Every worldly dilemma pales in significance to the one problem that has eternal consequences for every single person and has no workable human solution: sin.
What is sin and what are its consequences? Perhaps the most direct, biblical definition of the term is the one found in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, a classic outline of basic Christian doctrines compiled by English and Scottish theologians in the mid-17th century:
Sin is any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God *
When we disobey or fall short of God’s expectations, we sin. Though most people bristle at the thought of it, man has a moral accountability to his Creator. And though many may choose to deny God’s existence, or impugn or disregard His word, all are nevertheless held to His benchmark. The Bible clearly shows that sin, characterized as
lawlessness, faithlessness, unrighteousness, and willful disobedience, violates both God's standard and His holy nature. Unfortunately because all have sinned, all fall short of His measure and are subject to His perfect justice.
Can man plead ignorance? How is one to know God’s standard, His moral absolute, His law? It is written in our hearts in the form of our conscience, and it is explicitly revealed in the pages of the Bible. The conscience is a built-in influence towards right and away from wrong, a vestige of our having been made in God’s image. However, the conscience can be compromised and hindered as a result of our ongoing sinfulness. It can only remain a reliable moral guide when reinforced by the word of God. Meanwhile we can always look to scripture alone, through its application in a believer’s life by the Holy Spirit, as the sufficient revelation of God’s law and a steadfast moral compass.
Where did sin come from? It originated with the angel Lucifer, also known as Satan, whose sin of pride—the ambition to be higher than God—equated to rebellion against the Almighty and resulted in his banishment from heaven. Satan introduced sin to humanity by tempting the first man and woman with the false prospect of becoming like God. Their consequent act of disobedience resulted in their corruption, separation from God, and caused original sin to become part of mankind’s inherent nature. Representing all which falls short of God’s perfection, sin is an unavoidable affliction, a kind of illness that has been passed down through each generation and impacts the entirety of creation.
Because sin is that which falls short of the glory of God, it necessarily follows that He did not create it, nor is He responsible for it. Sin is rather a self-inflicted curse, the natural product of the free will of imperfect, created beings. It proceeds from evil, the absence of goodness. In evil’s moral emptiness sin naturally proliferates, and the natural man then readily chooses it.
Despite sin’s destructiveness, God ordains that it exists. Why? Because He intends to make ultimate use of it
for good—to glorify Himself through the display of His perfect judgment, His mercy, and His gift of salvation. God is not surprised by sin and it does not thwart His purposes. On the contrary, it is through our shortcomings in sin that God chooses to demonstrate His great love for us, and it is through His redemptive process that believers are purified and saved from judgment. Without corruption there can be no redemption, and the redemption of man is an ultimate good that glorifies its mighty Initiator.
To truly appreciate God’s solution to sin, we must not only understand what sin is but how it affects everything. We must first grasp its colossal pervasiveness before we can view anything else with the proper perspective - whether it is the mechanics of the physical universe, the motivations of the human heart or any point in between. Understanding sin’s widespread impact gives us more accurate insight to the actions of God.
God originally created a world that was good, stable and without discord. The world we live in today is much different. Everything we observe is in a state of degeneration. Science notes this within the context of the physical universe with the observation that entropy—a gradual decline into disorder—always increases. Beyond the ebb and flow of physical change and the innumerable individual life cycles that comprise the function of our universe, it is evident that the whole of nature trends towards chaos and death, not order and life. We grasp the concept most clearly when we look at ourselves. In all aspects, whether it is our physical health, our mental state, our relationships, our motives—we spend our lives in conflict, always struggling and ultimately falling short of ideal. Why? Because sin persists—it is always there working to the corruption of everything. Just like the rest of the universe, humanity—collectively and individually, physically and mentally—only degrades with the passage of time. The ravages of sin cannot be avoided and there is no part of us that is left undefiled. As the great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon put it:
As the salt flavors every drop in the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if you cannot detect it, you are deceived.**
The issue of human sin has been ubiquitous since the first generation. Not only have we inherited original sin—the sin nature itself—from Adam as a result of the fall, but because he represented all of mankind at the time of his act of disobedience, that sin has been imputed or charged to us and we are all guilty by association. As our own life begins to unfold, the sin nature makes it all but inevitable that we will also commit personal sins—daily, individual acts of rebellion against the holiness of God. While we did not personally choose this predisposition and are unable to avoid sin in our natural state, our moral responsibility to God still remains.
