Sin and Its Consequences

The boundary between right and wrong, between that which is permitted and that which is forbidden, has dimmed to a great extent in the way people commonly think about matters today. At the same time, people’s morals have become relative. Many are of the opinion that sin no longer has significance for modern man.

The question regarding sin and release from its guilt, however, is at the same time the most painful problem of life for many people. Sin closely connects with the concept of man and his salvation.

The Perfection of Life Was Broken
According to Scripture, God created man in His own image. He gave a mind, will, and conscience to man. Man received everything from God and lived in unity with Him. Everywhere there was perfection, harmony: everything was good (Gen. 1:27, 31.) Man had three basic relationships: a relationship with God, a relationship with other people and a relationship with nature.
Man’s committed sin broke the harmony. In the fall into sin he became attracted to evil, he wanted to become as God and thus broke God’s will. When he consented to commit sin, man did not care about what God had said. The image of God in man was corrupted and he lost the peace of conscience. He lost his righteousness, his free will, and immortality.

Accusations and distrust arose in the relationship between Adam and his spouse. The ground became cursed: Creation groans in pain (Rom. 8:19–22). The “law of sweat” descended upon man’s being, the sweat and furrows of the brow (Gen. 3:17–19, 24).

To correct the destruction brought about by the fall into sin God gave the promise of the seed of the woman, which would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Christ would crush the power of the opponent of God by His remission work. Man is responsible to God and other people for his acts even after the fall into sin.

Original Sin and Actual Sin

The fall into sin brought original sin into the lives of people. Everyone bears the heavy inheritance of the fall. According to the teaching by Paul, “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:12). Sin is followed also by guilt, “All the world may become guilty before God” (Rom. 3: 19).

Original sin is not counted as perdition for a child. He has received by faith the righteousness of life as a gift through the righteousness of Christ (Rom. 5:12, 18, 19). A child is righteous by faith because of the merits of Christ. Luther has written: “Original sin has been removed through Christ and will not condemn anyone after the coming of Christ, except him who does not want to believe.”

The inborn corruption in our beings continually tries to present itself in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our sinfulness brings about individual sinful deeds, actual sins. Man, by nature, is not good. After the fall into sin, he could not and cannot be without committing sin (1 John 1: 8, 10). Evil lust ignites like fire (Finnish Bible‐Ecclus. 9: 10). Lust tempts and seduces a person into sin, to fulfill his corrupt nature, his being defiled by sin (Matt. 5: 28; James 1: 14, 15; 2 Pet. 2: 14).

WHAT IS SIN?

As an answer to the question, what is sin? We usually receive a list of individual acts: murder, theft, lying, adultery, etc. In confirmation class, one hears that young people think that sin is primarily the breaking of God’s commandments. Repeatedly, the thought is connected with the concept, “If I can live without breaking the Ten Commandment Law, I will be acceptable before God and will be able to enter heaven.” This mode of thought is not the understanding of just a few young people.

Sin is always sin before God (coram Deo, Luther; Ps. 51: 6) and affects the entire personhood of man. Man loves himself and the world, and hates and opposes God and His will. Sin is the denial of the basic relationship of our life, the breaking of the first commandment. “We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.”

Temporal and Eternal Consequences

All mankind have encountered sin and its consequences. Sin corrupts a person’s relationship with God: Sin separates man from God.
Sin takes a person into immense debt and subjects him to condemnation (Matt. 18:23–32). A person must one day account for what he has done. The history of sin will then come to its conclusion.
Sin is able to deeply corrupt a person’s own life and the life of his close ones. Sin brings misfortune into the lives of individuals, into homes, nations and all of mankind.

As a consequence and punishment for sin, death came to the God‐created earth. We speak about three kinds of death: spiritual, physical, and eternal. According to the Old Catechism, spiritual death is the separation of a person from God, physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body, and eternal death is the person’s eternal separation from God (Christian Doctrine 1923, 23).

Sins Are Forgiven

The message of God’s kingdom is, “The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1: 15). The message is to call people to repentance, to conversion from sin. Man is unveiled as a sinner when he must account for himself, face to face with the holy will of God. Man becomes conscious of sin through the Law (Rom. 3:20). Standing before the sanctity of God, it is revealed, “I am a sinful person” (Luke 5:8; Isa. 6:5).

1 Corinthians 15:57, NLT But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Questions

How can one be both righteous and a sinner at the same time?