Most Recent Blog Posts

We have been looking at the book of Romans, which the Apostle Paul wrote We need to understand that the entire book was actually a single letter or epistle. The natural tendency is to begin at the beginning of a chapter and then read to the end of the chapter as if it were a single letter, but a chapter is just part of a letter. Keep in mind that all of the scriptures are made available to us because of God’s great love for us.

So far, we have looked at Romans Chapter 5 (Episodes/Posts 114 – 115), which dealt with grace, righteousness, and justification. Romans 4 (Episodes/Posts 116 – 117) examined the importance of faith in receiving the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Again, never lose sight of God’s love for you as you read and study the scriptures.

Today we will look at Romans 6, which deals with the difficult challenge of living a righteous life in the world today. There are two crucial issues in Romans 6 for the Believer, the first is the concept of “being dead to sin,” the second is the idea that “who you obey is master over you!” 

Let’s look at the first issue, being dead to sin.

The first verse in Romans 6 states, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” This statement only makes sense if we look at the end of Romans 5, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” The Apostle Paul was trying to avoid a false idea that the more one sinned, the more grace would abound or that it was ok to sin because grace was available. However, when we read the end of chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6 together, it makes sense, “5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not (or of course not)! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

Here the principle of being dead to sin is introduced. You must choose to see yourself as dead to sin. If you are dead to sin, then sin can’t have any control over you! Before you knew Christ, you did not have the Holy Spirit to guide you. The Holy Spirit makes the Bible, the Word of God, come alive and have meaning for you. The Holy Spirit also battles with the flesh to lead you into righteousness instead of sin, but you must make choices every step of the way. Remember 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The spiritual reality is that the “old you” is dead, and you are now alive in Jesus Christ. Romans 6 says, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Let’s jump to Romans 6, beginning in verse 12. We’re told that we have to decide to make sure that sin doesn’t control our bodies and that we don’t find ourselves in situations and circumstances that will lead to unrighteousness or sin. We must choose to present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead and our actions and words reflect the righteousness of God. Because we’re given this promise in verse 14, sin will not have dominion over us because we’re not under Law (legalism) but under Grace (relationship). In other words, we don’t have to let sin control us. God is at work in you to desire and to empower you to please the Lord, which means dying to sin. (Philippians 2:13) Because of the Holy Spirit in us, we can always choose to say and do the right thing as difficult it may seem in the beginning. 

The second issue in Romans 6 is the issue of who has control over your life?

You can serve the Lord, or you can serve the “flesh.” The flesh, in this case, are the natural urges of humankind, the philosophies of the world. The flesh also includes as the hurtful habits or ways of thinking, that we have learned, that are contrary to the will of God. Listen to what Romans 8 tells us about the flesh and Spirit, “5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Paul makes this major point in Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”The brutal truth is that Satan wants to enslave you into doing his will. Satan’s desire is to steal, kill and destroy, but the Lord’s purpose is that you would serve the Lord and experience the abundant life! (John 10:10) A life filled with love, peace, and joy.

Finally, Romans 6:23 ends with a verse that we should all memorize, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Benefits of Grace.

The benefits of grace, righteousness, and faith only apply to a believer in Jesus Christ. A true believer is one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! Now, what does the phrase “Lord and Savior” mean? Let’s take the word Savior first. Accepting Jesus as Savior means that you believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again to be alive with the Father in Heaven. In other words, your place in Heaven is assured, and your confidence is in Jesus that you will rise again. Death has no “sting” which means we don’t fear death. Don’t get me wrong, we are all human, and we naturally don’t look forward to death, but death doesn’t produce terror because we know that no matter what happens, our destination is Heaven. We have peace with God!

The word Lord, in Lord and Savior, means that we voluntarily submit to Jesus as our King. As our King, we do all that is in our power to obey Him and His teachings. Now, we don’t have the strength or power to obey the Lord in our own natural strength and ability; as much as we try, we always fall short. However, Jesus in His wisdom gave us the Holy Spirit to help, comfort, teach and guide us in overcoming the attractions of the flesh and the world! Every true believer has the Holy Spirit, whether they believe it or not. It is a matter of learning to discern His voice and then to obey.

I’ve been using the term “true believer” as one who is truly redeemed or saved. How does one become a true believer, Romans 10:5-13 says it best:

Then starting in Romans 10:8, But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

True faith is a Commitment, not just a Statement! 

Calling on the Lord means that you have confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. Confessing with your mouth is that act of repentance, recognizing that your sin has separated you from God and that you truly want to see that relationship restored. Believing in your heart is that act of commitment to follow Jesus wherever he may take you! It’s not enough to just say the words the words must be followed up with the desire to follow Jesus. 

