The Problem: What is Sin

Week 1 Bible Study “What is Sin”

Below is Week 1 developed as a complete congregational teaching lesson, with Romans 3 as the central text and a deliberate bridge into sanctification.

SANCTIFIED: SET APART FOR GOD

Week 1 — The Problem: Sin

Primary Text

Romans 3:9–26

Theme

The Problem: Sin

Verdict

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

— Romans 3:23

Central Truth

Before we can understand sanctification, we must understand what God is sanctifying us from. Sin is humanity's universal problem; Jesus Christ is God's only sufficient solution.

Lesson Objective

By the end of this study, the congregation should be able to:

1. Define sin biblically rather than culturally.

2. Understand why both religious and irreligious people stand guilty before God.

3. Distinguish sinful acts from the deeper condition of the sinful heart.

4. Understand why human goodness, religious activity, and comparison with others cannot justify us.

5. Recognize that conviction of sin is intended to lead us toward repentance, faith in Christ, and ultimately sanctification.

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I. HISTORICAL & CULTURAL BACKGROUND

Author — The Apostle Paul

Paul identifies himself immediately:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.”

— Romans 1:1

Paul was formerly Saul of Tarsus, a highly educated Jew and Pharisee.

Before encountering Christ, Paul actively persecuted Christians.

See Acts 8:1–3 and Acts 9:1–22.

Paul later described his religious credentials in Philippians 3:4–6:

• Circumcised on the eighth day

• Of the people of Israel

• Tribe of Benjamin

• Hebrew of Hebrews

• Pharisee concerning the Law

• Zealous enough to persecute the church

This background is important for Romans 3.

Paul is not attacking religious people from outside.

He had been one of them.

He knew what it meant to possess tremendous religious credentials while still desperately needing Christ.

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II. DATE AND LOCATION

Romans was probably written around AD 56–58, commonly associated with Paul's time in Corinth near the conclusion of his third missionary journey.

Paul had not yet visited the Roman congregation, although he desired to do so.

See Romans 1:10–15 and Romans 15:22–24.

Romans therefore becomes Paul's extensive presentation of the gospel he preached.

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III. TARGET AUDIENCE — JEWS AND GENTILES

Understanding the audience is essential.

The Roman church contained both:

Jewish Christians

and

Gentile Christians.

Each group brought different histories and assumptions into the church.

Jewish believers possessed:

• The Law of Moses

• Circumcision

• The covenants

• The patriarchs

• The prophets

• Israel's history

• Knowledge of the one true God

This could create the temptation to think:

“We are spiritually superior because we possess God's Law.”

Gentile believers came from:

• Greco-Roman culture

• Pagan religious environments

• Idolatrous practices

• Different sexual and moral standards

• No ancestral relationship to the Mosaic covenant

This could create entirely different questions about identity, morality, and belonging.

Paul brings both groups before the same divine standard.

His conclusion is devastating to human pride:

Jew and Gentile alike are all under the power of sin.

— Romans 3:9

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IV. THE CULTURAL SITUATION IN ROME

Emperor Claudius had expelled many Jews from Rome around AD 49.

After Claudius died in AD 54, Jews could return.

This historical circumstance helps us appreciate why Jewish-Gentile relationships were significant within the Roman church.

Imagine returning to a congregation after years away.

Gentile believers continued worshiping and leading.

Jewish believers returned carrying their covenant traditions.

Questions naturally arose:

Who are God's people?

Does possessing the Law make someone righteous?

Does circumcision make someone righteous?

Are Gentile Believers fully accepted?

What makes anyone acceptable before God?

Paul's answer is radical:

Neither Jewish heritage nor Gentile morality can save. Everyone needs Jesus.

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V. THE ROAD TO ROMANS 3

Romans 3 becomes much clearer when we understand Paul's argument from Romans 1.

Paul constructs something resembling a courtroom case.

Romans 1 — The Obvious Sinner

Paul describes humanity suppressing God's truth and exchanging God's glory for idols.

Romans 1:25:

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie…”

The religious person could hear Romans 1 and say:

“Amen, Paul! Tell those sinners!”

But Paul isn't finished.

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Romans 2 — The Religious Sinner

Paul turns toward the person judging everybody else.

Romans 2:1:

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else…”

This changes the atmosphere.

Paul essentially says:

You recognized their sin.

But can you recognize yours?

Religious knowledge does not automatically produce righteousness.

Knowing God's standard and obeying God's standard are not the same thing.

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Romans 3 — The Verdict

Now Paul brings everyone into the courtroom.

The immoral.

The moral.

The pagan.

The religious.

The Jew.

The Gentile.

The educated.

The uneducated.

The church-raised.

The unchurched.

And the verdict is:

“There is no one righteous, not even one.”

— Romans 3:10

Then:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

— Romans 3:23

ALL MEANS ALL.

Nobody stands before God and says:

“I didn't need Jesus as much as they did.”

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VI. WHAT IS SIN?

Before discussing sanctification, the church needs a biblical definition of sin.

