davidbowerkingwood

A Unique Question of Profound Importance!

For many years now, I have taught individuals and classes, but never, over all those years of teaching, has a student asked the question cited below until now:

“My question though is, when the bible mentions that Christ is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is the sin that is referred to the same sin we commit as flesh or is there a special sin committed by the world as a whole?”

Yes, there is a special sin committed by the world as a whole, the disobedience of one man, Adam. God’s solution to the problem created by Adam was to provide a deliverer in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As the unique God/man, he was able to die for the sins of the entire world and offer deliverance from the coming judgment to all who will simply receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

I responded with the following:

“Congratulations, you are the very first one to ask that important question!

The Bible explains the answer to your question in Romans 5: 12-19 where it is written:

“12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

All mankind sinned when Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden; we all died spiritually in Adam there in the Garden of Eden; each of us are born spiritually dead. Our personal sins are just a symptom of the greater problem, our dead spirit.

For Christians, when we received Jesus Christ as our Savior, God, the Holy Spirit resurrected our dead spirits and brought them back to life. In addition, God, the Holy Spirit came into each new Christian to live forever; as Christians, we are eternally indwelt by God and an inseparable part of his family.

Sadly, the sin nature, the old man we inherited from Adam is still in us but has been considered crucified with Christ; we are no longer under any obligation to serve it and can now serve God. These principles are taught in Romans chapters 5-8 and are of critical importance to understanding what it really means to be a Christian.

Since our sin nature is still in us, it can present problems from time to time. In 1 John 1: 8-10 we find God’s answer to that problem.

“8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Please notice it says God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness when we confess our known sins to him! The power of God, the Holy Spirit is restored in our lives when we confess our sins to God!”

Getting it Right

The subject of mankind’s sin problem is all too often misunderstood by the Christian community. While we are all too aware of our many failures regarding personal sin, our personal sins are nothing more than a symptom of the real problem.

The real problem is we were all born spiritually dead with a living sin nature (our old man) we inherited from Adam! When we receive Jesus Christ as Savior, our dead spirits are brought back to life, we are indwelt by God, the Holy Spirit, but our sin natures remain within us as well. This is discussed in some detail in Romans 6, in verses:6-14 it is written:

“6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Paul’s reference to “our old man” is a reference to the sin nature we inherited from Adam. Our old man/sin nature, is counted as crucified with Christ so we are no longer under any obligation to serve it.

Resolving the Sin Problem

Unconfessed sin in our lives permits our old man/sin nature, to influence our actions; confession of our sins to God, quenches the power of the old man/sin nature and restores the power of the Holy Spirit. This is explained, in part, in 1 John 1:8-10 where it is written:

“⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

With the Holy Spirit in control of our lives, we can demonstrate the “fruit of the Spirit” in our lives:

“²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Galatians 5:22-26

At the time of the First Advent, the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with mankind’s sin problem by dying on the cross and rising again on the third day. I have written more on this in “Is There One Unforgivable Sin?” Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world and there remains only one unforgivable sin, rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior!

By God’s grace, Christians are now able to live a Christ-honoring life by confession of sin and letting the Holy Spirit retain control in our lives!