For some people fulfilling the commitment to Jesus is easier than for others. All of us have different backgrounds and “baggage” to overcome in life. We are not to judge the progress of another Christian as long as they are moving forward in their relationship with Jesus Christ. We should be encouraging them. As in all things in life, when you encounter something new, there is a learning curve, that process where you take baby steps in the beginning and then move forward into maturity. As one matures, they are able to take the greater steps that we often associate with a strong believer. 

We should be thankful that God is patient, loving, merciful, and kind and he accepts us right where we are and brings us into places that we could never imagine. The Lord is gracious, his love boundless, and his desire is that you would walk with him, knowing that you are never alone because His Holy Spirit is with you leading and guiding you into the abundant life.

Faith is Spiritual

As stated in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So, faith for a Christian is believing in the spiritual or unseen. You put your faith in Jesus and your hope in His promises. Again, it is not faith in faith or even faith in the promises found in the Bible, but faith in the One who made the promises in the Bible.

So, faith is not wishing, hoping, or wanting something to be. Instead, it is the confidence and assurance that because of the love of God, He will not leave you or abandon you to your circumstances. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Do you believe that… that nothing can separate you from God’s Love?

It is your faith in the Lord that causes you to behave or act in a manner that shows you have already received that for which you are believing. Now that was a mouthful! Let me put it this way; the world says, “Show me and then I will believe!” God says, “Believe in Me and then I will show you!” Genuine faith believes in the promise even before the promise is fulfilled!

Faith

For some Christians, faith is seen as something to employ in order to get God’s attention. We may have a need, desire, or some impending health crisis. Don’t get me wrong; when we have needs, we should bring them to the Lord. We are encouraged in the Word to bring our issues to the Lord. But faith is not something we turn to only when we are in trouble. Faith is the continual manifestation of our righteousness before God. In other words, I am trying to live in a way that is pleasing to God.

It is because of my fellowship or intimacy with God that I am confident, sure that He hears me and will answer me in my time of need. He is my help as I walk by faith in Jesus.  “Paul says in Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”.

As in the Garden of Eden, before the Fall, God wants to walk with you and fellowship with you. As you see your relationship with Him in this manner… you will find that your faith will grow, and all of the promises that faith brings will be yours.

Romans 4

I can think of no better book of the Bible than Romans 4, that speaks to the three concerns that we have today. Those three concerns are grace, Law, and faith. The Apostle Paul uses examples that the Jews of the time would be very familiar with, Abraham and King David. Abraham because he truly is the father of Israel in the sense that God had promised Abraham that out of his loins would come a great nation, and of course we know that is Israel, but also that a multitude of people would come from his loins. Clearly, the Jews of the day we’re very familiar with the promise of God to give this Israel a land of their own and prosperity. King David, of course, is the one whom God used to bring the struggling nation of Israel to power and prominence. 

Listen to what the Apostle Paul writes about Abraham beginning in chapter 4; Paul wrote that Abraham discovered the things of the flesh or what later became known as the works of the Law really meant nothing to God. Verse three says, “for what does the scripture say Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness”, now that’s a powerful statement in itself. What Paul was saying was that it was faith that brought righteousness to Abraham. Remember Abraham believed God, and that’s what faith is. Faith is simply believing in God and then doing according to what you believe. He goes on to say in verse 4, “now to him who works the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” In essence, Paul is saying that if you’re trying to work for your Salvation, then it can’t be by grace. Grace is a gift of God and is not earned or deserved.

He then goes on beginning in verse 5 to recount the words of King David in Romans 4:5, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Notice that David was not believing in a system, ritual, or organization… he believed in Him!

David was a man who believed God and God’s righteousness was imputed to him, verse six says, “just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works,” and the keys here are “that David believed in God” and “apart from works.” 

There were many in that day that believed that because of circumcision and the covenant of the Law, they automatically were heirs to the promises of Abraham. Let me put it another way they believed that all they had to do was follow the rules and regulations of the Law, and the fact that they were Jews meant that they had earned the right to the promises of God. However, beginning in verse 9, Paul makes the case that Abraham was declared righteous because of faitheven before circumcision was instituted. This fact alone meant God was not only the God of the Jews but also non-Jews if they just simply believed in the Lord and acted accordingly. 

To be a doer of the Word is what God is looking for. Doing the Word is the evidence that you truly believe in Him. Many are content to just understand the Word, and they believe in an intellectual sense, but their lives do not reflect what they believe. Intellectual belief alone is not sufficient to have the righteousness of God imputed to you! What the Lord seeks is a relationship, not just following rules and regulations. A true relationship will produce a desire to please the One who has rescued and delivered us, our Lord Jesus Christ!

