Although the plan of salvation calls for the deepest study of the philosopher, it is not too deep for the comprehension of a child. In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is in comprehensible; and in beholding this love, the heart is impressed, the conscience is aroused, and the soul is led to inquire, “What is sin, that it should require such a sacrifice for the redemption of its victim?” The Review and Herald, April 1, 1890

As Christ draws them (sinners) to look upon His cross, to behold Him whom their sins have pierced, the commandment comes home to the conscience. The wickedness of their life, the deep-seated sin of the soul, is revealed to them. They begin to comprehend something of the righteousness of Christ, and exclaim, “What is sin, that it should require such a sacrifice for the redemption of its victim? Was all this love, all this suffering, all this humiliation, demanded, that we might not perish, but have everlasting life?” Steps to Christ, p. 27

What is Sin?!

There are many different aspects of sin and many different ways to define it. It is not a simple thing like a toy or a tool that can be described in a few sentences or with a single picture. What follows is an attempt to begin understanding what sin is. This study is not meant to be a complete answer to this question, but I hope it can be a starting point for a more thorough personal study.

Sin is:

1) an act of disobedience against what God has said

Gen. 3; 1 John 3:4 . . . sin is the transgression of the law (lawlessness NIV).

2) an attitude of rebellion
a) not doing what you believe you should do
James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

b) doing what you believe you shouldn”t do, even if the act is not directly condemned by God Rom. 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. 1 Samuel 15:23

It is not the greatness of the act of disobedience that constitutes sin, but the fact of variance from God’s expressed will in the least particular; for this shows that there is yet communion between the soul and sin. The heart is divided in its service. There is a virtual denial of God, a rebellion against the laws of His government.Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 51

Where is sin?

Sin is not merely a legal infraction, a lawless act. It is a problem of personal relationship, of essential nature, of character. If sin consisted only in doing something wrong, then a criminal could be cured by locking him up; that stops his doing. Then Satan would not be sinning during the millennium; he could not be doing anything evil. But we know what would happen as soon as that criminal is released and we know what will happen as soon as Satan is released. The doing starts all over again because the real problem is in the heart and mind. It is an attitude, a mental disposition, a significant character flaw.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.   Romans 8:6, 7

Jesus taught that sin exists in the mind even though there may be no outward action, though the action will probably follow the thoughts.

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. . . . Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:21, 22, 27, 28

You are responsible to God for your thoughts. If you indulge in vain imaginations, permitting your mind to dwell upon impure subjects, you are, in a degree, as guilty before God as if your thoughts were carried into action. All that prevents the action is the lack of opportunity. Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 2, p. 561

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

Because we live in a sin-infested world, we are born with sin all around us and with a sinful nature in us.

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5

Those who seek to turn from the service of the world to the service of God, will need divine help. They will have to set their faces like a flint toward Zion. They will feel the opposition of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, and will have to go contrary to the spirit and influences of the world.   Review and Herald, February 7, 1888

We are in a constant battle with sin. It is all around us in the world, the environment, and society; it is in our nature, passed on to us from Adam and Eve and perpetuated by our own choices and actions; and the devil never quits in his attempts to lure us on and keep us trapped.

Those who will look long enough into the Divine Mirror to see and despise their unlikeness to the meek and lowly Saviour, will have strength to overcome. All who truly believe will confess and forsake their sins. They will co-operate with Christ in the work of bringing their hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong under the control of the Divine Will, so that sin shall not have dominion over them. Looking to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their faith, they will be changed into His likeness. They will grow up to the full stature of men and women in Christ. Signs of the Times, October 2, 1901

Illustrations, Descriptions, and Metaphors for sin:

Each one of the Ten Commandments describes or illustrates a form of sin. Each of the first four is specifically referring to something regarding our relationship to God. Though the last six describe things done against other people, they also illustrate forms of sin against God:

5) dishonoring Him (Mal. 1:6-14; Rom. 2:23, 24)
6) killing Him (humanity killed Jesus)
7) unfaithfulness to Him (Ezek. 16; Hos. 1-3)
8) stealing from Him (Mal. 3:8)
9) telling lies about Him (Jer. 23:31, 32; 2 Pet. 2:1-3)

10) wanting what is exclusively His (Isa. 14:13, 14; Ezek. 28:2; 2 Thess. 2:4)

Any action or condition that, in the Levitical regulations, required a sacrifice and/or a ritual for cleansing and atonement could be thought of as a metaphor for the sin problem – contact with unclean meat (Lev. 11); childbirth and/or conditions or actions related to human reproduction (Lev. 12, 15); leprosy (Lev. 13, 14); bodily discharges and/or disease processes (Lev. 15); contact with human death (Num. 19). Some of these passages refer to personal actions; some of them are describing the sinful nature we have inherited; some are dealing with the sin-polluted environment we live in.

Here are some more metaphors for sin.