Being absolutely holy, God is completely incompatible with sin and will not look upon it. This puts us at enmity against Him and has caused us to be estranged. Ever since Adam and Eve's failure, sin has existed as a barrier between mankind and God. It is a barrier that we cannot remove, and there is nothing in and of ourselves that can aid us in getting around it. Like everyone who has come before us, sin exists in our hearts, condemning us to physical and spiritual death, everlasting contempt and punishment, and separation from God's grace and His eternal life.
God's perfect justice must be satisfied, yet we lack the capacity to atone. Because of our inherent imperfection, our good deeds, religious observances, and legalistic adherences—no matter how sincere—are insufficient to compensate; in God's estimation these things do nothing to improve our fallen condition because we are after all, fallen.
On the face of it, this appears to be a predicament without solution—righteous judgment awaits and hell certainly yawns before us all. However:
God having, out of his good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. †
Because we are unable to help ourselves, of course a Redeemer is what is needed. But who holds the credentials to sufficiently atone for sin? Who can offer up His own perfection as propitiation to God and satisfaction of His holy justice? Who possesses a divine life, the offering of which would carry enough weight to pay the debt of mankind’s transgressions once for all time? Who has holiness great enough to cleanse all those He represents to the extent that they may appear sinless before God?
Only God Himself has such credentials.
The Bible teaches that God is one essence comprised of three distinct, eternal, co-equal Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of this Holy Trinity is fully God. In His divine counsel God determined that the Son would serve as the ultimate revelation of Himself on the earth, entering human history as a man possessing both human and divine natures, living out a life of perfect obedience to God’s law, and offering Himself as a spotless sacrifice to fully atone for the sins of mankind and redeeming those who would believe in Him. God would therefore come down to earth initially not to judge, but to save. The plan was carried out to perfection approximately 2,000 years ago through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The apostle John summarizes in his gospel:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. — John 3:16-17
God may hate sin, but He loves the world, so much so that He was willing to lay aside the fullness of His divine privilege and humble Himself by assuming the limited form of man, essentially becoming sin on our behalf so that we might be spared God's judgment, though He Himself knew no sin. Through His death He served our penalty, and through His resurrection he demonstrated the believer's destiny—reconciliation with God in a glorified life without end.
Sin is a terminal affliction. Everything that is not right in the universe—up to and including the fallen state of man—can be attributed to it. We are born with the sin virus, if you will, and outside of God's grace we are helpless to prevent this corruption. Neither can we cure ourselves, but God in His infinite goodness and mercy has provided the final remedy in Jesus Christ. This is a truth that has been revealed to us through God's word; may we receive the faith and understanding necessary to heed it and put our trust in Jesus alone for deliverance, because He is the only solution to the only problem that ultimately matters.
Quotation references:
* Westminster Shorter Catechism; Q.14 (cf. Lev. 5:17, Jam 4:17, 1 Jn 3:4); 1646-47
** Spurgeon, C.H.; “Honest Dealing With God”, sermon #1241; June 20, 1875
† Westminster Shorter Catechism; Q.20 (cf. Eph 1:4, Rom 3:20-22, Gal 3:21-22); 1646-47
Images:
Dore, Gustave "Adam and Eve Driven Out of Eden" (Gen 3:24) (detail), La Grande Bible de Tours, 1866
Dore, Gustave "The Erection of the Cross" (Mt 27:35), La Grande Bible de Tours, 1866
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Most scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB)