The rest of Romans 4 is an illustration of the faith that Abraham had in his Lord. In verse 16 Paul writes, “therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are the faith of Abraham who was the father of us all.” I hope you can see that Paul was saying that the promise was not simply for the Jews but for anyone who would believe in the Lord and trust him. 

Verse 19 begins a very powerful section of this chapter, and it begins with, “and not being weak in faith he did not consider his own body already dead since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah’s womb”. Remember, the promise was that they would have a son, and they waited patiently for the fulfillment of that promise. Here they were beyond the age of childbearing, and they still believed. Verse 20 says, “Speaking of Abraham he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform 22 and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness”. Can you see it? It’s by faith that we come to God. It’s by faith that we appropriate or receive the promises of God; it’s faith in the One who made the promises found in the Bible.  The Lord is the one from whom all blessings flow.

In verse 23, Paul writes, “now it was not written for his sake (meaning Abraham) that it was imputed to him but for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification”. Hallelujah, he took away our sins, his righteousness was imputed upon us, and in God’s eyes, we are justified!

Grace and Faith

In my opinion, the following verses speak so clearly to the importance of grace and faith. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Remember, grace is receiving something that you don’t earn or deserve; it is a gift. Salvation is offered as a gift from God, and we receive that gift by putting our faith in Jesus Christ and him alone. Notice, that the gift is not based on works, which simply means it has nothing to do with your own efforts to make yourself worthy or to make yourself good enough. After all, how good is good enough? Grace doesn’t end with the gift of salvation, what grace does it creates a desire to please the One who has extended grace to us. As the scripture clearly says, “we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Simply put, God has a plan for your life, and as you walk out his plan, then you will see the blessings of God poured out on your life. 

Remember you can’t please God without faith, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

As you go through life bring to remembrance, or remind yourself that, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Or as another translation puts it, Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.” (TPT)

What is Righteousness?

Righteousness is innocence before God. the Lord uses the word holy to describe Himself, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15. Because the Lord is holy we are made holy. The word holy usually means to “be set aside for God’s use or purpose.” 

Believing what the Lord has said and doing it is defined as “righteousness” or doing right in God’s eyes. Our walking in righteousness enables the Lord to bless us. Righteousness is for our good! Unrighteousness, on the other hand, is when a person rejects or disbelieves what God has said, and it should be obvious, the Lord can’t bless what He doesn’t approve.

The Bible shows two ways that a person can be righteous in God’s eyes:

• For a Christian, it by Grace– Righteousness is not a result of our own efforts but the fact that the righteousness of Jesus has been imparted to us. I like to look at righteousness imputed to us like this when the Father looks upon me, He sees the blood of Jesus on my life, and He says “he is righteous. 
• Living under Grace means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You believe that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, lives in you to “help” you become the man or woman that He has created you to be.” The real work is to avoid sin and learn how to hear the “voice” of the Spirit, through the Word of God and through the Spirit of God. Once having heard from the Lord the next thing is to obey! Remember, Trust and Obey! You are a New Creation in Christ. You are not bound or tied to the past all things are new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Your sin nature is dead and has been replaced by the spirit of God

• For the Old Testament Jew, it was by the works of the Law– Righteousness under the Law meant that your righteousness before God was based upon your own effort to observe all of the commandments, remember there were 613 commands in the Mosaic Law, (the Ten Commandments + 603 Mitzvot). 
• If the Bible tells us anything, it is that man cannot keep the Law of Moses perfectly, and perfection is what is needed. The Lord instituted a sacrificial system to cover the sin with blood, but the Law could not change the sin nature. 

The first unrighteous act in the Bible

Before the “Fall” of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they lived in a state of innocence. They had no idea of sin. They were righteous before the Lord. It never occurred to them to disobey God in any way. They were innocent, righteous, and holy.

The Lord provided an opportunity for exercising their free-will by establishing the “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and the command that Adam and Eve not eat of it. This choice was an expression of the free-will that the Lord gave human beings to distinguish them from all the other created beings on earth. Until the Fall, Adam and Eve never exercised this free-will to disobey God because they trusted in Him, believed in Him completely. 

Then Satan came onto the scene disguised as a serpent. The serpent deceived Eve into thinking that the Lord was with-holding something from her. Something that tasted good, looked good, and would provide her with wisdom to be like God. The moment they ate of the forbidden fruit, they experienced sin or unrighteousness, and all of humankind inherited the sin-nature.

