CHAPTER 9: THE STUDY OF SIN (HAMARTIOLOGY)
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The central theme of the Christian faith is salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hamartiology (from the Greek word "hamartia" meaning sin) is the study of sin.
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1. DEFINITION OF SIN
The Bible speaks of sin in the following ways:
Breaking the law of God is sin (1 John 3:4).
Rebellion against God is sin (Ezekiel 2:3).
Doing wrong is sin (1 John 5:17).
Moral uncleanness is sin (2 Samuel 12:9, 13).
Lack of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
Neglecting to do good is sin (James 4:17).
Evil thoughts are sinful as well as evil deeds (Matthew 5:28).
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2. THE ORIGIN OF SIN
Our first written record of sin tells us it took place in heaven. The angel Lucifer became proud and wanted to be equal with God (Isaiah 14:12-14). Because of this sin, God cast Lucifer out of heaven. He became the one the Bible calls the Devil of Satan.
The first sin on earth is described in Genesis Chapter 3. It happened in the Garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve that they should not eat the fruit from the tree called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:16-17). They disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. And so they became sinners.
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3. IMPUTED SIN
To "impute" is to reckon something to a person, to ascribe responsibility to a person as the originator, and to count as belonging to another. Paul asks that Onesimus' possible debts be charged to his account (Philemon 18). This is judicial imputation, since it was not Paul's debt to begin with.
The imputation of Adam's sin to all of us humans is real because it was ours to begin with, since we acted in Adam (Roman 5:12; Galatians 3:22). One of the arguments for traducianism (compare Hebrews 7:9, 10) is that the whole person was in the ancestor and acting in him. In like manner Christ's righteousness is imputed to all believers.
God's remedy for imputed sin is imputed righteousness. First our sin was imputed to Christ on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:6). Then the individual believer has the righteousness of God procured by Christ on the cross imputed to him (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 1:30). Could anything be more wonderful than God's remedy for sin?
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4. THE RESULTS OF SIN
As soon as Adam and Eve had sinned, they knew that they were naked, and they tried to hide from God (Genesis 3:7-10).
The punishment for sin is death. They became spiritually dead the moment they sinned. This means that they were separated from God-they were not able to enjoy God's presence. They also started to die physically.
Every human being has received Adam's sinful nature. Every child that is born of sinful parents. Adam's oldest son was a muderer (Genesis 4:1-8). We are all dead spiritually and we will die physically some day. Read Romans 5:12-18 carefully now.
God cursed all of creation because of Adam's sin. This is the reason why there are thorns and weeds in the world. Genesis 3:14-19 gives us other evidences of sin. We do not need any other proof that sin is in the world as long as we have prisons, hospitals and cemeteries. Tears, sickness, sorrow, pain and death are some of the results of sin.
The God will remove the curse from the earth during the Second Coming of Christ in Millennium (read Isaiah 11:9, 65:20-25, 11:6-9; Zechariah 14:9; Habakkuk 2:14; Ezekiel 36:25-29; Joel 2:28-32; Amos 9:13-15; Psalm 8:5-9; Romans 8:18-23)
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5. THE PUNISHMENT FOR SIN
God has said that the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23). We have already seen that this means spiritual death and physical death. This penalty must be paid. God must punish sin.
If we are still in our sins when we die, we will enter eternal death. This means that we will be separated from God's presence forever and will suffer in the lake of fire. This is called the second death in Revelation 20:14.
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6. THE CURE FOR SIN
God love all people in the world so much that He don't want to see any people to die for their sins. God has given us a curse so that we do not need to suffer everlasting punishment for our sin. God sent His Son into the world to make a way so that we can escape.
The Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. He had no human father and so He did not inherit Adam's sinful nature. He was the only man who never sinned. He was willing to suffer the punishment for our sin when He died for us on the cross. He satisfied what a Holy God demanded. Because the penalty of sin has been met, God will now give eternal life to anyone who confesses that he is a sinner and receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior (John 3:16-18; Romans 3:23-26, 5:12-21).
When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, all our sins have been forgiven (complete forgiveness) including past sins, present sins and future sins. This means that the one who believes in Christ will never have to pay the penalty for his sins. This is because Christ paid the penalty for the sinners when He died on the cross. When the Lord Jesus died, all of our sins were in the future.
So, accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior now!
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7. BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FURTHER STUDY
William MacDonald - What the Bible Teaches (Emmaus Bible College).
R.E. Harlow - Basic Bible Doctrines (Emmaus Bible College).
Robert L. Saucy - The Church in God's Program.
Leon J. Wood - The Bible and Future Events.
William Baker - Survey of Theology II - Understanding Salvation (Moody Bible Institute).
Pentecost, J. Dwight - Things Which Become Sound Doctrine (Westwood, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Co.).
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