Real Definition of Sin

SIN

The act, attitude, or condition of rebellion against, or apartness from, God on the part of a morally free person. The Bible terms for sin characterize it as a missing of the mark, a failure, a fault (Heb. chattaÔth and related words, Gr. hamartia); rebellion, or deliberate unfaithfulness (Heb. peshaÔ, cf. Gr. anomia, “lawlessness,” and asebeia, “impiety”); evil (Heb. raÔ, Gr. kakos); wickedness or unrighteousness (Heb. Oawen, Gr. adikia); guilt (Heb. Ôawon); and transgression (Gr. parabasis).

Sin originated in the universe before the creation of human beings, when an angelic being, Lucifer, deliberately chose to become Satan, the adversary (see Eze. 28:12–17 and Isa. 14:12–14). At some time subsequent to the creation of the human race, Satan, in the guise of the serpent (Gen. 3:1–6), incited Eve and Adam to rebel against a specific divine command designed to symbolize the sovereignty of the Creator. (See Evil, Origin of; Satan and His Angels.)

The supreme self-revelation of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is the divine response and solution to both the universal and the personal problem of sin. By accepting Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, sinners acknowledge their own sinfulness, recognize God’s justice in condemning sin, and dedicate themselves to a life of obedience to the divine will (see Conversion; Justification; New Birth). The plan of salvation demonstrates before the universe, once and for all, divine justice in utterly condemning sin, and at the same time, divine mercy in providing that persons who have sinned may nevertheless enjoy eternal life if they repent and accept the divine provisions.

In traditional Christian theology, “original sin” is the personal moral guilt for Adam’s transgression presumably inherited by every human. Seventh-day Adventists do not stress the idea that personal, individual moral guilt adheres to Adam’s descendants because of his sin. They stress, instead, that his sin resulted in the condition of estrangement from God in which every human being is born. This estrangement involves an inherent tendency to commit sin. In a state of sin a person’s life is self-centered; however, conversion reorients the life and centers it in Christ.

Seventh-day Adventist literature has been concerned with the problem of sin primarily on the practical level; on the theological level, concern has been chiefly with its relationship to God’s moral law, as “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). From this point of view J. N. Andrews wrote (Review and Herald 33:66, Feb. 23, 1869): Sin “is armed rebellion against the Almighty. It is high treason against the government of God. It is the principle of wrong contending with right for a place in the universe.” Interest in the origin of sin in a good universe has been reflected in such articles as “God Is Not the Author of Sin,” by J. N. Andrews (ibid. 34:28, July 20, 1869), and “Origin of Evil,” by Roswell F. Cottrell (ibid. 45:164, May 20, 1875).

The Seventh-day Adventist concept of the origin of sin, and of God’s way of dealing with it, is best set forth in the chapters “Why Was Sin Permitted?” in Patriarchs and Prophets, and “The Origin of Evil,” in The Great Controversy, both by Ellen White. Mrs. White defines sin as selfishness: “Sin originated in self-seeking” (DA 21). As to its origin, she wrote: “God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency” (ibid. 22).

“Sin originated with him, who, next to Christ, had been most honored of God. . . . Little by little, Lucifer came to indulge the desire for self-exaltation” (PP 35).

“It is impossible to explain the origin of sin so as to give a reason for its existence. . . . Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given” (GC 492, 493).

 
Mrs. White accounts as follows for the purpose in permitting sin to run its course: “It was therefore necessary to demonstrate before the inhabitants of heaven, and of all the worlds, that God’s government is just, his law perfect. . . . [Satan’s] own work must condemn him. . . . The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked. . . . The inhabitants of heaven and of the worlds, being unprepared to comprehend the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice of God in the destruction of Satan. . . . For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages, he must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, and that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of his law might be forever placed beyond all question. Satan’s rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages—a perpetual testimony to the nature of sin and its terrible results. . . . Thus the history of this terrible experiment of rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy beings, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to save them from committing sin, and suffering its penalty” (PP 42, 43).