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5:18

Living in a State of Conscience; awareness of good and evil.

After the “Fall” or disobeying God’s command to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve became conscious of good and evil. As descendants of Adam and Eve, all of humankind is born with a conscience, all can discern good and evil. Now couple an awareness of good and evil with free-will, you have a sin-nature. All of humankind is born with a sin nature. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, Romans 3:23. The evidence of a sin nature is that everyone has to die. Death is the seal of sin. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Because God has given us free-will, we can choose to do good or evil. No one can make us do evil, not even the Devil. The only thing the Devil can do is to tempt us. To make that which is forbidden look so attractive that we convince ourselves that God did not really mean what He said. Isn’t that what happened to Adam and Eve? This state of being able to make a choice to do evil is the “sin nature.”

All of Romans chapter 4 is about Abraham and how he was found righteous before God even before the Law existed. Abraham is an example of justification by faith. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:3 we’ll discuss this the next time.

What is Justification?

Justification means to be found not guilty. Don’t all of us need to be found not guilty. We all have a past, and we are dealing with the present, but keep in mind that although we are not perfect, we stand in a position of righteousness, and we are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ. 

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The word Advocate in this verse refers to Jesus and an Advocate is one who pleads your case before the Father. Another word for Advocate is Counselor, as in a lawyer, your counselor is making intercession on your behalf. Hebrews 7:24 states, But He (Jesus), because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

The Apostle Paul makes a profound statement in Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

Romans 3: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The Sin Nature of Mankind, Romans (Exposit)

Romans 5:12-17 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 

15 But the free gift (grace) is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 

17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of graceand of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Conclusion

I am born with a sin nature. Even when I try to do the right things, I wind up doing the wrong. I disobey the Lord even when I don’t want to. I am unrighteous no matter how much I try. However, my faith in Jesus and His power and authority has, wiped away my sin and put to death my sin nature making me alive by the Holy Spirit. This is what being born-again really means. The old “man” is dead, and I am alive in Christ. The righteousness of Christ is imputed on me.

Jesus has justified me, in that the Father sees that I belong to Jesus; I’ve have been redeemed by Jesus and because of that, now the Father declares me innocent.

You’ve been forgiven, made righteous, and justified by your faith in Jesus, your savior and your deliverer. Now it is time to say, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

Definition of The Law

Theologically speaking, the word Law can be defined in three ways:

1. The Ten Commandments.
2. The Ten Commandments and the 613 mitzvot or commands (613 includes the ten commandments).
3. The first five books of the Old Testament, otherwise known as the Torah in Hebrew.

In any case, the three mentioned examples of the Law were given by God to the people of Israel through Moses. All of these are referred to as “The Law” or the “Law of Moses.” The Lord made a covenant with Moses, who represented the people of Israel. 

Mosaic Law

The significant point about the Law is that it was part of the Covenant with Israel. The Lord made promises to the people of Israel if they would observe His conditions outlined by the Law or the Torah. Keep the Law and prosper, break the Law and suffer the consequences. This covenant was a conditional one in that you had to keep the Law, and then you would be blessed. The key is that you had to keep the Law through your own human efforts or works. If the Old Testament or Covenant shows us anything, it was that no one could keep the Law perfectly through human effort. That is why the Lord instituted a sacrificial system for the Israelites to cleanse them from sin, but they had to do it over and over again!

Definition of Grace

Grace means to receive a gift that is unearned and undeserved (unmerited). The New Testament or Covenant is a covenant of Grace. Just as Moses received the Law from the Father for the people of Israel, Jesus received Grace from the Father for the people who would believe in Him. As the Lord and Moses were the Covenant Heads of the Law for Israel, the Lord and Jesus were the Covenant Heads for the people who would believe in Jesus Christ.

Justice, Mercy, and Grace

Justice, mercy, and Grace are sometimes confused with each other. Let me take a moment to define each of these terms.

1. Justice – is when you get the punishment you deserve.
2. Mercy – is when you don’t get the punishment you deserve.
3. Grace – is when someone else takes the punishment you deserve.

For example, let’s say that you commit a crime and are brought to trial. 

1. Justice would say that judge finds you guilty, and you go to jail. 
2. Mercy says that the judge gives you a warning, and you are released. 
3. Grace says that someone else comes up and speaks to the judge, “I will take his punishment,” and he goes to jail. The judge then declares justice has been done, and you are set free!

