There are Christians who are continually on the hunt for sin in the lives of other Christians (and, of course, that is the emphasis in their own lives as well). That seems to be the entire focus of their spiritual lives, and it’s a poor spiritual life indeed. Instead of focusing their time on God’s successful solution to sin, Jesus Christ, they continue to focus on the law, which rather than freeing people from sin, simply makes sin more powerful in their lives.
Iniquity – evil, contrary to the truth of God, originated in the devil
Sin – iniquity’s imparted nature in man
Transgression – disobedience to a command of God
Man doesn’t need to do anything to be worthy of death, because he was born with a sinful nature. Sin is a result of being contrary to the God of life; it therefore results in being contrary to life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Mankind did not originate sin, it was not his bright idea. He merely was tricked into it, in the garden.
And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall not surely die. For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4, 5)
So did man become “as gods” after they ate of the tree of the knowing of good and evil? Only in their own minds! As God is a God of life, so eating of that tree caused man to become the provider of his own life – resulting in death! Man first ate of that tree thousands of years ago, and he has been eating of that tree ever since!
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; (Romans 5:12)
Sin entered into the world by entering into man, due to man’s transgression of God’s command.
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:15-17)
Some people think God put that tree in the garden. He did not.
And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31a)
Satan put the “tree” (not an actual tree) in the garden, the partaking of which brought death to mankind, who had been made in the image of God.
… that through death he (Jesus) might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:13b)
The thief comes not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy….
(John 10:10a)
Some people think God put the tree in the garden in order to test man, to see if he would obey Him; or so that man would have the freedom to choose. How ignorant an idea!
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man. (James1:13)
Do you think the only choice man has is between good and evil? If I have to choose between a Chevy or a Ford pickup, is one of them evil? When I chose Sharon to be my wife, was it a choice between good and evil? When we chose to have children, were we on the edge of sinning if we chose wrongly? When we choose to take a vacation in Arkansas, are good and evil necessarily on the table?
So sin was in the world once Adam and Eve partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and sin’s curse came upon every man; but sin was a hidden thing, a non-detectable spiritual quantity in mankind, who was now bereft of his spiritual nature and unable to even detect it, much less deal with it successfully or overcome it.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses (when the law came), even over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him who was to come. (Romans 5:14)
So God put generic expressions of sin into boxes which man could understand, and gave descriptions of these boxes to Moses, and called them “the law.”
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
(Romans 7:12, 13)
A side effect of making sin readily apparent and recognizable to man was that it literally energized that invisible sin in man, making its effect even more detrimental than it had previously been!
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (passionately intense yearning or longing of the mind). For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. (Romans 7:8-11)
And even in doing this – making sin apparent to man, and by so doing energizing and intensifying its effect in man, that law could not free man from sin’s disastrous effects, because sin is and always has been the result of an invisible spiritual force.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh…. (Romans 8:3a)
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
(Romans 7:16, 17, 21)
And into this morass of human degradation, corruption, decay, desolation and hopelessness came the Christ of God to the rescue – Jesus of Nazareth!
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father! (Galatians 4:4-6)
What the law, which intensified the effects of sin in man in order to make it recognizable to man, could not do for man was save him from sin. What the law did for man was to bring him to a recognition of his need for a savior from that sin.
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Galatians 3:24, 25)
What God did for us, by means of His son, we could not do for ourselves. While living under the same law which intensified the effects of sin in mankind, the Christ fulfilled the law unto the death of the cross, and was then raised from the dead, because death had no right to impose itself on him.
Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be held by it. (Acts 2:24)
And by unjustly imposing death on the Christ, the devil who wielded this power of death was overcome and judged and found guilty of all sin for all time, which he had foisted on mankind since the time in the garden.
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he (Jesus) also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and Deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:14, 15)
Which is how Jesus accomplished for us and in us what the law could never accomplish for us: Reconciliation with God and the eternal life which that relationship restores.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled lin us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. (Romans 8:3, 4)
So why do people hunt for sin – in their own lives and in the lives of others? It’s easy to find, there’s so much of it! And having located it and put a finger on it, are those people any different than what the law was sent to do; that is, make sin more exceedingly sinful? And yet, having made sin more exceedingly sinful, what has that hunter of sin done to help save that person from sin? Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, Cursed is every one who continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith; but, The man who does them shall live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;… (Galatians 3:10-13a)
What deals with our sin, exposing it (yet making it that much more powerful by the exposure) is the law. And the law, by exposing our sin, can never, could never, will never save us from that sin which it exposes. Since it is the faith of Jesus the Christ which saves us from sin when we believe unto him (and not the law which deals with sin), then it is Jesus the Christ toward whom we should be directing our energies, and the energies of those around us (and not laws which deal with sin)!
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, … (I Timothy 1:9a)
Let’s get this straight in our minds and hearts once and for all. Sin is the law’s exclusive domain, and neither sin nor law is any longer a vital factor in the life of a righteous man. It is literally extraneous, unnecessary, immaterial, and in fact is a huge hindrance to the growth and fulfilling life of those whom God has made righteous in and by the life of His Christ. In Christ, the law is beneath our feet, being but an unnecessary relic of the past. As long as sin is the primary focus in our relationship with God, we will not have a loving relationship with God.
For He (God) has made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Corinthians 5:21)
Allow Christ to take the place of sin and the law in your life, and watch your relationship with God become real, energizing, powerfully loving and joyfully rewarding. Take your mind off hunting down sin in your own life, as well as the lives of others, and instead direct your focus on a quest for the discovery of the Christ within, and your life will begin to become what God has always intended; wise, powerful, joyful, peaceful and loving!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
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Related Studies
If you enjoyed how this study challenged your thinking and opened up your understanding of Christ, click on one of the related studies below:
The Law vs. Faith
How God Deals with our Sin
What is Sin, part one
Justified, what it means
Holy and Without BlameDo not preach the Old Testament.
The Gift of God’s RighteousnessHow Do We Get Faith? ….. God GIVES It To Us
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