What Is Sin
To sin is to miss the mark, which is God’s standard. Sin is lawlessness as it goes against the law of God. For example, God has commanded us to love one another and not to hate each other, so if someone hates another, they sin. When we sin, we sin against God, even if we have done something to hurt someone else. Though it is wrong to hurt each other, the sin is against God because we are breaking His law. Much of our judicial laws in today’s society originated from God’s law and can be found throughout the Bible.
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The original sin was birthed in Lucifer, once a beautiful archangel in great power in the kingdom of God - heaven, long before mankind was created. By the time God created us, sin had infected a third of the angels in heaven. Lucifer, also known as Satan or the Devil, was flung unceremoniously out of heaven and has only hatred in his heart for us.
This is because we were created perfect in God’s image and likeness, and God loves us. To be made in the image of God was too great an honour for humanity for Satan to ignore. His hatred for God and His creation was too much to bear. So he plotted against us, putting a plan in place by using the serpent to befriend and entice Eve to be disobedient to God. She then encouraged her husband, Adam, to do the same, ultimately allowing sin to enter our physical world, resulting in our birthright being taken away.
Through this single act of disobedience, mankind fell from the honourable position we held in creation. We became infected with sin by going against God’s law: ' not to eat from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.' As a result of sin entering our world, it brought death, sickness, hatred and all things that go against God’s law, which is love, long life, health, and so much more.
After Adam and Eve sinned, humanity inherited this sickness and became corrupted. Today, sin is seen as lacking morals living a low moralistic lifestyle. But we do many things that we do not consider low morals or wrong, yet they go against God’s Law. So, God’s and our standards are entirely different; they are worlds apart. Without God's help, we cannot overcome sin.
After Adam and Eve sinned, humanity inherited the sinful nature from birth. Choosing to be good and living a good life does not automatically make us sinless. We now have to decide to get ourselves out of the inherited sinful position. You can read more about the ‘default position’ in ‘The Best Journey Ever: A Simple Guide Through Christianity’. We can only get out of the sinful position through Jesus Christ, “Jesus said unto him [his disciple Thomas], I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by me.” [John 14:6 KJV]. By choosing Jesus as Lord and Saviour, we regain our birthright to be children of God and have a relationship with Him again.
Sin cannot remain in the presence of God, so for this reason, when Adam and Eve sinned, they had to leave the Garden of Eden. But there was also another reason why they had to go. The Tree of Life remained in the middle of the garden, and if they had eaten from it in their sinful state, they and all of humanity would have lived forever corrupted, sick and evil. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), knowing [how to distinguish between] good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take from the tree of life as well, and eat [its fruit], and live [in this fallen, sinful condition] forever." [Genesis 3:22 AMP].
So, God protected the Tree of Life from us, and us from it, by sending Adam and Eve away from the Garden. Although our situation seemed hopeless, He made a way for us to find our way back to Him and become Children of God again through Jesus Christ.
Recommended Reading
Genesis 3 Matthew 1: 20-22
Galatians 1:3-5
Next in the Series: What Is The Fear Of God