sin tagged posts

The line in the sand was drawn “in the beginning”

“In the beginning, God…”[1]

God was. Before time, God was.

God was. Then God created the material universe. The order of nature was established by God, “in the beginning”.

God is before all things and above all things. God is supreme, and sovereign.

God created humanity in God’s own image. Male and female He created them.[2]

The line in the sand was established “in the beginning”.

God created them without knowledge of evil, and forbade them to access that knowledge. “From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, dying you shall die.”[3]

They knew good because they knew God. God is good.[4] They knew truth because Jesus Christ, the eternal God, was truth...

To sin is to miss the target. That requires there be a target to be missed. Paul said that, where no law is, sin is not imputed, because sin is “transgression” – violation – of law. From this, we learn that the target is whatever “law” has been issued. Until we have a target, we cannot be held responsible for failing to hit it. And God, Who is just, does not count our sin against us apart from our having been given that target – His perfect nature and His spoken commands.

Paul refers to the Law of Moses as being like a school-master, tutoring Israel to righteousness. The “Ten Commandments” were God’s summary of there moral conduct that should be reflected in the life of any Israelite who believed and revered God...