Sin

Sin. Sin is the subject around which everything revolves. Jesus came for the sake of sin, and we need salvation because of sin. Because of sin, we continue to live after we have been saved, so that through faithfulness and suffering there will be less of it—both in ourselves and in the others.

Already at birth, because of the fall, every human being has sin’s laws implanted in his body, and his relationship to God and His laws is therefore at variance to His nature. There is no condemnation for this sin until we consciously obey its lusts. The strength of sin is in the law, and where there is no law (no light), there is no sin worthy of punishment. God convicts a person of his evil deeds by His Spirit once he has matured into a conscious being, so that thereafter he can be saved by His word. However, if he is unwilling to be saved, such a person must necessarily end in perdition. Nevertheless, if he humbles himself before God, He has a just foundation (namely that His Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died in our place) on which He can forgive him all his sins. By believing in this perfect work of atonement, we are cleansed from all sin; that is, all our former evil deeds are blotted out. Nevertheless, the root cause of the evil (the law of sin in our members) is not cleansed away. We do not get rid of it in an instant; it is an ongoing, lifelong process of suffering. The law of sin in our members is the indwelling, passive sin. It dwells in the flesh, from where it demands its right by appealing to the mind to agree to its lusts. This is what it means to be tempted, yet temptation does not result in sin unless I agree with my mind to give in to temptation. We see that the cause of temptation is sin in the flesh, which will stay there for as long as we are in the body. This gives us the opportunity to overcome and to grow to ever-increasing perfection when we are tempted and tried. However, we can have the victory over every conscious manifes­tation of sin by not permitting the mind to agree to the temptation. Thus the flesh is put in a position where it is not free to do as it pleases, because its lusts are not satisfied. We will cease from sin if we remain firm in our mind and have made the decision to suffer in the flesh; nevertheless, we are not finished with all sin immediately, but little by little. Consequently, we do not commit conscious sin, but the root of sin is being consumed, with the result that the body of sin it­self is gradually destroyed. However, the law of sin in our members still produces a certain kind of sin: deeds of the body. They appear in areas where we have not received light, and it is obvious that the flesh must do the will of sin. However, there is no condemnation for this kind of deed because the mind did not consent to it. When the true nature of these deeds is revealed to us by God’s light, they must be put to death by the Spirit. Romans 8:13. Two things are required for us to be freed from sin, so we can melt together with God: the cleansing blood, and a life that is “crucified with Christ.”