Sin is like:

a stain – Psalm 51:7; Isaiah 1:18; Zech. 13:1; Acts 22:16; Rev. 1:5
something to be erased – Isa. 43:25; Psalm 51:9; Acts 3:19
a baited hook or trap – James 1:14
a debt – Matt. 6:12-15; Luke 7:41, 42
something that God wants to discard – Isa. 38:17; Micah 7:19
a plague that spreads unless it is quarantined – Lev. 13, 14
a predator crouching in ambush – Gen. 4:7
poison or venom – Num. 21; 1 Cor. 15:56
something that causes hunger and thirst – Mat. 5:6; John 4
being an abandoned infant – Ezek. 16:3-6
an impediment that should be put aside – Heb. 12:1
something that is developed and brought forth – James 1:15
an oppressive slave-driver – John 8:34; Rom. 6
a despotic king – Rom. 5:21; 6:12
a tyrannical husband – Rom. 7:1-11
a prison – Isaiah 58:6; 61:1
a heavy burden – Psalm 38:4; Mat. 11:28, 29; Isaiah 58:6
slavery – Isaiah 61:1; John 8:32-36
poverty – Rev. 3:17
blindness – John 9; Rev. 3:17
nakedness – Gen. 3:7-11; Rev. 3:17; 16:15
darkness – Isa. 9:2; Col. 1:12, 13; 1 Peter 2:9

a barrier between humans and God – Isa. 59:2

Sin is something that:

has dire results beyond the immediate act – Lev. 18:22-27; 20:2, 3; Num. 19:13, 20; 35:31-34
kills – Rom. 5:12; 6:23
may seem to lie dormant, yet it can revive and control the person – Rom. 7:8, 9, 20-24

is charged in differing degrees of seriousness – Lev. 4; Heb. 10:26-28; 1 John 5:16, 17

God deals with sin in two stages –

1) personal confession, sacrifice, removal of guilt (Lev. 4)

2) final disposal and full atonement (Lev. 16)

Sin is a HUGE problem.

Sin is a huge, multi-faceted and life-threatening problem that God is trying to eradicate from the universe. Because it is such a serious issue, much more serious than our human minds can comprehend, God had to use drastic action to solve it. He had to go to the absolute ultimate extreme to completely eliminate it or He ran the risk of it cropping up again. We must remember that He is not merely trying to save ME from sin; He needs to save the WHOLE UNIVERSE from sin.

The Remedy:

The only cure for the problem is to have a change in the inner workings of our mind.

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.   Ephesians 4:22-24

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: Colossians 1:21, 22

For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

God is attempting to get us to want and to do what He wants. He is trying to get us to think differently so that we will want to act differently. If we don’t want what He wants, we have a sin problem. It is our default mode, part of the human nature we are born with, to go against Him. It is what we naturally think and want. This results in doing things He doesn’t want us to do – sins. SIN is the thinking; SINS are the doing. SIN is the condition; SINS are the action.

from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible referring to Hebrews 3:8:

“The hardening of our hearts is the spring of all our other sins.”

from Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament on James 1:14, 15:

“Sin is the union of the will with lust.”

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. Hebrews 8:8-11

When Revelation speaks of the Seal of God in the forehead, it means having His Law in our mind and heart. That is the control center of our life. Having it in the hand is not enough.

Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Revelation 7:3

And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. Revelation 14:1

Satan corrupted humanity with lies about God. Jesus came “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14), to “bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37) in an attempt to change how we think about God. Everything about Christ’s incarnation – His birth, life, teachings, miracles, death, resurrection – was a desperate attempt on the part of Heaven to help us know the truth about God and persuade us to return to Him after rebelling and running away from Him. If He can accomplish that – getting us to believe and love and cooperate – then our actions will change also.

The Plan of Salvation – the incarnation, life, death, and ministry of Christ – is the most thorough and comprehensive solution to the problem that could have ever been devised. Just how Jesus accomplished everything that is necessary is a very deep study and we mortals will not comprehend it until God Himself explains it to us. Even then it will take us a long time to understand it.

The science of redemption is the science of all sciences; the science that is the study of the angels, and of all the intelligences of the unfallen worlds; the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Saviour; the science that enters into the purpose brooded in the mind of the Infinite–“kept in silence through times eternal”; the science that will be the study of God’s redeemed throughout the endless ages. This is the highest study in which it is possible for man to engage. As no other study can, it will quicken the mind, and uplift the soul. . . .
The theme of redemption is one that angels desire to look into; it will be the science and the song of the redeemed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now? . . .
The study of the incarnation of Christ, His atoning sacrifice and mediatorial work, will employ the mind of the diligent student as long as time shall last; and, looking to heaven with its unnumbered years, he will exclaim, “Great is the mystery of godliness.”
In eternity we shall learn that which, had we received the enlightenment that it was possible to obtain here, would have opened our understanding. The themes of redemption will employ the hearts and minds and tongues of the redeemed through the everlasting ages. They will understand the truths which Christ longed to open to His disciples, but which they did not have faith to grasp. Forever and forever new views of the perfection and glory of Christ will appear. Through endless ages the faithful Householder will bring forth from His treasures things new and old.

If it were possible for us to attain to a full understanding of God and His truth, there would be for us no further discovery of truth, no greater knowledge, no further development. . . . Thank God, it is not so. Since God is infinite, and in Him are all the treasures of wisdom, we may to all eternity be ever searching, ever learning, yet never exhaust the riches of His wisdom, His goodness, or His power. Maranatha, p. 365

Why did Jesus have to die?

Christ accomplished many things through His work on earth, but one of the most basic purposes for His death was to get our attention and change how we think so we would return to God. The sin problem was such a serious threat to us and the rest of the universe, and such a difficult issue to solve because of our heart condition, that anything less than what He did would not have been adequate.

Calvary alone can reveal the terrible enormity of sin. Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 116

Christ draws the sinner by the exhibition of his love upon the cross, and this softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition and repentance in the soul. The Review and Herald, April 1, 1890

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9, 10

The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God. Education, p. 263

If Christ had not suffered and died, there would have been unresolved issues and unanswered questions that would have posed a risk to the security of the universe. God did everything He possibly could to make sure that sin and all of its manifestations would never come up again.