Goodwill Fellowship Bible Study Group

Goodwill FellowshipBible Study Group Original Sin Prepared and Presented by Rev. Alfred Thiagarajan Welcome

What is Sin? New Catholic Encyclopedia describes “Sin is an evil human act”. St Augustine says “Sin is a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God.”

Any thought, word, or act considered faulty, shameful, and harmful to one or to others, or which alienates self from others and especially from God, can be called as sin.

Etymology The English word sin derives from Old English synnwhich came to mean "guilty" in Latin. The Greek word hamartia is often translated as sin in the New Testament; it means "to miss the mark" or "to miss the target". The generic Hebrew word for any kind of sin is aveira.

Judaism According to Hebrew Bible, Judaism describes three levels of sin. 1)Pesha or Mered which means an intentional sin; an action committed in deliberate defiance of God. 2) Avon - This is a sin of lust or uncontrollable emotion. It is a sin done knowingly, but not done to defy God. 3) Cheit - This is an unintentional sin.

Original Sin

The Fall of Man http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mer8VBgwvA&feature=related

Questions in our mind? If God had created the garden and if he did not want Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the particular tree, why should God create it at all? The name of the tree is “Tree of Knowledge”, so God did not want the human beings to acquire knowledge? Is knowledge evil? Who had permitted the serpent to come inside the Garden of Eden? Did God not know that Adam and Eve are going to disobey? How did God allow the serpent to deceive God’s creation?

Fact But the fact is we do sin. Even a one year old child tells a lie without anyone teaching him/her. Where did this come from? We know every now and then that evil thoughts pop up in our minds and it is very difficult to suppress it and we yield to them. Most denominations of Christianity interpret the Garden of Eden account in Genesis in terms of the fall of man.

Disobedience Adam and Eve's disobedience was the first sin ever committed, and their original sin is passed on to their generations.

Bible evidences David says "Indeed I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me" (Psalms 51:5 - NRSV) "Surely there is no one on earth, so righteous as to do good, without sinning" (Ecclesiastes 7:20 NRSV). As he stated in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, “if they sin against you-for there is no one who does not sin-..... “ (I Kings 8:46 NRSV). "The heart is devious above all else, it is perverse and who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9 NRSV)

"For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self: But I see in my members, another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members" (Romans 7:22-23 NRSV). Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (I John 1:8 NRSV)

Historical Perspective of Sin Tertullian (145-220) was the first Church Father to express the concept of Original Sin.

But St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was the first one to come out clearly on the Original Sin.

He described the nature or essence of original sin as disobedience instigated by pride which is breaking the covenant of God. Augustine’s theology is based on the following two.1) Every soul, even the soul of an infant, requires to be delivered from the binding guilt of sin. 2) There is no deliverance except through Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

The Lutheran Theology The Lutheran Reformation in its Augsburg Confession, in Articles 2 clearly accepts the concept of original sin. It had reconfirmed about Adam’s first sin and thus all the descendants are being born as sinners.

Perception towards Sin in other Religions: Hinduism does not consider sin as a crime against God, but as an act against dharma (moral order) and one's own self. Judaism says that sin is the violation of divine commandments. Violations include against Jewish law that are not necessarily a lapse in morality. Islam sees sin (dhanb ) as anything that goes against the will of Allah. Muslims believe that God is angered by sin and punishes some sinners with the fires of Hell (jahannam), but that He is also the Merciful (ar-rahman) and the Forgiving (al-ghaffar), and forgives those who repent and serve Him.

Sin and Jesus Christ:

Christ mingled with sinners like a Physician among the sick (Mark 2:15-17; Luke 7:34) For Jesus, those who commit sin are the lost whom he seeks to find and save. (Luke 15:22-24,31-32). Jesus was described as a Lamb of God who had taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We need a savior because we are sinners. In his stripes we are healed.

First Adam and Second Adam Romans 5:18-20 (NIV) 18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Does sinning connect us to God? Apostle Paul says “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). So Should I say, sin is a connecting act between God and the Human beings?

Paul asks the same question as “Should we continue to sin in order that Grace may increase?”(Romans 6:1). By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Romans 6:2). So certainly we cannot say, sin is the connecting act but the Grace of God is the connecting force between God and human beings.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Conclusion: Grace of God provides us salvation and justification through our faith. Thus we acquire freedom from the bondage of sin through God’s grace. Let God continue to speak to us and provide us with God’s wisdom and His grace to understand the will of God and commandment of God to live a sinless life which would be pleasing to God. Amen.

Thanks for coming God bless you all.Next Bible study is on September 11th, 2010

Goodwill Fellowship Bible Study Group