Keach's Catechism notes

Question 16

Gen 3:6-8, 12-13

What is sin?

Sin is the act or state of unbelief, and an assertion of autonomy

It’s doing what God has said not to do and not doing what God has said to do (sin of commission and omission), Rom 7:19

We are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we’re sinners

Adam and Eve, when confronted by God, showed their allegiance to Satan by distorting the truth and passing blame on each other and even God!

True religion is being in communion with God based on trust

Genuine trust bears fruit in obedience (Jn 14:15)

Ecc 7:29

God knows all things because He planned on things

No one knows everything He has planned so what do they do?

Man tries to devise their own schemes

Trying to go their own way is sinful in itself

Man also lacks true uprightness, true righteousness, and true wisdom, and fail to please God

God is the only author of all things “good”

God is the only source of all true uprightness, all true righteousness, and all true wisdom

Only God can please Himself. Nothing solely from man can do it.

Question 17

1 Jn 3:4

The moral law, summed up in the law of love, is the norm for God’s people

Matt 22:38-40

To make a “practice” of sin is to make sin a habitual practice

“Lawlessness” here means more than just simply sinning. It means the ultimate sense of rebellion, i.e., living as if there is no law or ignoring what laws exist

If you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, its a sin (Jas 4:17)

Sin of Omission leads to Sins of Commission

Genuine Christians still sin (1 Jn 1:8) and need to confess it (1 Jn 1:9, 2:1)

Genuine Christians will continually confess their sins to God

This is not works but a byproduct of true faith

When we’re “born of God”, we have a built in check or guard against habitual sin as a result of being of “new nature” (2 Cor 5:17, Rom 6:12)

Genuine Christians LOVE God’s law

Ps 119:34 - “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.”

v.77 - “Your law is my delight”

v.97 - “Oh, how I love your law!”

Rom 7:22 - “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being”

Sin is transgressing God’s law and also being in the state of being sinful