This is what Jesus has done for you. He has extended Grace to you, not based on what you have done, but what He has done for you. Jesus took all of your sins by going to the Cross for you. You deserved justice or even mercy, but instead, the Lord has granted you Grace because you have put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Because of God’s Grace, God, who is judge, declares you innocent. He has justified you, and you are now righteous in the Lord’s eyes. Righteousness is what we seek, not our own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ imputed on us. 

Conditional Law and Unconditional Grace.

To fully understand the difference between Law and Grace, we need to define sin. Sin is what makes one unrighteous in the Lord’s eyes. The very first sin was in the Garden of Eden when God walked with Adam and Eve before they were tempted and committed  original sin.

When we think of sin, we often think in terms of the Ten Commandments. Break one of the commandments, and you commit sin! Well. That is true, but we need to recognize that breaking the Ten Commandments is actually a symptom of a sinful nature. When one breaks the commandment, what one is doing, by their action, is not believing what God said! This will become clearer if we go back to the beginning in Genesis, and look at the sinless nature of Adam and Eve before the Fall and then their state after the Fall.

Living in a State of Innocence.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve “walked” with God in a sinless state. This time before the Fall was a state of innocence. They had no idea what sin was. They never thought that God would withhold anything from them. They had everything they wanted, food, shelter, purpose, and a personal relationship with the Father. Everything was theirs, and every need was met by the Lord. They had only one prohibition; they were not to eat of the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. Notice, and this is important, that it was not known as the tree of good and evil, but the tree of the “knowledge” of good and evil. The key here is knowledge. Up to this point, they only knew what was good. 

Genesis 2:16, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Note, the words “you shall surely die” at the end of verse 17, it meant physical death for sure, but it also meant separation from God! Adam and Eve were immortal before the Fall and were destined to be in a relationship with God forever.

A close examination of Genesis 3:1-7 will help us to see what sin really is. Yes, sin is disobedience of the Father, but deeper, it is a doubt or disbelief about what God has said. Let’s look at the scriptures:

Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” See the doubt the serpent inserts into the conversation, “Has God indeed said?” By the way, we should never engage in conversation with the Devil!

In verse 2, “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Eve then states a truth, God did say, “you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or else you shall surely die.” However, notice how Satan contradicts the Word of the Lord in verse 4, Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The Devil said, “you will not surely die!” John 8:44 states that Satan is the Father of lies. The Devil will use lies and half-truths to tempt one to disbelieve what God has said. However, in this case, part of his statement is true Satan does say, “your eyes will be opened, and you will know the difference between good and evil.” Satan often mixes lies, truths, and half-truths, but it is all an attempt to deceive.

Now, look at verse 6, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Satan knows how to appeal to the senses or the flesh, notice that Eve is tempted to eat of the forbidden fruit because:

1. It appealed to her taste or hunger. (Lust of the flesh)
2. It was attractive or pretty to the eyes. (Lust of the eyes)
3. It would make her wise or like God. (Pride of life)

1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Finally, we see the tragic end to the foolishness of Adam and Eve. Verse 7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” Their “eyes” were open, and they were no longer innocent, but now we’re aware of evil; they now had their conscience awakened and could discern good and evil. Because of this Original Sin, all of humanity has a conscience and can clearly see good and evil in their actions and in the world.

When we think of sin, we think of the act of sin like adultery, lying, coveting, stealing, and murder, but these are the symptoms of something far greater, and that is not believing in what God has said. Adam and Eve sinned because they did not believe God. They did not believe that there would be a consequence for eating the forbidden fruit.

Living in a State of Conscience.

Because we have a conscience, we can discern good and evil. God has given us free-will, and therefore we can choose to do good or evil. No one can make us do evil, not even the Devil. The only thing the Devil can do is to tempt us. To make that which is forbidden, for our own good, look so attractive that we convince ourselves that God did not really mean what He said. Isn’t that what happened to Adam and Eve? This state of being able to make a choice to do evil is the “sin nature” that the Apostle Paul talks about in Romans 5, which we will look into the next time. 

In conclusion: As human beings, we focus on the act of sin, which is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, but the breaking of the individual commandments reveal a deeper issue… disbelieving God and what He has said! Living under the Law means that you are a Jew and that your righteousness before God is based upon your own effort to observe all of the commandments. Living under Grace means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you believe that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, lives in you to “help” you become the man or woman that He has created you to be. Your righteousness is not a result of your own efforts but the fact that the righteousness of Jesus has been imparted to you. The effort you must depend upon is learning how to hear the “voice” of the Spirit, through the Word of God and through the Spirit of God who dwells in you. Once having heard from the Lord the next thing is to obey! You are a New Creation in Christ. You are not bound or tied to the past all things are new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.