Key Greek Word

ἁμαρτία — hamartia

Meaning: sin, wrongdoing, or failure to conform to God's righteous standard.

A useful congregational definition is:

Sin is any thought, attitude, desire, word, action, or failure to act that violates God's character, commands, or revealed will.

Sin therefore involves more than committing an obvious immoral act.

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VII. FOUR DIMENSIONS OF SIN

1. Sin Is Lawlessness

1 John 3:4:

“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”

Sin says:

God has spoken, but I choose another standard.

At its root, sin challenges God's authority.

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2. Sin Includes What We Fail to Do

James 4:17:

“If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.”

This introduces two useful categories.

Sins of Commission

Doing what God forbids.

Examples:

Lying

Stealing

Adultery

Sexual immorality

Hatred

Gossip

Dishonesty

2. Sins of Omission

Failing to do what God requires.

Examples:

Refusing forgiveness

Failing to love our neighbor

Neglecting someone we could help

Failing to obey known truth

Withholding mercy

Failing to use what God entrusted to us

Sometimes the greatest spiritual question is not:

“What did I do?”

but:

“What did God tell me to do that I refused to do?”

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3. Sin Begins in the Heart

Jesus makes this unmistakable in Matthew 5:21–30.

Jesus takes murder deeper than the physical act.

He addresses anger.

Jesus takes adultery deeper than the physical act.

He addresses lust.

Why?

Because God does not merely want behavioral conformity.

God wants the heart.

Proverbs 4:23 teaches:

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”

Behavior is often the fruit.

The heart is the root.

This is why sanctification must reach deeper than behavior modification.

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4. Sin Is Falling Short of God's Glory

Romans 3:23:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

This destroys the comparison game.

We often compare horizontally:

“I'm better than him.”

“I don't do what she does.”

“At least I've never done that.”

But God does not grade righteousness on a curve.

Our neighbor is not the standard.

Our pastor is not the standard.

Our parents are not the standard.

Society is not the standard.

“GOD IS THE STANDARD’

The question is not:

“Am I better than somebody else?”

The question is:

“Have I perfectly reflected the holiness and righteousness of God?”

Romans 3 answers:

No.

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VIII. THE DANGER OF RESPECTABLE SIN

This deserves careful attention in the church.

Some sins produce immediate public shame.

Others can hide beneath religious respectability.

We readily recognize:

• Adultery

• Theft

• Addiction

• Violence

• Sexual immorality

But what about:

• Pride?

• Unforgiveness?

• Gossip?

• Envy?

• Jealousy?

• Bitterness?

• Self-righteousness?

• Greed?

• Partiality?

• Lack of compassion?

• Secret lust?

• Dishonesty?

• Spiritual arrogance?

Jesus frequently confronted religious people precisely because they could recognize sin in others while remaining blind to sin within themselves.

Congregational Question

What sins have we learned to condemn in the world while tolerating them in the church?

Allow this question to sit with the congregation.

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IX. SIN IS NOT MERELY WHAT I DO

This is a critical theological transition.

Our problem is deeper than individual sinful actions.

Romans describe humanity as being under sin.

Romans 3:9:

“…Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin.”

Therefore, humanity does not merely need:

Education.

Better habits.

More discipline.

More religion.

Better intentions.

We need redemption.

If sin were merely bad behavior, we would only need a better rulebook.

But because sin reaches the heart, we need a Savior.

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X. THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN

Romans 6:23:

“For the wages of sin is death…”

Notice Paul's words:

WAGES.

Wages are something earned.

Sin has a payday.

Genesis 2–3 establishes the connection between rebellion and death.

James 1:14–15 describes a progression:

Desire

↓

Temptation

↓

Sin

↓

Death

Sin frequently advertises pleasure while concealing its destination.

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XI. BUT GOD DOES NOT LEAVE US AT VERSE 23

Romans 3:23:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”

If we stop there, we have accurately diagnosed the disease but have not announced the cure.

Continue into Romans 3:24:

“…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

This is the gospel, THAT ALL HAVE SINNED, but God offers justification by grace through Christ.

The movement of the passage is:

GUILT

↓

GRACE

↓

REDEMPTION

↓

JUSTIFICATION

↓

NEW LIFE

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XII. KEY WORD — REDEMPTION

Romans 3:24 speaks of:

ἀπολύτρωσις — apolytrōsis

Redemption, release, liberation accomplished through payment.

Paul points the guilty sinner away from self-rescue and toward Christ.

Jesus did not come merely to make bad people behave better.

He came to redeem sinners.

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XIII. GOD REMAINS JUST WHILE JUSTIFYING SINNERS

Romans 3:25–26 reaches the theological heart of the passage.

Propitiation - the act of appeasing, calming, or gaining the favor of an angry or offended person, spirit, or deity.

God does not simply pretend sin never happened.

The cross demonstrates both:

God's justice and God's mercy.

At the cross:

God does not redefine sin, God does not excuse sin, God deals with sin through Christ.

Therefore, Romans 3:26 describes God as both:

“just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

The cross tells us simultaneously:

Sin is more serious than we imagined, and God's grace is greater than we imagined.

