Under Sin, Under Grace.
Dear [Letter Recepient],
You asked, ‘What is the theological status of "being under sin?"’ Well, we can start right back at verse 10 in Romans 3,
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seek God.” v 10-11.
And Paul concludes, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” v. 19-20.
And he adds again, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” v. 23.
And also, “Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses.” 4:14.
And also, “just as the result of trespass was condemnation for all men.” 4:18.
These statements are similar to those in the Old Testament,
“For dust you are and to dust you will return.” Gen. 3:19.
“When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image.” Gen. 5:3.
“The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: ‘Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” Gen. 8:21.
“Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.’” Joshua 24:19.
“I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.” Neh 1:6-7.
“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” Job 38:2-3.
“Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. ‘Let us break their chains,’ they say, ‘and throw off their fetters.’” Ps. 2:1-3.
“You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors.” Ps. 5:4-6.
“Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Ps. 32:9.
“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Ps. 51:4-5.
“We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.” Ps. 106:6.
“If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” Ps. 130:3.
“Do not be wise in your own eyes,” Pro. 3:6.
“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” Pro. 6:16-19.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Pro. 14:12.
“Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” Pro. 26:12.
“All man’s efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.” Ecc. 6:7.
“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” Ecc. 7:20.
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;” Is. 53:6.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.” Is. 59:2-4.
“For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppressions and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.” Is. 59:12-13.
“The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;” Is. 59:15-16.
“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” Eze. 22:30.
“The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys.” Eze. 33:12.
“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.” Hab. 1:13.
These are just a few of the testimonies of Scripture on the condition of mankind. I’m sure there are many more. No one measures up to God’s standard. We think we are wise, but know nothing. We all go our own way. We break God’s commandments. We have a sinful nature inherited from Adam that separates us from God. When we compare ourselves to God’s law, we should see that we deserve nothing but God’s punishment. Just as Paul says in Rom. 3:19-20. If you remain unconvinced, maybe we should go back to Luther’s Small Catechism and look at the explanations of the law in the Ten Commandments with the Scripture passages. This is bad news for mankind, but there is good news. What we cannot do God has done for us. The standard that we do not meet is met by Jesus. And all the glory goes to God.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Gen. 3:15.
“Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Gen. 15:6.
“I look for your deliverance, O Lord.” Gen. 49:18.
“Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants; he will take vengeance on his enemies and make atonement for his land and people.” Deu. 32:43.
“Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is a people like you, a people saved by the Lord?” Deu. 33:29.
“Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.’” 2 Sam. 12:13.
“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.” Neh 1:10.
“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?” Job 17:3.
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job 19:25.
“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Ps. 2:12.
“But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies–make straight your way before me.” Ps. 5:7-8.
“Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Ps. 32:1-2.
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’–and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Ps. 32:5.
“Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” Ps. 51:2.
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant e a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Ps. 51:7-12.
“Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!” Ps. 53:6.
“Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.” Ps. 106:4-5.
“But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.” Ps. 130:4.
“And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Is. 53:6.
“So his [the Lord’s] own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.” Is. 59:16
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion–to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” Is. 61:1-3.
“You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.” Is. 63:16.
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’” Is. 65:1.
“‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” Eze. 33:11.
“And the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it.” Eze. 33:12.
“Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’” Eze. 37:11-14.
“Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.” Eze 37:28.
“We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.” Dan. 9:18.
“Salvation comes from the Lord.” Jonah 2:9.
“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18-19.
“You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.” Hab. 3:13.
So we have many testimonies from Scripture that despite man’s condition, God by his grace sent a Redeemer to pay the price of our sin. This Redeemer gives us his righteousness and takes our sin. We receive this righteousness through faith in Jesus. It is as Paul says,
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Rom. 3:21-26.
These are just a few testimonies on the subject.
You asked, ‘What, if anything, does salvation in Christ do for the problem of "being under sin?"’
Paul writes, “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Rom. 6:14. When we look to the law, that is God’s commands and expectations of us, we see that we do not keep them. But Jesus did. Paul writes, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.” Rom. 8:3. Under the law we are dead, but under God’s grace we are alive. Paul writes, “So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.” Rom. 7:4. And also, “But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Rom. 8:10-11. And again, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Rom. 6:23.
Now, it is good that the law puts us to death, as Paul says, “Did that which is good, then become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” Rom. 7:13. So using the law properly shows us our sin. This is why it is so disconcerting that you keep trying to make the law not apply to you, then you don’t think you are that sinful and don’t recognize your sin. But this is a main purpose of the law.
Paul also writes, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8:1-2. So despite that “under the law” we are worthy of death, “under grace” we are given the gift of life.
I hope this answers your questions.
Mike C.
Written May 2006