The Exponentiality of Sin
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
It is not pleasant to read about sin, we are naturally repelled by any discussions on the topic. But a sickness cannot be properly treated until it is properly identified. In the same way, identifying and recognizing our sinful natures may lead us to a search for a cure. We have a natural aversion to any suggestion that we are not righteous but denying the presence of sin in our lives does not eradicate its existence. Rather, it is through the act of self-denial that fosters its growth.
When something is deemed a sin, we tend to think of it as an isolated instance—to take something that is not yours is a sin, to lie is another sin. However, this gives us an improper view of the exponentiality of our sinfulness. Rarely is a sin merely a single transgression. What I will attempt to illustrate is that each sin that we commit contains a multitude of other sins with it. Because we have a low view of the proliferation of our sins, it causes us to have a low view of God’s grace in saving sinners.
As a reference, I have included a summary of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20:
- You shall have no other gods before me.
- You shall not make for yourself a carved image. You shall not bow down and worship them (Idolatry).
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Rest).
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Lying).
- You shall not covet (desire that which God has not given to you).
The first sin ever committed was the eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This one act plunged all of humanity into a fallen state. We are born in sin. We have a sinful nature. And death entered the world through sin, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all menbecause all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). One may object that the severity of the punishment is disproportionate to the seeming triviality of the crime. One man, Adam, ate fruit of which he was forbidden to partake and that resulted in spiritual death (being severed from communion with God), an inherently sinful and depraved nature, physical death and corruption, and ultimately eternal death in the lake of fire! A minor infraction with dire consequences. And this is exactly how we view our own sins. “I merely stole one item” or “I only told one lie to my spouse;” we justify ourselves by rationalizing that everyone does these things and so therefore they are not as egregious as some would suggest.
But let’s look at the sin that ruined humanity more closely. The first recorded words spoken to man was a command from God: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eatof it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:15). In the very next chapter the serpent enters and beguiles Eve, and thus we read of the fall of humanity:
He (the serpent) said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (Gen. 3:1-7).
The transaction detailed in Genesis 3 seems rather innocuous at a surface level glance. But let’s breakdown the anatomy of sin. With the eating of the forbidden fruit were any of the Ten Commandments broken? If so, which one(s)? I would submit to you that the entire Moral Law was broken in that one instance.
But to answer more thoroughly the questions posed, I would like to turn to Arthur Pink who summarized the observations made by James Usher on this topic. “Very much more was included and involved in Adam’s transgression than is commonly supposed or recognized. Three hundred years ago that profound theologian James Usher pointed out that it had wrapped up in it “the breach of the whole Law of God.” Summarizing in our own language what the Bishop of Armagh developed at length, Adam’s violation of all the Ten Commandments of the moral Law may be set forth thus. The first commandment he broke by choosing him another “god” when he followed the counsel of Satan. The second, in idolizing his palate, making a god of his belly by eating the forbidden fruit. The third, by believing not God’s threatening, therein taking His name in vain. The fourth, by breaking the sinless rest in which he had been placed. The fifth, thereby is dishonoring his Father in Heaven. The sixth, by slaying himself and all his posterity. The seventh, by committing spiritual adultery, and preferring the creature above the Creator. The eighth, by laying hands upon to which he had no right. The ninth, by accepting the serpent’s false witness against God. The tenth, by coveting that which God had not given to him” (A. W. Pink The Doctrine of Human Depravity).
I use this well-known account to illustrate that as it was with Adam, so it is with us today. If we were to ask the common person on the street to account for the sins they are conscious of there may only be a handful of identifiable transgressions. They would perhaps admit that they have lied and stolen things a long time ago. But what they would identify as being only one or two sins is actually much more complex. Take theft for example. That act is obviously a single identifiable sin. But is that all it is? If we dissect the complexity of iniquity, we will see that each individual sin contains a multitude of others. In the case of taking something that does not belong to us, in addition to the obvious violation of the 8th commandment, we are also guilty of breaking the 2nd by idolizing wealth and possessions. The 3rd commandment has also been broken in one of two ways: in the first sense you take the Lord’s name in vain if you confess to be a Christian and commit acts contrary to His revealed will. However, even if one does not claim any allegiance to God the commandment has still been broken in the sense that they do not believe the threatening of God. The suggestion that there is a connection between stealing and taking the Lord’s name in vain is substantiated by scripture itself: “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain” (Prov. 30:8, 9). The 5th commandment has also been broken since you would be dishonoring your parents by either behaving in a way contrary to how you were raised under their authority, or by suggesting that you were not raised with any instruction and thereby casting a negative light on your parents by implying they were negligent. Lastly, the 10th commandment has also been broken by desiring that which was not yours, and by not being content with your current circumstances. Now we see that the simple sin of stealing is not so simple after all. We were able to identify five commandments broken from that “single” act of stealing—half the list! We see here that our sins are much more numerous than we initially thought. Sin is rarely, if ever, a single transgression.
