If you ask “What is sin?” the popular view that many people will answer with is it’s just something “you don’t like” — there is not actually sin in any objective sense. Even among those who acknowledge sin exists, it is easy to see others as sinful but can be more difficult to see ourselves as sinners. We must understand there is such a thing as sin and it is serious.
In Genesis 3 we read about the tempter, Eve, Adam, and the very first sin; before, in Genesis 2:15-17 God gave man one specific command: do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They could understand the command and they could make a choice to keep it or not. It is not a myth or metaphor, but record of Adam and Eve’s actions. In the New Testament, in Romans 5, Paul implies the first sin was a literal and historical event; he contrasts a particular action of disobedience to Christ’s obedience.
A careful reading of what Paul writes in Romans 5:12 about death spreading to all men and of what he writes in 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 about death and resurrection makes it clear that sin is a spiritual death — a terrible separation from God — and then physical death will eventually come as well. When Adam and Eve sinned it resulted in their separation from God. When we sin it results in our separation from God.
Sin is not something judged by human standards, but by the standards set down in God’s law (1 John 3:4). You and I do not get to decide what is sinful and what is not. God is the one who has decided; in a basic sense, sin is doing something that is not God’s will and do what we want to do instead. We read in James about our desires and sin that “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)
Thankfully, God has not simply defined sin and then left us to it. He made a great plan long ago to take away sin (1 John 3:5) and bring us back to Him. Through Christ’s sacrifice He has made the impossible possible for us. He has given us the opportunity to escape the death of sin. We each have our own choices to make. Do we choose to do His will and make our desires be like His desires, or do we decide that we’ll do the things we want to do?
— Stefan Richardson