IV. THE TRANSMISSION OF IMPUTED SIN

Imputed sin is transmitted directly from Adam to each individual in every generation. Since I was in Adam, Adam’s sin was imputed to me directly, not through my parents and their parents. Imputed sin is an immediate imputation (that is, directly, not through mediators between Adam and me).

This contrasts with how the inherited sin nature is transmitted. It comes to me from my parents, and theirs from their parents, and so on back to Adam. Inherited sin is a mediate transmission since it comes through all the mediators of generations between Adam and me. Charted, the contrast looks like this.

V. THE PENALTY OF IMPUTED SIN

Physical death is the particular penalty connected with imputed sin (Rom. 5:13-14). The particular penalty connected with inherited sin, you remember, is spiritual death.

VI. THE REMEDY FOR IMPUTED SIN

The remedy for imputed sin is the imputed righteousness of Christ. The moment anyone believes, Christ’s righteousness is reckoned or imputed to that individual. As all are in Adam, so all believers are in Christ, and being in Him means that His righteousness is ours.

A vivid illustration of this came to me in my student days. A criminal in the state penitentiary was soon to be executed for murder. His story received an uncommon amount of publicity because he had willed that the cornea of one of his eyes should be used in what was then the very new procedure of corneal transplant. Further, the recipient was designated prior to the criminal’s execution, and indeed the two men met before the execution was carried out. This made great human interest copy for the media.

In due time the murderer was put to death. His cornea was taken from his body, and by the miracle of medicine transplanted into the eye of a blind man who then could see. Now suppose some policeman should have tried to arrest that man who received the cornea and have him executed because he had the cornea of a murderer. Any judge would say, “But that cornea which formerly was in the body of a murderer is now in the body of a man who is righteous before the law. Therefore, the cornea is as righteous as the man is.” And that illustrates my point. I was in Adam and justly condemned to die because I sinned when he sinned. But by a miracle greater than any surgical procedure, I was placed in Jesus Christ. And now I am righteous because He is righteous and can stand before a holy God uncondemned. From being in Adam to being in Christ—that’s my story by the miracle of His grace.

I. SOME SCRIPTURAL EVIDENCES

In Romans 3:9-18 Paul demonstrates the condemnation of all people on the basis of their committing sins personally. The condemnation is universal and based on evil acts of both word and deed. People are corrupting, deceitful, uncharitable, blasphemous, murderous, oppressive, quarrelsome, and impious.

Many passages name specific sins. Notice lying in 1 John 1:6, partiality in James 2:4, carnality in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, and the list in Galatians 5:19-21 which includes sorcery, immorality, factions, and envy.

II. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONAL SINS

A. Their Universality

All commit sins personally except infants. James makes that very clear when he states that we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). Before Paul lists those sins in Romans 3 he says that all, both Jews and Gentiles, are under sin (v. 9). After the list he repeats that fact, declaring that all are coming short of the glory of God (v. 23).

B. Their Overtness

Personal sins are not only those which are committed overtly but also those that are committed in our thoughts. Immorality, envy, greed, and idolatry are examples of sins which occur in our thought lives (and also may erupt in specific actions). See Matthew 5:27-28; 2 Corinthians 10:5; and Colossians 3:5-6.

Furthermore, sins of omission, which are not overt, are as sinful as sins that are actually committed (James 4:17).

C. Their Classification

The Lord ranked Caiaphas’ sin in delivering Him to Pilate greater than Pilate’s sin. But this did not excuse Pilate, for if there is greater sin (Caiaphas’) there must also be lesser sin (Pilate’s). As a governmental agent Pilate could only do what God allowed his government to do. Caiaphas as high priest had greater light and thus greater responsibility.

The Old Testament distinguished sins of ignorance from defiant sins. Defiant sins were, literally, sins with a high hand; that is, sins with a raised, clenched fist in defiance of God and His commands. For such sins there was no acceptable offering (Num. 15:30-31). An example of a defiant sin follows in the account of a man gathering wood on the Sabbath in defiance of God’s clear command. By contrast, the sin offering atoned for sins of ignorance; that is, sins done unintentionally out of weakness or waywardness (Lev. 4:2). Some examples included withholding evidence when called on to testify; accidental ceremonial defilement because of contact with an unclean animal or person; and inability to fulfill a rash vow (5:1-4).

The New Testament counterpart to this Old Testament classification contrasts sins committed against much light as compared to sins against little light (Luke 12:47-48).

