The Problem: Sin

KEY VERSE: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” —Romans 3:23

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 2:9-13; Romans 1:18,28-32; 2:1,11

WHEN the Lord created Adam in the Garden of Eden he was in the mental and moral image of God. He had the ability to obey God’s perfect law. But when he was put to the test, he failed and the penalty for disobedience and sin was passed upon him: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19) The Apostle Paul in I Timothy 2:14, tells us, “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Therefore Adam’s sin was a willful sin and he received a just sentence. The world of mankind is affected by this sentence because Adam is the father of the human race and, therefore, his offspring inherited this sentence of death. The Apostle Paul, in Romans 5:12-14 states, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. … Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” So, as a result of Adam’s transgression, the entire human race is under the sentence of death—the penalty for sin.

In due time, through Moses, the Lord established the Law Covenant with the nation of Israel. One of the purposes of the Law given to Israel was to illustrate how impossible it is for the fallen human race to keep the high standards of God’s perfect law. When Moses went up into the Mount to receive the terms of the Law (Exod. 19), they were written for him on tables of stone. The promise to the nation of Israel if they would keep its terms was, “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Exod. 19:5,6) In addition, the Lord promised that anyone who could keep the Law perfectly would demonstrate his perfection, and thus being perfect he would no longer be under Adamic condemnation and would have earned everlasting life. The promise reads, “Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.”—Lev. 18:4,5

But no one has been able to keep God’s law perfectly except Jesus. The Apostle Paul expresses the matter this way, “Now we know that what things soever the Law saith, it saith to them who are under the Law [that is, the Jews]: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:19,20) Because Jesus was perfect (and this he demonstrated by keeping God’s perfect law), the Lord designed in his great plan of redemption to have the perfect man Jesus take Adam’s place in death (for Adam was perfect before he sinned), and thus Jesus provided a ransom for Adam and all who were condemned in him.

The Apostle Paul states the matter this way, “Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience [the] many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall [the] many be made righteous.”—Rom. 5:18,19

The world has not benefited from the sacrifice of Jesus as yet because it is not the Lord’s due time. In I Timothy 2:3-6 we read, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” The Lord’s due time will be the kingdom after the way has been prepared for its establishment.

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