What Every Christian Should Know About Sin

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”

–Genesis 2:16–17

Have you noticed that words change meaning over time? For example, naughty used to mean without financial resources. If someone was reckless in his spending, he became naughty. The word awful used to mean worthy of awe. So Helen of Troy possessed an awful beauty. But perhaps no word has transformed more than human. For a moment in history, human referred to the pinnacle of God’s creation. Then the word became a catch-all for our weaknesses: “I’m only human,” or, “That’s just human nature.”

How do you explain the sudden, drastic change in our understanding of what it means to be human? In a word: sin. We’ve been looking at the ten pillars of historic Christianity, and this week, we’re examining the sixth pillar: sin. What you believe about sin determines what you believe about salvation. That’s why this pillar is so important.

To understand the impact of sin, we need to understand the way we were before sin entered the picture. In the first two chapters of Genesis, God’s creation was firing on all cylinders. Genesis 1:28 says, “God blessed [Adam and Eve]; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.’” The environment is for our benefit. However, we are to take care of the environment and be good stewards of what God has created. That’s what Adam and Eve did. Everything was in balance between humans, nature, and God.

Let’s review all the restrictions God placed on Adam and Eve. In Genesis 2:16–17, He said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” That’s it. There was only one restriction. And it was put in place for God’s glory–every time Adam and Eve walked by that tree without disobeying God’s command, they honored Him.

Until, in Genesis 3, they didn’t. We don’t know whether there were ten trees or a thousand trees they could eat from. Either way, God’s blessings outnumbered His restrictions, yet Adam and Eve focused on the one forbidden tree. Does that sound familiar? When we stop focusing on God’s blessings and assume we know better than He does what is best for us, we fall into sin.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “What Every Christian Should Know About Sin” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2022.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.