There is so much confusion in our world on the topic of sin.

People use the term synonymously with an error in judgment, personal shortcomings, failure and mistakes. We know that sin is a willful and voluntary transgression of God’s known law.

There are two types of sin. The first is original sin (sin as a noun), which refers to the corrupt nature of the entire human race. We can trace the origin of sin all the way back to the fall of man when Adam and Eve willfully went against what God told them not to do.

God told them not to eat from a certain tree in the garden, and that is exactly what they did. It is like they made a beeline for the one tree they were told to avoid. The doctrine of original sin is what caused David to write, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)

A second type of sin is what we refer to as personal sin or actual sin (sin as a verb). Personal sin is the voluntary violation of a known law of God by a morally responsible person. When it comes to personal sin, those sins we have all committed, we are all in the same boat.

Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” Original sin reveals an inherited tendency toward personal sin. There are sins of commission (what we do that we shouldn’t) and sins of omission (what we didn’t do that we should have). James 4:17 points out, “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”

Over the next few weeks, we are going to discover that Jesus came to save us from our sin, and God’s goal for us is to live without sin. Sin of any type is contrary to the will of God for our lives. In fact, it may surprise you to know his will for us is just the opposite. We have been called to be holy.

In fact, God said, “Be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16) That’s quite a challenge. A call from God himself for you and me to be holy. If we are going to be holy, we probably need to understand what holiness is all about. We’ll pick up there next time.

You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].