Other classifications include the unpardonable sin (Matt. 12:31-32) and a sin unto death (1 John 5:16).

The Roman Catholic church distinguishes venial sins (pardonable sins) and mortal sins (death-bringing sins). A person commits a venial sin when he transgresses the law of God in an unimportant matter. Such a sin is forgiven easily, even without confession. Only the sacrament of penance can forgive a mortal sin. This teaching is not a scriptural one.

In an analogous fashion those who believe that a child of God can lose his salvation also make distinctions between sins which are not so bad and which most believers commit sometime but which do not cause the loss of salvation, and sins which are bad enough to cause the loss of salvation. What sins belong to each of those categories is usually determined very subjectively.

III. THE TRANSMISSION OF PERSONAL SINS

Strictly speaking, personal sins are not transmitted from one individual or generation to another. Each person commits his own sins. Affects of personal sins are transmitted in the sense that our sins do affect others, but each must suffer consequences for his own sins.

IV. THE RESULT OF PERSONAL SINS

If we need one idea to describe the result of all personal sins it would be the loss of fellowship. The unbeliever has no fellowship with God because of his sins, and the believer who has been brought into the fellowship of God’s family loses the enjoyment of that fellowship when he sins. He is not expelled from the family though he may lose some of the privileges of being in the family. When he confesses and is forgiven, he is restored to fellowship.

V. THE REMEDY FOR PERSONAL SINS

The remedy is forgiveness. For the unbeliever who receives Christ that forgiveness covers all the guilt of his sins (Eph. 1:7). For the believer, that forgiveness restores the enjoyment of fellowship in the family of God (1 John 1:9). Or to put it another way, judicial forgiveness brings the unbeliever into the family of God, while family forgiveness restores the temporarily broken relationship within the family.


THE CHRISTIAN AND SIN

I. THE STANDARD FOR THE BELIEVER

Becoming a Christian does not exempt one from sinning not from obedience to the law of Christ. To say it does is to fall into one or both of the common errors concerning the Christian and sin. The one is a false perfectionism and the other antinomianism.

Unbiblical perfectionism teaches that the believer does not sin at all because he has rooted out the principle of sin. No believer can experience this kind of sinless perfection until the resurrection when he will be free from the sin principle within. A modified form of sinless perfection does not include eradication of the sin nature but teaches that a Christian can live without practicing sin for some period of time. But not practicing sin not only means not committing sin but also practicing and conforming to the will of God. Sinless perfection involves more than the absence of sin. In reality, the biblical doctrine of perfection means ripeness, maturity, fullness, completeness. Biblical perfection does not stand in contrast with sinfulness but with immaturity, and biblical perfection is something expected of a believer here on earth. (An excellent discussion of the biblical doctrine was written by W.H. Griffith Thomas, “The Biblical Teaching Concerning Perfection,” The Sunday School Times, July 22, 1944, pp. 515-6.)

Antinomianism teaches that the Christian is not bound by the law. Antinomianism’s concept of freedom from law often leads to license. Antinomianism is sometimes equated with Christian liberty, a wrong equation. The opposite of liberty is slavery, and the believer has been brought from slavery to sin to a position of freedom from that slavery in Christ. The opposite of antinomianism is obedience to law. Which law, for there have been several throughout biblical history? For the believer today it is the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).

What is the biblical standard for the Christian? It is not sinless perfection nor antinomianism. It is to walk in the light (1 John 1:7). God is light or holy. This absolute standard is always before the believer. Yet no believer can be without sin, as God is, in this life. Does God then mock us? Not at all. Rather, He tailors His requirement for each of us to our stage of spiritual development. And that tailored requirement is to walk in the light of His holiness. If we say we have no sin principle (as sinless perfectionism claims) we lie (v. 8). Likewise, if we say we have not sinned for whatever period of time (as modified perfectionism teaches) we make God a liar (v. 10). If we walk in the light we will not fall into the error of antinomianism, for we will keep His commandments (2:4, 6; 3:24).

Each believer can meet the requirement to walk in the light. The amount of light each has will be different, but the requirement to respond to that amount is the same for all. As we grow, the circle of light will expand. And as we respond to increasing light we will receive more light, and so on. But at each stage the requirement is the same—walk in the light.

To sum up: The standard is God’s holiness. The requirement is to walk in the light. Our experience should always be a growing one, growing to maturity. That is true biblical perfectionism.