IS SIN MERELY BREAKING A COMMAND?

Gen 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die."

How would you define sin? Adam sinned by breaking a command – one he had received directly from God. Accordingly, many people define sin as a violation of a known command of God. It is that, but it is also more. Paul stated that all people sin, and that some people sinned without ever breaking any command (Romans 3:23, 5:14). In like manner, John wrote "sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). The word, anomia, which is translated "lawlessness" simply indicates the condition of being "without law". This "being-without-law" condition can exist because a person is ignorant of the law, or because he is violating it, either in ignorance or with knowledge. If he is violating a law that he knows about, he is by his actions showing contempt for the lawgiver and disregard for his law. And he is setting himself up in place of God as the only legitimate lawgiver, whether he violates a law in ignorance or in knowledge. Because he knew God's law, Adam's sin was that he violated it purposefully and knowingly. In so doing he showed utter contempt for God and His Word, and he set himself up as the only legitimate lawgiver. It was Adam's attitude of contempt for the lawgiver and disregard for his law that produced the first sin. Whatever his intentions, his actions showed that he doubted God's right to be the lawgiver, and he (Adam) wanted to be the lawgiver in God's place. In short, Adam wanted to be "as God".

So what is sin? Sin is the heart-attitude of contempt of God and disregard of His law that makes us want to be a law unto ourselves. Thank God we have been delivered from this! Writing to Titus, Paul states that Jesus Christ "gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" (2:14).

-Chuck-