PART TWO: WHAT IS SIN?
Unlike what we learned as children, that sin is an action pointed out by the elders, and penalized by God, we will realize from the Scriptures themselves, that sin is a natural condition in which the person or persons live. It is not an action. Actions are simply the degree of visible evaluation of the condition of sin in which the person lives.
Sin is a state of life, and the person cannot, no matter how hard he or she tries, get out of that condition on his or her own.
The apostle Paul dealt with the subject in a masterful way when, guided by the Holy Spirit, he established that sin obeys a spiritual law, and defined it as the law of sin.
23 but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:23-25
As such, because it is a genetic and spiritual condition, the condition of sin can only be broken through the process of regeneration.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Romans 8:2-3
Sin is also an argument from wickedness. By argument from wickedness, we refer to any verbal or factual process by means of which valid justification is established to oppose the work of God.
And it is not only a philosophical, logical justification, because in the reading of the Scriptures we find that there are also of a spiritual type.
The clearest example is found in the account of chapter three of Genesis, which describes the “argument” that the serpent put before Eve, by virtue of which both Adam and Eve opposed the Word that Jehovah Elohim had determined with respect to the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:4-5
Sin is to be under the effects of the satanic argument interposed to cause the man of faith to resist the voice of God.
17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; 18 who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2 Timothy 2:17-18
Sin as such has the capacity to fascinate people,
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
Galatians 3:1
For this reason, and knowing the havoc it causes, the apostle Paul recommended both Titus and Timothy to beware of all vain speech, of all repetition, and even of theological discussions.
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
1 Timothy 6:20
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2 Timothy 2:16
5 having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2 Timothy 3:5
9 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.
Titus 3:9
Even the Word itself, if interpreted, can provoke fascination among the people to whom it is sent,
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6 and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Matthew 4:5-6
Sin is subjection to Satan. It is not about “mistakes”, conscious or unconscious, committed under the pressure of some situation, it is about an authority and subjection that Satan maintains over the person, the families, the communities, the regions, which have been transformed into the personality of each person.
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1 John 3:4-9
Sinful tendencies are evidence of the presence and establishment of Satan, and of the movement of the kingdom of darkness.
As for the dynamics that sin develops to introduce sin within any community, we denounce the following,
The first arises from Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience: sin leads a person to transgress the Word of God,
4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1 John 3:4
All transgression of biblical and spiritual principles, consciously or in ignorance and/or by accident, is sin, and involves those who were led to transgress in a state of insanity, bewitchment, or hypnotism.
The second stage is a little more complex since it does not necessarily involve the transgression of the Word of God as the basis of sin. This stage is defined by the attitude, intention and/or posture that the person adopts towards something or someone,
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
This definition applies to anyone who has knowledge and conviction of what he has to do, but does not do it. His inaction is counted as sin.
Third, sin is doing nothing to stop wickedness. When wickedness is not stopped, it accumulates and generates sin. Sin is the accumulation of wickedness.
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
1 John 5:17
Sin is not reduced to an “action”. A person is not a sinner because of his actions, he is a sinner even if there is no action involved. The actions simply reveal the type of deviation or inclination towards sin.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matthew 7:20
The type of action serves to evaluate the areas of the “flesh” that must be worked on to remove Satan’s yoke on the person.
22 that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Ephesians 4:22
All Bible texts are taken from the Authorized King James Version (AKJV).
pastor Pedro Montoya
Treasure in Earthen Vessels 