Sin - the human disease

A summary of the Bible Hour presentation at the Christadelphian Hall, Blackpool Street, Burton-upon-Trent on Sunday 7th March 2010.

This blog uses Bible references. If you don’t have a Bible, you can find the Bible text online.


What is sin?
If you go back to the original languages in which the Bible was written you’ll see that ‘sin’ literally means ‘missing the mark’. Imagine you’re an archer doing target practice. You aim for the bullseye, but you miss. So when you know what you should do but you fail to do it, or when you know you shouldn’t do something but you go ahead and do it anyway – that’s ‘sin’.

The first sin was when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6). (Incidentally if you compare this verse with 1 John 2:16 you get a comprehensive summary of sin.) Sin happens when we fail to resist temptation. (The process is described in detail in James 1:12-15.)

We’re living under the curse that Adam and Eve brought on the world. We are all prone to sin and we all sin.

Where does sin come from?
Within us. No one is responsible for our sins except ourselves – Jeremiah 17:9, Matthew 15:19-20.


The effect of sin
Death. James 1:15.

How depressing is this!

The battle against sin
The Bible contains inspiring accounts of the lives of great and faithful people, who devoted their lives to God’s service. But all of them, somehow and at some time, ‘missed the mark’. Except one …

Jesus Christ was the one human who has never sinned (Hebrews 4:15). By his death he defeated the curse that Adam and Eve brought upon humankind; and if we belong to him, we can share in his victory (Romans 8:1-4).

Christians are not perfect. We still miss the mark a lot of the time, however hard we try (e.g. Romans 7:23). But we have confidence that if we belong to Christ, any and all of our sins will be forgiven – all we have to do is genuinely ‘repent’ (say we’re sorry and mean it).

Where will it end?
Romans chapter 6 is all about baptism. This is how we come to belong to Christ. Verse 23: “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”