Although God’s law is good and although obedience to God’s law leads to a life of joy and blessing, we are unable to keep His commandments because of the sinful nature that we have inherited from our forefather, Adam. When he committed the original sin, he plunged all of humanity into a world of sin, corruption, and death. But though we have continuously been discussing sin, we have yet to define what sin is, which is, of course, the question now before us: what is sin?

The answer given contains two parts. The first part defines sin, while the second part defines sin’s consequences.

First, we read that sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law. To be honest, I find this answer a bit wordy and somewhat imprecise, at least compared to the answer given to the same question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Sin is the lack of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God” (Q15). In that catechism, two forms of sin are confessed: sins of omission and of commission. When we do what God has forbidden us to do, we sin by commission. When we fail to do what God has commanded us to do, we sin by omission. And both rely upon the will of God as revealed in His law. Indeed, in the Bible, John very plainly defines sin, saying:

Sin is lawlessness, an act of violating the commands of God. Such transgression is a statement of pridefully rejecting God’s divine design. As the Creator of heaven and earth, God alone establishes the laws and regulations for the cosmos, but by sinning we rebel against His ways. The New City Catechism’s use of such language (i.e., rejecting and rebelling) rightly captures this prideful treason against the King of kings.

Furthermore, the phrase in the world he created is quite necessary since it grounds the egregiousness of sin in its rejection of the Creator’s design. Indeed, it highlights the folly of sin. Whenever we reject or simply ignore God and His established order of creation, we are like a coffee mug that rebels against the potter by trying to be a frying pan. The whole situation would be laughable if the consequences were not so dire.

Overall, while still defining sin as lawlessness, the catechism’s answer rightly ties sin to the internal rejecting and ignoring of God the Creator. A great number of people believe themselves to be morally upright simply because they are not guilty of overt and scandalous sins. They have never murdered, never committed adultery, never stolen anything. They do their best to tell the truth and to be content with what they have. However, according to God’s revealed will in the Scriptures, the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. A failure to do so is a failure to esteem the Almighty Creator as He ought to be esteemed. An earthly king can rightly execute anyone who fails to show proper reverence while in his presence or within his kingdom. Does the King of kings not have a similar right to punish those who live without reference to Him, especially when they have their life and being through His sustaining hand?

The consequence of sin is our death. To the Romans, Paul wrote that death is sin’s well-earned paycheck (Romans 6:23). Once again, we look back to the first sin to understand the start of this pattern. Before eating the fruit, life in Eden was free of death, but death came as a direct consequence of sin. Even today, we continue to die because the world is broken by the curse of sin.

But the curse of death is spiritual as well as physical. While under the slavery of sin, we were dead in sin. That is, we were cut off from the very source of life, the Creator. While dead in sin, we “were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). By nature signifies the core of our being. Fundamentally, we were separated from and enemies of God. Our sin not only warrants our physical death; it requires the flood of God’s wrath to be unleashed upon us. And because He is the Eternal One, the price of our sin against Him is eternal. Hell, therefore, is not an unjust truth. Rather, it is the proper response to offending the Holy One.

Sin also results in the disintegration of all creation. Because Adam was given dominion and responsibility to rule over all the earth, his sin resulted in the curse of the earth itself (Genesis 3:17), and Paul notes that creation “waits with eager longing” and groans for the full and complete redemption of God’s people and the recreation of all things (Romans 8:19-22). All of creation is disintegrated, corrupt, and in need of renewal. Diseases, natural disasters, and a multitude of other sorrows are a part of our present reality because creation itself has been cursed under the sins of mankind.

Of course, the greatest display of sin’s awful reality is not in our own deaths nor in the disintegration of all creation but in the price that our Savior paid to deliver us from the penalties of our sin.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great,
here may view its nature rightly,
here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed;
see who bears the awful load;
’tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.[1]

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[1] “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” by Thomas Kelly (1804)