Sin is certainly a reality and isn’t something to be ignored, but the western gospel of salvation places a great deal of focus on what it calls “sinful behavior”. Because the focus is on behavior, we have had countless Christians become the arbiters for what constitutes sinful behavior. So…if one person considers drinking a beer or smoking a cigar “sinful” they can question your salvation based on your behavior…because Christians don’t do those things. Depending on your denominational flavor, this train of thought can become much more detailed. Sin can look like wearing flashy jewelry, makeup or wearing skirts too high above the ankle. Sinful activity can look like interracial dating or even listening to music that has intense drums beats (no kidding). Do you see the problem here?
“Hamartiology, the Doctrine of Sin, is taken from hamartia, which means, "to miss the mark." One of the Greek words for "mark" is charagma, transliterated to the English, "character." Hence, to sin is to fall short of the character of Christ! Sin is a mistaken identity. Do we know who we are in Christ as the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David (Matt. 1:1 with 1 Jn. 4:17)? Furthermore, the Bible declares that Christ "is the image of God" (2 Cor. 4:4). In view of that, the spirit of antichrist is any other image! Said another way, there are but two kinds of men on the planet: Christ and Adam, the "new man" and the "old man"-beauty and the beast! Paul's apostolic anticipation was for Christ to be fully formed in a people (Gal. 4:19). "Christ in you" (a plural pronoun) reveals a corporate Man with a corporate anointing, a vast company of sons, male and female (Col. 1:27 with Rom. 8:19).” - Dr. Kelley Varner
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The truth about sin and God's presence Does Sin Separate Us From God? Within this framework, sin not only makes our present life and future difficult…but it also separates us from God. After all, God cannot be in the presence of sin, or so we have been taught. Could God Be Around Adam and Eve? - God looked for the them in the midst of sin “mistaken identity”. If there was a place in human history when God should've turned on sin it should've been in the Garden of Eden, but God doesn't run FROM sin, but He runs TOWARD the place of the wound.
Genesis 3:8-9- 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Did God turn His back on Jesus on the cross? In a word, NO. Jesus was not making a confession of separation, which is impossible within the Godhead anyway, but He's pointing His immediate audience to the Messianic Psalm 22. Take a read and rediscover the pure hope and testimony of the finished work unfolding on the cross.
Also, don't forget... 2 Corinthains 5:19 - that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Can God even look on sin? How many times have you heard someone say that God is so Holy that He can't even look on sin? Have you even heard someone quote the verse in Habakkuk 1:13? The verse actually doesn't mention sin, but it actually states evil. But lets just say it does say sin for a moment...let's check out the verse in its entirety. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? Did you catch it? So, God can't look at evil or wrong, but Habakkuk is puzzled that He still does! Again, it's not looking good for the idea that sin separates us from God.
Nothing separates us from God...nothing...
That's right! Even Paul was convinced that nothing could separate us from the love of God. Period.
Romans 8:38-39- For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because of the deep compassion and love of God, He is uniquely attracted to those who have no revelation of Him.
Romans 5:6-8- For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would d
are even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Let's recap. God didn't run from the fall of Adam which introduced sin into the landscape of humanity. God didn't turn His back on Jesus even when He became sin for us (He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself). God can look on evil and sin even though we feel that He shouldn't. The wound of sin doesn't cause the God who is life, light and love to separate from us. According to Paul, nothing can separate us (not even sin) from the love of God. Do you want to learn more about this topic? Sign up for our Primary Study Track - The Gospel(s) today! It will take you on a 10 week journey that will change the way you view the Good News forever!