The doctrine of sin, what sin is biblically, is often distorted and misrepresented (or not even talked about) by false/problematic teachers, in order to deceive lost people, and to keep them from knowing the reality of their sinful state before God and the effects of their sin.
We can know what sin is by understanding that God defines what is good (He is truly and perfectly good, and what He says/commands to do (or not to do) is good), and that anything against/contrary to such is evil – and committing such is sin.
For Christians, our morality is based on what is known as the Moral Law, which is contained within the Ten Commandments:
“1 And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
(Exodus 20:1-17)
Have you broken any of these commandments? Well, if you have not been told this yet, let us tell you now that you indeed have. So what now?
The Scriptures tell us what the penalty for sin is, it is death. Not only death, but to be put under the eternal wrath of God in Hell.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:27)
You might be thinking: How did I become like this? Are we all like this?
In the book of Genesis, we read that in the beginning, God created man (Adam and Eve), and he gave them one clear commandment: to not partake of the fruit belonging to the tree of knowledge of good and evil (or that they would die). Man, chose willingly to disobey, and in doing so sinned and deserved death. However, God provided an animal sacrifice for man, and allowed them to continue living but were expelled from the Garden of Eden, and cut off from eternal life, and now living in a fallen state (and all of creation became fallen too). Now all persons descended from Adam, are by birth depraved in their nature and are children of wrath, and stand in desperate need of salvation.
The good news is that no matter what kinds of sins you have committed or how many times you have committed them, there is salvation in Jesus Christ! If you repent from your sins, and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, you will escape the wrath of God and have eternal life with him in the new heaven and new earth.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Make sure to read other articles How do I become a Christian? and How do I find a church? for more helpful content.
If you are at a point to where you are coming under conviction for your sins, you have a godly sorrow, and are in need of more help and need someone to talk to – please do not hesitate – go to a local church and talk to the pastors there, or you can contact us or email us! It would be a blessing to talk with you more – God bless you!
