THE ORIGIN AND CONCEPT OF SIN

It is a common saying among the Christians that they aren’t sinners, but it seems most of them have no idea what they proclaim and I only got to know this when I wrote about sex, saying it is not a sin regardless of where and how is being practiced. Most of the so-called Christians, who often brag they are not sinners found it hard to agree with me, they accused me of being heretic and some even said I am a false prophet. Their accusations only got me wondering if they really understand what sin is. If they say they aren’t sinners and call sex a sin except with a married partner, yet most of them have sex before and outside marriage and say they are not sinners, it means they have no idea what sin is and what it is not. This inspired me to make my research on what sin is and what it is not.

What is sin?

According to English dictionary, sin is a violation of God’s will or religious law.

That is the most precise definition of sin. Sin is primarily against God, thus anything considered to be sin must be a violation of God’s will.

You can offend a person, it is not a sin; such offence can only be called sin if they violate God’s will. Talking about religious laws, violating them is a sin if it violates the Will of the deity to which the religion was created.

Among all the history books on how God related with human beings, none gives a clearer clue as regard the origin of sin like the Bible and the Quran. These two books have similar view as regard how sin came into existence.

How did sin come alive?

The two history books: the Bible and the Quran contains the story of how God related with mankind and both made us know that sin came into existence as a result of violation of the will of God by the first couple on earth.

They were said to have eaten from the fruit God forbade them from eating.  “…But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2: 17)

God warned Adam and Eve against eating a certain fruit in the Garden of Eden, they disobeyed and with that, sin came into existence. This goes a long way to proof that sin is can only be committed against God and any act tagged sin that is not against God is not sin.

Who created sin?

There have been debates over who created sin, most religious people say it is the devil, few say its mankind and others, most of who are atheists says it is God. Looking at Isaiah 45: 7 of the Bible where God was said to made this statement to prophet Isaiah, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” we can hardly argue that those who believe God created sin are wrong. However, the religious ones, who always defend God, will never agree to that. It could have been said to be a slip of tongue, but even though God made evil, he is most unlikely to make mistakes, so how do the religious ones defend this?

Sin was not created by God, however, it could be said that Satan had hand in how it came into existence. Looking at the event that gave birth to sin in Genesis chapter 2 of the Bible, we would see it was nobody’s creation, it was just as a result of causality; the causation that bought about sin was between God, Mankind and Satan. If God hadn’t planted the fruit in Eden and instructed man against eating it, Satan wouldn’t have deceived Mankind against God and Mankind would not have gone against God’s instruction which is now called sin.

Who is to blame for the existence of sin?

Satan could have taken the whole responsibility for it, but mankind shared the blame since he already possessed freewill prior to listening to Satan against God thus, even though Satan is to be punished for causing mankind to sin, mankind too is to blame and that’s why he had to die as a result of the sin he had committed. This death is spiritual death, not physical and it means to be away from God. God demonstrated it when he chased them out of Eden.

“And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:” -(Genesis 3: 22 KJV)

chasing man out of the garden of Eden where the fruit of live is means, they are now spiritually dead and will not live eternity with God by having access to the tree of life thus, Paul was right to tell the Romans that the wages of sin is death.

God define sin based on different covenants he gave and they all represent his will at times given; something can only be a sin if it violates the covenant in vogue between God and Mankind. God gave different covenants at different eras and whatsoever is called sin in each era must be a violation of God’s covenant which represents his will in that era. I analyzed these eras based the prominent men through whom God related to mankind and those he told his plans and defined generations from them.

In order of reference, we have Adam’s Era, Noah’s Era, Abraham’s Era, Moses’ Era, The Prophets’ Era, Jesus Christ’s Era and After the death of Jesus Christ (A.D).

Sin in Adam’s Era

In this era, the only sin was disobedience to God’s direct instruction not to eat a certain fruit in the garden which represented his Will. The killing of Abel by Cane was an offence to Abel, but God had to defend Abel simply because he truly honored God with his offering and does not deserve such fate, it wasn’t a direct offence to God which is called sin.

After mankind committed sin by violating the first Will of God and was chased out of Eden where he could have access to life, God’s love for his creation still made him to give them lifelines. At first, God allowed them to do how they feel, in those times, he only wanted them to feel the remorse for their sins and come back to him by offering sacrifices to reverend him as Abel first did, but they lived freely without caring about God.