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XIV. WHAT SHOULD CONVICTION PRODUCE?

When God's Word exposes sin, our response should not merely be embarrassment.

Biblical conviction should lead toward:

Recognition / Confession / Repentance / Faith / Obedience / Transformation

This prepares us for sanctification.

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XV. REPENTANCE

Greek: μετάνοια — metanoia

Biblical repentance involves a changed mind and resulting reorientation toward God.

Repentance says:

God is right.

I am wrong.

I will stop defending what God condemns.

I turn from sin and toward God.

Repentance is therefore different from simply feeling sorry about consequences.

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XVI. PASTORAL ILLUSTRATION — THE MIRROR

Imagine getting dressed in a dark room. You think everything looks fine. Then you step into bright light and look into a mirror. Suddenly you see what you couldn't see before.

Did the mirror make you dirty? No.

The mirror revealed what was already there. God's Word functions similarly.

Scripture does not create our sin by identifying it. Scripture exposes what is already present.

James 1:22–25 compares God's Word to a mirror.

The wrong response is:

Look, see, walk away, forget.

The right response is:

Look, see, respond, change.

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XVII. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Understanding

1. How does Romans 1–3 progressively establish humanity's guilt?

2. Why does Paul address both Jewish and Gentile people?

3. What does Romans 3:23 mean by “all”?

4. How does Scripture define sin differently from contemporary culture?

Heart Examination

5. Why is it easier to recognize someone else's sin than our own?

6. What “respectable sins” can become normalized within church culture?

7. Is there a difference between regretting consequences and genuinely repenting?

8. Have we ever compared ourselves to another sinner instead of God's holiness?

Sanctification Connection

9. Why must we understand sin before we understand sanctification?

10. Can we genuinely pursue holiness while continually redefining the sins God is asking us to surrender?

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XVIII. PRACTICAL APPLICATION — THE PERSONAL INVENTORY

Encourage each participant to spend private time with God this week.

Read slowly:

Psalm 139:23–24

“Search me, God, and know my heart…”

Then ask:

HEART

Is there an attitude God is confronting?

Pride?

Bitterness?

Jealousy?

Hatred?

Unforgiveness?

MIND

Is there a pattern of thinking inconsistent with God's Word?

MOUTH

Is my speech glorifying God?

Gossip?

Lying?

Slander?

Harshness?

BODY

Am I honoring God physically and sexually?

RELATIONSHIPS

Is there someone I need to forgive, confront biblically, reconcile with, or ask forgiveness from?

OBEDIENCE

What has God already told me to do that I have refused or delayed doing?

Then pray: “Lord, show me what You see, and give me grace to respond.”

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XIX. THE SANCTIFICATION CONNECTION

Now bring the congregation back to the purpose of the entire series.

Why begin a study about sanctification by spending an entire week discussing sin?

Because:

You cannot understand what it means to be set apart until you understand what God is calling you away from.

Sanctification is not God's cosmetic improvement program.

God is transforming people who were enslaved by sin into people who increasingly reflect His Son.

Romans 8:29 tells us the destination:

Conformed to the image of Christ.

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XX. WEEK 1 SUMMARY

THE PROBLEM

Sin

“All have sinned.”

THE STANDARD

God's holiness

Not society.

Not culture.

Not another Christian.

THE CONSEQUENCE

Death

“The wages of sin is death.”

THE SOLUTION

Jesus Christ

“…justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

THE RESPONSE

Repentance and faith

THE JOURNEY

Sanctification

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CLOSING TEACHING DECLARATION

Sin tells us something is wrong.

The Law shows us we cannot fix it ourselves.

The cross shows us what God has done about it.

Grace invites the sinner to come.

Repentance turns us toward God.

Justification changes our standing before God.

Sanctification begins transforming how we live before God.

Therefore:

The gospel does not say, “Clean yourself up and then come to Jesus.”

The gospel says, “Come to Jesus, and He will forgive, cleanse, redeem, and begin transforming you.”

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CLOSING INVITATION

Before asking:

“Are you becoming sanctified?”

we must first ask:

“Have you been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ?”

Romans 3 leaves no room for spiritual superiority.

The religious person needs Jesus.

The unbeliever needs Jesus.

The moral person needs Jesus.

The broken person needs Jesus.

The pastor needs Jesus.

The person sitting in the pew needs Jesus.

ALL HAVE SINNED.

But the good news is equally powerful:

CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS.

Our sin may explain why we need the gospel, It does not place us beyond the reach of God's grace.

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Bridge to Week 2

Next week we move from the problem to God's solution and our new position:

WEEK 2 — SAVED, JUSTIFIED AND SET APART

Romans 5:1–11 & 1 Corinthians 6:9–11

The question will no longer simply be:

“What is wrong with humanity?”

We will ask:

“What happens to a sinner when that person truly comes to Jesus Christ?”

And Paul's answer will introduce the foundation of sanctification:

“You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

— 1 Corinthians 6:11

Our fundamental problem is sin. Our answer is Jesus Christ.