What is Sin?

Sin is, simply, the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). The person who breaks the law in one point breaks the law (James 2:10), and is a sinner, having presented him or herself as a willing or unwilling servant to sin.

Before a disciple is born of Spirit, the person was consigned to sin (Rom 11:32) as a son of disobedience (Eph 2:2-3). The person had no choice, but was condemned to disobedience because of one man, the first Adam. And it is this concept of being consigned to disobedience that separates Western Christendom’s understanding of free will from both Eastern Christendom’s and Rabbinical Judaism’s. In both the Greek Church’s and in Judaism’s understanding of sin, it seems that a person can, through good works, prevail upon God to accept the person, thereby making Calvary an interesting but not needful phenomenon; whereas in the Roman Church, Calvary was absolutely necessary for the forgiveness of sin, and the redemption of the inherently sinful nature of humankind. The Western Church held the doctrine of “total depravity,” meaning that there was nothing good in human beings. So while “consigned to disobedience” and “total depravity” are not two faces of the same dogma, the concepts are closely enough linked that “original sin” is a useful term.

The antithesis to original sin is a second birth by Spirit, with this new creature born free, sin having no dominion over this new creature (cf. Rom 8:1-2; Rom 6:14). The redemptive work of God is not a regeneration of immortal souls doomed to hell, but the “renewing” of the creature through a second birth, the creation of a new life within the tent of flesh of the old self. And because sin no longer has dominion over these new creatures in their fleshly tents, human beings who have been called-out of this world, these called-out ones can be raised from the dead as the glory of the Father raised Jesus from the dead, with this resurrection from the dead to occur when judgments are revealed (1 Cor 4:5) upon Christ’s return … Jesus said those who hear His words and believe the One who sent Him do not come under judgment, but pass from death to life (John 5:24). He also said not to be surprised when some are called forth from death to life, and some are called to condemnation (vv. 28-29). For the new creature that returns to sin when sin has no dominion over this new creature spurns the mercy extended by a second birth, and thereby mocks both the Father and the Son.

To elaborate, when a person is born of Spirit, there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). The person has been set free from disobedience [the law of sin and death], and can now live by the commandments of God, which before, while consigned to disobedience, was not possible. The person was not previously able to present his or her members to God as instruments for righteousness (Rom 6:13), for sin had dominion over the person (v. 14).

The redemptive work of God is about setting free human beings who have been consigned to disobedience because their father (however many times removed) is the first Adam, but this work is not that of human beings. No person can force the Father to draw a person from the world and give to this person a second birth. And unless the Father draws the person, he or she remains consigned to disobedience. There is nothing anyone can do to extract this person from disobedience … Martin Luther made the observation that the law seemed to exist to prove that it couldn’t be kept—and it cannot be kept by those who remain consigned to disobedience. They are not free to keep it. And being redeemed from sin is all about being born of Spirit so that the liberated person can keep the commandments.

The dogma of Christianity would have the born of Spirit disciple free from having to keep the commandments of God, thereby making this disciple an unwitting bondservant of sin, whereas the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2) sets a person free to keep the commandments of God. Christendom’s prevailing dogma is the exact opposite of what the Apostle Paul taught. Disciples are not set free to transgress the law, but set free to keep the law. Obedience equals life. Disobedience is sin, which equals death. Disciples have been set free from sin and death so that they can choose life, which comes through obedience by faith to God.

The redemptive work of God is simple: Jesus said, ‘“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them’” (Matt 5:17). He came to demonstrate that when a person is not in bondage to disobedience, the person can live by the commandments of God. And when liberated from bondage to sin, the person is liberated from death … again, twice born means that the person has two lives, one that animates the flesh [the birth by water], and the other that is of Spirit. The mystery that the Apostle Paul did not understand (Rom 7:15) is that the flesh—because the Body of Christ is presently dead—remains in bondage to disobedience until the Second Passover. The new creature born of Spirit and domiciled in the tent of flesh is born liberated from disobedience, and is now free to keep the law of God. But this new creature must wrestle against the tent of flesh as if fighting its way out of a paper bag. It must strive against the indwelling law of sin and death (Rom 7:21-25), and it must ultimately prevail. Grace covers those times when this new creature loses battles to indwelling sin. But if this new creature will not or does not fight against this indwelling sin, this new creature will perish in the lake of fire.

The fight into which the infant son of God is born can be won, and has been won by Christ Jesus. A disciple gives Christ’s victory to Satan, however, when the disciple makes him or herself a willing servant of sin.

Christians would not willingly present themselves as bondservants to sin, would they? No Christian would willingly commit adultery, yes? No? How about murder? Jesus disclosed the relationship between the old written code that regulated the actions of the hand and the body of a natural Israelite, not born of Spirit, and the inner written code inscribed on tablets of flesh [the heart and the mind] of a spiritually circumcised Israelite:

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the Gehenna of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come offer your gift. (Matt 5:21-24)
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (vv. 27-28)

From hand to heart, body to mind … the old written code that governed the actions of the hand and the body of an Israelite moved inward to govern the desires of the heart and the thoughts of the mind—same code. Not a new set of commandments, but the same commandments inside the cup, inside the clay pot that will be made into a vessel for honored use or into a vessel of wrath. And when the inside of the cup is clean, the whole cup is clean.

The Sabbath commandment, now, does not move to another day, but remains the seventh day. However, under the inner written code, the Sabbath commandment does not regulate what the hand and body does, but the desires of the hearts and the thoughts of the mind. And if the desires of the heart are to enter into fellowship with God—to enter into His rest—then the disciple will not do those things that are not of God; for when the inside of the cup enters into God’s rest, the whole cup enters into God’s rest.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."