The Problem of Sin | From The Beginning
by Daniel Burton
At the beginning of time, God created everything and it declared it good, with everything how God intended it to exist. For a brief period of time, mankind lived in paradise, walking with God in intimate relationship and communion with the High King of heaven. Then, through the introduction of sin, the paradise created for the glory of God and the enjoyment of mankind became tainted by the corruptions of sin. We live in this world, where the effects of sin affect our daily life. To understand the problem of sin, we must go back to the beginning, to the moment where man introduced sin to the perfect paradise of creation. God had set mankind free in the garden of Eden to enjoy and gave one restriction; one tree they cannot eat its fruit. The serpent deceived Adam and Eve, enticing them to doubt the goodness and righteousness of God by eating the forbidden fruit. In that moment, Adam and Eve chose the promise that they would die for their actions, rather than enjoy the paradise God prepared for them. The sin of Adam is the sin of mankind who routinely chooses in false god’s and false promises. Yet, despite sin, God gives hope to mankind despite the rebellion of standing against God.
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
The Consequences of Sin
From mankind’s beginning, the consequences of rebellion were made abundantly clear. All rebellion against the Sovereign King must be punished justly. As the Father created life, any rebellion must be treated as a threat on the existence of life. Thus, as Adam rebelled against God, the consequence to uphold justice is death. God told the truth to Adam and Eve in saying “‘Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17, ESV) Furthermore, this sentiment is continued in the New Testament in Paul’s letter to the Romans “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, ESV) The cost of sin is death. Furthermore, the sin of Adam is our sin as well. We are born into the system of unholiness and decay. None of us are righteous on our own. All of us are sinful. None of us have done better and each of us rebel against God, the ruling King over all creation.
One of the major oppositions to Christianity comes from an objection to the harshness of the consequences. “Couldn’t God just permit everyone to live in Heaven despite their faith, actions? Surely God is unjust by condemning people to hell while having the ability to save them.” When everyone is guilty of the most heinous of crimes against the eternal and everlasting King, God cannot be unjust and the consequences of our sin have been made clear since the beginning of time. When we choose sin, we choose rebellion against the God who is seated on the throne who sought only to bless and protect us in the perfection of His creation. God did not arbitrarily remove Adam and Eve from His presence, we chose to remove ourselves from God’s presence. We are guilty. We left God and yet, amidst our guilt, The Father sent Jesus Christ to save the guilty by and through His grace. Death may have reigned through Adam but life reigns victorious in Jesus Christ.
The Proto-Evangelium
The life victorious in Jesus Christ has always been the plan from the beginning. As God is pronouncing the punishments and consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin, the serpent does not go unpunished either. Genesis 3:15 is referred to as the Proto-Evangelium, or the first pronouncement of the Gospel. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”(Genesis 3:15, ESV) God pronounces judgment on the serpent and tempted first, before Eve and before Adam. The serpent in this represents the devil who is seeking to destroy the people of God, hence the enmity between the serpent and the woman. While the enemy may strike at the Savior, ultimately the head of the serpent will be crushed. In seeking to destroy the Savior, the devil will be destroyed himself.
Our sin will often feel as if we have been conquered. We continually struggle through the same sins and same temptations. We can easily spiral deep into hopelessness and depression thinking we will never be free from our sin. In these moments, remember that, even while we may sin, Christ already has declared victory over the serpent, over temptation, and over death. There may be a time when we feel the enemy has won. Even the enemy will feel they are victorious as we cave in to temptation time and time again. But the judgment against the devil is already promised. While the serpent will strike the heel of God, that same heel will crush the enemy’s skull. Christ sets us free from the grasp of sin and frees us to pursue a relationship with our Heavenly Father by defeating Satan and the temptation of sin. Just as Christ was slain before the foundations of the world, so too the devil has been defeated long before any temptation strikes us. The proto-evangelium stands in contrast to the first sin and gives us a hope and future that we might can received life in Jesus Christ.
For more in this series, check out The Problem of Sin
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[…] or bypass any mention of sin, allowing people to continue in their sin. As we discussed in our previous post, the sin separated us from the fullness of God’s presence and made us deserving of death and […]