The Problem: The Need for a Savior
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The Origin of Sin
The Origin of Sin
Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
While Genesis 3 informs us as to how the fall happens, it seems to center more on the nature of the serpent’s temptation than it does sin. What we do know, especially when coupled with Romans 5, is that all of mankind, and creation as a whole was plunged into a broken existence from this point forward. Now, there ARE a couple of questions I want you to consider this morning:
At least at this point, did Satan win? After all, the sum of creation with the man being made in God’s image is that it is “very good.” Did Satan thwart God’s good world and plan? My answer to that question is, “No.”
Mt.25:34
Rev.13:8; 17:8
John 17:24
Eph.1:4
1 Pet.1:19-20
If it was indeed God’s plan for Jesus to die, even before the earth was formed, then…why? I think part of that answer lies in Paul’s discussion of grace in Ephesians, particularly Eph.2:7. God’s grace is extended and magnified (and it’s questionable whether we would even know it or not) through Jesus Christ, and it’s been His plan to put this grace on display…to “display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus” through our salvation from before the foundation of the world. It’s not plan B…it’s been His purpose all along.
The Essence of Sin
The Essence of Sin
First, it includes external acts and internal attitudes:
Do not commit adultery.
Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Second, there are sins of omission and commission:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should have been done without neglecting the others.
Third, motivation matters:
So whenever you give to the poor, don’t sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
Finally, sin is a state in which we live, slaves to sin our master:
Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin.
Lastly, consider the three most prominent terms for sin in Scripture, all of which are listed in Ex.34:6-7 “The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” Interestingly enough, though my Hebrew is quite shaky, none of these terms appear in the record of the Fall. However, the idea is clearly there.
Sin. The Hebrew word is chata and the Greek word is hamartia. The idea is to miss the mark. Both the Hebrew and the Greek word carry this sense.
There are at least two reasons we miss the mark:
Sometimes we miss the mark even when we try because of the power of sin and the weakness of our flesh. (Mt.26:41, Rom.7:17-18)
However, we typically miss because we simply are not aiming at the mark, rejecting God’s will and purpose and choosing our own desire.
The basic problem with a lost person is not that they want to obey God’s law and can’t; it’s that they cannot obey His law because they do not want to (Rom.3:9-12; 8:7).
The MARK is obedience to the command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and Adam and Eve miss the mark.
Iniquity. The Hebrew word is avon or aval and the Greek word is adikia, meaning “act and consequence.”
The Hebrew words are essentially two form of the same word and refer to something that is twisted or disfigured, deviating from what is straight and true.
The Greek word is taken from the courtroom and is the opposite of righteousness, lacking justice.
So, how do these two terms relate? The communicate the idea of twisting and deviating from God’s standard and subsequently becoming guilty.
Certainly Satan’s twists the command of God, causing Eve to doubt (“Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” Gen.3:1). Further, Eve seems to miss God’s standard — Gen.3:2, “You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.” She misses God’s freedom — Gen.2:16, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden...” and doubts the seriousness of the consequence for breaking God’s command — God says they will “certainly die” while Eve only mentions “you will die.”)
Transgression. The Hebrew word is pasha and the Greek is parabasis, carrying the idea of crossing a forbidden line.
Some scholars believe this to actually be the strongest OT word for sin, expressing the idea not just of crossing a line, but of betrayal and rebellion by breaking a pact. It is therefore the idea of breaking trust and relationship.
“God is described as a covenant-keeping God, whose ‘steadfast love’ (chesed) endures forever, but we are a covenant-breaking people.” Adding further weight here, to commit transgression is to act contrary to God and His character.
Though the word is not there, the idea is certainly there when Adam and Eve cross the forbidden line and break God’s command concerning eating of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen.2:17).
Sin is failure to live according to God’s will and purpose. It is failing to rightly bear His image in the world, and to prefer lesser gods to the One True God. So, the most comprehensive idea of sin might just be idolatry, allowing anything other than God to reign in our lives. The mark we miss is the mark of God’s will, a reflection of who He is. The crookedness we see as iniquity is crooked because it misses God’s perfect plumb line, which is straight and true. And finally, the pact we break is our relationship with YHWH God. Every instance of sin traces back to God and our failure to submit to God as LORD of our lives. Even acts of righteousness, if not done from a motivation to honor God, is sin. If we do what is right, even without pride or selfishness, but in the process it supplants God’s place in our life, it is sin. Doing what is right because it is right, and not because we love God, is to actually serve the law of God rather than the Giver of the Law.
The Result of Sin
The Result of Sin
First, there is separation from God.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
And he said, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
For the first time, man’s fellowship with God is broken, and in shame and fear, they hide. Later, in Gen.3:23-24 “So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life,” this exile from the presence of God is further underscored when they are driven from the garden and east. It’s not uncommon for the idea of being driven east to be synonymous with being driven from God’s blessing.
Second, judgment comes.
Note the following verses in Gen.3:16-19
He said to the woman:
I will intensify your labor pains;
you will bear children with painful effort.
Your desire will be for your husband,
yet he will rule over you.
And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:
The ground is cursed because of you.
You will eat from it by means of painful labor
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.”
This last part of verse 19 is reiterated a different way by Paul in Rom.6:23a “For the wages of sin is death...”
You might at this point be thinking, “Not a very joyful and hopeful beginning to advent.” And, you’d be right. By the backdrop of darkness is necessary if we are going to truly marvel at first the single shard of hope shining through the halls of eternity. It lies in Gen.3:15, a verse you’ve heard me mention before, and it’s foreshadowed in Gen.3:20-21 “The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.” The last result of sin is that man isn’t left with a hopeless existence because God promises to do something about. If you find yourself entangled in the impossible-to-overcome throes of sin this morning, here’s is the glorious news we will flesh out during the holiday season: a rescuer is promised, and our promise-keeping God stays true to His word. The Son of the woman has indeed come to provide a covering for our sin, and through faith in Him, we joyfully proclaim the latter part of Rom.6:23b “...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
