Man's Greatest Problem
Ask people what is wrong with the world and you will hear many answers: poverty, ignorance, injustice, bad government. Scripture gives a deeper one. The problem is not only around us but inside us. Sin is man's greatest problem, and until we understand it, nothing else in the Gospel makes sense.
The angel told Joseph to name Mary's Son JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). Jesus said He came to call sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17). Good news is good only against bad news. If sin is a small thing, the cross is an overreaction. If sin is what Scripture says it is, the cross is our only hope. We must see the depth of our sinfulness to see the value and beauty of Jesus.
We believe every person is born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam, and that because of that nature every person sins by choice. No one can reform himself or stop sinning by his own power. This topic asks what sin is. The Fall and Its Effects asks where it came from and what it has done to us.
Any failure to conform to God's law, or any transgression of it, in thought, word, or deed. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4), a falling short of God's glory (Romans 3:23), rebellion against God (Isaiah 1:2), and unbelief (Romans 14:23). It is both something we do and something we are.
Sin is not first a matter of how we compare with other people. It is a matter of where we stand with God. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, David prayed (Psalm 51:4).
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For Deeper Study
- The Sinfulness of SinAmazon Ralph VenningA Puritan classic from 1669, first published as *Sin, the Plague of Plagues*, showing why sin is serious because it is against God. Banner of Truth's Puritan Paperbacks.
- Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We TolerateAmazon Jerry BridgesA warm, practical look at the sins of heart and tongue that believers easily excuse, such as pride, anxiety, and an unforgiving spirit.
- Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of SinAmazon Cornelius Plantinga Jr.A Reformed minister restates the doctrine of sin for modern readers and exposes the ways our culture softens it.
- Fallen: A Theology of SinAmazon Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson, eds.Evangelical scholars, mostly Reformed, treat sin biblically, theologically, historically, and pastorally. More detailed.
- Whatever Became of Sin?Amazon Karl MenningerA psychiatrist's 1973 plea to recover moral responsibility. Not written from evangelical faith, but a striking witness from outside the church.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Fall and Its Effects
Through Adam, sin and death entered the world. Every person is born with a sinful nature, sins by choice, and cannot save himself.
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