Sin Noah’s Era

God was not happy that mankind no longer care about him so he gave another covenant through Noah telling him to build an ark for there comes a rain, that looked the simplest of all covenants which means, anyone that enters the ark is save and no longer considered sinner, but whosoever will not do so will perish in the rain and be wiped out from the face of the earth and forever as they have inherited it from their forefather, Adam, who with Eve, violated the first Will of God. Only Noah’s family listened to God and they were the only one saved with a pair (male and female) of every animal each. From this family arose a prominent man called Abram who later became Abraham, during his time, there was no covenant between God and Man, aside from the preexisting one with Noah. Sin In this time is not recognizing God (idolatry), not doing what he says and not making sacrifices to reverend him just like Abel did.

Sin in Abraham’s Era

During the days of Abraham, who we now know as the father of faith, God acted on the preexisting covenant which he made with Noah, the only sin then was idolatry (worshiping other gods and not believing in God.) You have to show your act of worship and dedication by believing God and offering sacrifice to him, an act that was first performed by Cane and Abel, the sons of Adam. It was this act that separated Abraham and made him a righteous man among many that lived in his time. He worshipped and listened to God and was willing to do all he said, that was the only requirement for righteousness as of then and not doing so was the only sin that existed.  About Abraham it was written, “And he believed in the lord and he (God) accounted it to him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15: 6).

People believe destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was because they practiced homosexuality, but that’s not true. That was not their sin at all, but it was a major thing they were doing that took their attention away from God. Not believing in God was their major sin and since none of them recognized and worshiped God, all of them didn’t meet the prerequisite for righteousness and had to be destroyed (read Genesis 18 to confirm it.) In that same era, Abraham killed (Genesis 14:15) and committed adultery with his maid(Genesis 16: 1-5), but God still called him righteous man and blessed him, Job’s friends accused him of defrauding the poor (Job 20: 19), but God still called him the most righteous man on earth (Job 1: 8) If you look at these two persons, you will see a similarity: they both reverend and fear God when it seemed no one was doing so and that’s what earned them righteousness regardless of what they did wrong.

Sin in Moses Era

Hundreds of years after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the death of Abraham, God raised mankind again though Abraham’s son Isaac, He chose Jacob, the second of Isaac’s two sons and made a nation out of him. This nation he called his and they were to show the whole world who God is. He demonstrate his powers to them in order to have them reverend and recognize him as their God, but Israel too turned to worship other gods on several occasions. God did not wipe them all out has he has been doing before; instead, it got to a point that he gave them commandments and Law through their leader, Moses in order to put them in check.

The first of these entire commandments as documented in Exodus 20: 3 states thus, “thou shalt not have no other gods before me”. Take note of that.

God gave the law through Moses and allowed him to make his. Moses was a descendant of Levi, the first born of Israel from whom God chose priests to perform ceremonial in the temples on behalf of the people. Breaking the Law is sin as of that time. However, they were given the chance to live after committing sin by atoning for their sin with sacrifices and some attracted death penalty with no chance of repentance.

God was angry with humanity in those times, he related to them as God. They had no other option than to live in fear of him thus, Solomon, the then wisest man on earth was right to have said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Sin in this era was simply breaking the Law.

After Moses’ disappearance, Joshua took over and led the Israelites to promise land, but the covenant between God and man remained the same.

Sin in the Prophets’ Era

After Joshua, God raised judges, temporary military leaders like, Deborah, Gideon and Samson. The people called for a king and Saul, David, Solomon and other ruled, the people rebelled against God, and He wasn’t happy with it so even while the kings rained and the priests still performed ceremonial duty, God raised prophets like, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah; Micah, Jeremiah to warn the people against rebellion against him and prophesy the future. The prophets and the kings were to bring orderliness and justice to the land and make the people return to God after several exiles away from him. They were to reveal God’s perfect plan for humanity which is the coming of Jesus Christ. Sin in this era was simply breaking the Law, the king had the right to punish offenders while the prophets reveals the mind of God and plans to the people.

Sin in Jesus Christ’s Era

After the prophet’s era, God was silent for 400 years, no prophets and no Angel visitations until it was very close to the birth of Jesus Christ. During those 33½ Jesus spent on earth, the covenant between God and man remain as it was from the time of Moses; Fulfillment of the Law. In the last 3½ years of Jesus Christ’s ministry, God didn’t also speak to any prophet as Jesus was to prepare the people for the New Covenant as prophesized by the prophets. He had to make them understand the severity of the laws in order for them to appreciate his sacrifice. Check out his words here.

“ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Read Matthew 5.

By saying those words,  Jesus seem to be trying to judge them based on the Law and didn’t depict fulfillment of it on their behalf , but he was only trying to let them know the severity of the law that they didn’t seem to take note of, he was trying to let them know that the law doesn’t cover all their sins in order to make them appreciate and accept  his sacrifice which fulfils all the commandments, law and all the prophets had said on their behalf . He said, ‘For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven,” by saying this, Jesus was telling them about the covenant to be established which is not by self-righteousness as the scribes and Pharisees brags and are right about, but for their righteousness to be more than theirs, they only have to take the new will of God which is based on believe in Jesus Christ.

Sin after the death of Jesus Christ (A.D)

Before Jesus died on the cross, he said, “it is finished” (John 19: 30) and immediately after his death, the veil in the temple where the high priests consult with God on behalf of the people torn apart (read Matthew 27: 46-51). This simply means end of the law and prophets and free access to God though Jesus Christ.

With that, a New Covenant was established. While preparing people for this covenant, Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. On these two commands hang all the law and prophets.” – (Matthew 22:37- 40) Doing these is not the main will of God, but they are what it entails. Accepting Jesus Christ alone is the new will of God, not doing so is the only sin that exist now.

Who is a sinner?

We define sin by peoples’ wrong doings, but those are not what make a sinner. A prostitute that believes in Jesus Christ as Lord is seen as a saint to God regardless of her profession, but an Imam or Pastor who does good all his life, helping others and always proclaiming his love for God and refuse to believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God and his Lord, is a sinner to God.

Sin is violating the Will of God, thus whosoever does not believe Jesus as his Lord and saviour, which is the Will of God in vogue, is a sinner, regardless of what he thinks he’s doing right. 

Read the words of Jesus Christ here,

“But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me whither goest thou? But because I have saith these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient that I go away: for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you but if I depart, I will send him unto you and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me;” (John 16:5-9 KJV)

Jesus was talking about the Holy Ghost that will come upon whoever believes in him. He said, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: but made it clear why they were reproved,  he continued, “of sin, because they believe not on me;” this simply means, all their (people who don’t believe in Jesus Christ) deeds, regardless of how excellent are reproved and they are sinners, not because they are the worst, but because they do not believe in Jesus Christ.

Jesus didn’t say anything different to Nicodemus when he came to visit him at night, here is the highlight of his response as regard how he could be saved, “For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([d]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.” (John 3:16 AMP) the major word here, that remains unchanged in all the versions of the bible is “believe”. John  also confirmed it, “But as many as received him ,to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:(John 1:12 KJV).

Is it enough to believe in Jesus Christ?

JUST DO IT FIRST!

Most Christians will never agree to this, but that is the first and the necessary thing to do. It is in confirmation of this that Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6: 33) believing in Jesus as your Lord and saviour is seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things includes, how to behave as God desires, riches and comfort, all of which you can choose to take or ignore as the Holy Ghost that comes upon you immediately you declare Jesus as your Lord dictates them to you.

John reemphasize on it when he was baptizing people, about Jesus Christ he said, “he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not on the son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

He didn’t say he that kill or commit adultery shall not see life, It’s simply about “believe” in Jesus Christ thus, a sinner is in this era is not one who is not a Christian, it is never about religion; a sinner is one who violates the will of God by not believing in Jesus Christ as the son of God and his/her Lord.

When the earthly parents and family of Jesus were looking for him and found him in the synagogue, they told him about it, here is what he said, “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, my sister, and my mother” (Matthew 12: 50) Take not that it is “will” not “wills” and this will is to believe in him.

Now you know what sin is and who a sinner is, will you like to remain a sinner if you are one?

If not say this out loud and mean it. It might make you look stupid but you will forever be grateful you did it.

“LORD JESUS CHRIST, I BELIEVE IN YOU AS MY LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOUR WHO DIED FOR MY SINS, COME INTO MY LIFE TODAY”.

It is not about any religion; it is about you doing what your creator wants.

In order to grow in knowledge, I will recommend a book called Bible to you, read the stories therein and have the Holy Ghost which you have just receive by declaring that lead you through. It is not a Christian book, it is a book containing the most accurate documentation of how God related with mankind. If you need more understanding as regard anything you have read, contact the number below. Thanks and stay blessed.