What Is Our Attitude Toward Sin (Part 2)?

Simply put, as detailed in Part 1 of this study, sin is Biblically defined as “transgression [lawlessness, NKJ]” (1 Jn. 3:4); not doing right according to God’s truth (1 Jn. 5:17); knowing what God requires but not doing it (Jas. 4:17); and violating our conscience (Rom. 14:23). Many in both the religious and secular worlds do not take sin seriously. They do not see sin as God sees sin!

The major problem with sin is that it separates us from God. In fact, sin is the only thing that separates us from God (Isa. 59:1-2)! Shortly after the creation of humanity, God told Adam, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). God’s requirement was simple: do not eat from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”! The basic meaning of the word “death” is separation. Physical death is separation of the spirit from the body (Jas. 2:26); spiritual death is separation from God. When Adam and Eve ate of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 3:6), they were immediately separated from God. When they heard God in the Garden after they had sinned, “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8). No one can truly hide from God (Jer. 23:24), but why did they now feel the need to hide? Sin separates!

Our attitude toward sin must be like God’s—God hates sin (Ps. 5:5; 119:104, 128; Hab. 1:13)! Seeing sin in our lives as God sees it should cause us to melt before Him in “godly sorrow,” which “worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Cor. 7:10). Repenting and allowing God to take care of our sin is essential. For those outside of Christ, true repentance involves confessing our faith in Christ as the Savior from our sins (2 Tim. 2:19 cf. Jn. 8:24; Rom. 10:10), and being baptized for the remission of our past sins (Acts 2:38). For those who sin in Christ, true repentance involves confessing those sins and praying for forgiveness (Acts 8:22). Is our attitude toward sin the same as God’s?