The more we see and understand how aggregated our sins are, how they compound and increase exponentially, the more we will see and appreciate the need of a Savior. The reason why most people do not heed the warning to come to Christ and use the opportunities that each day provides to find salvation in His grace is because they do not see the need for a Savior. And why don’t we see the need for salvation? Because we don’t know how great our sin is. If we examine ourselves in our own eyes, or in comparison to other people the assessment is not so bad, in fact many if not most would consider themselves to be a “good person.” But when we view sin from God’s perspective in light of what scripture reveals we’ll see the true wretchedness of our condition.
“What is man, that he could be pure?
And hewhois
born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
If God puts no
trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
How much less man, whois abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like water!” (Job 15:14-16).
Understanding how our sins are not just a handful of minor mistakes, but an exponential list of innumerable transgressions we can see how true it is that we “drink iniquity like water.” The discussion of sin presented in this paper also explains the veracity behind the statement made by James when he said, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). This is no exaggeration. Each individual sin that we commit includes several others that we are not even conscious of.
This was the emphasis Jesus was making in His Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7). “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brotherwill be liable to judgment” (Matt. 5:21-22). Jesus linked anger and hatred to murder. Why? Because those are often the initial sins that lead to the sin of murder. Moreover, you are guilty of murder even without committing the act itself through your anger and hatred alone. Again “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:27-28). Jesus here points out that adultery is committed initially in the heart! In both cases, and this is really the essence of sin—the physical act of any sin is usually just an outward manifestation of the internal wickedness of the heart. Jesus reinforces this very point a few chapters later, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” When asked by Peter to explain the parable, Jesus stated that defilement (sin) is not something external to the sinner (what enters the mouth), but from what proceeds internally from the sinner: because “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Matt. 15:10-20).
We are all sinful—thoroughly, completely and utterly sinful. Sin upon sin that cannot be quantified. We all (writer and reader alike) have a major problem. In addition, we are told that we have to give account to God:
“’As I live, says the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall confess to God.’
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11-12).
In Malachi we are told that there is “a book of remembrance” from which “you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and one who does not serve Him” (Mal. 3:16-18). So even if your memory fails you on that day of reckoning, the book of remembrance will have all your thoughts and deeds recorded.
I do not intend to make you feel discouraged by this topic. Do not think that your situation is hopeless. I have presented this realization to you in hopes that you will seek the Savior. Just as a doctor must deliver the unpleasant news to a cancer patient, in the same way I am telling you of the cancer of sin that will eventually lead to your eternal death if it goes untreated. This is why the Gospel means “good news.” But it is only good news to a dying sinner who recognizes the cure the message contains. In 1 John, we read that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The wickedness of sin cannot be overstated. The severity of sin, and God’s justice requiring payment thereof, is what sent Jesus to the cross. It took the blood of Christ as the only way of pardoning the guilt of sinners. Do not think lightly of your sin, and yet neither be dismayed. Jesus promised that “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).
Two concluding remarks by way of application. First, when we read that “all have sinned” there is a tendency for us to look at the all and not the individual. It’s the same with the universality of death. When we hear that everyone will one day die, it doesn’t really have much significance to us other than conceptually. But when we come to face our own mortality, when we are lying on our own bed, then the enormity of reality sets in, and the significance of what we’ve always known intellectually becomes an experiential personal reality. All have sinned, yes, but that doesn’t mean that there is a shared culpability, as in a teacher who condemns the behavior of an entire class, yet as a result cannot punish a single pupil. No rather we must understand this on an individual basis because you will be judged as one. Just as much as “all have sinned” means “you have sinned” likewise “every knee shall bow” also means “your knee shall bow, and your tongue shall confess.”
Secondly, this message applies to Christian and non-Christian alike. To the unregenerate it reveals their personal need of a Savior. And to the regenerated soul who is putting their faith in Christ it exposes the depths of our depravity and heightens the grace of God in that He moved toward us in love and called and saved us through no merit of our own, but that He may be glorified through saving hopeless sinners, of which we once were. Moreover, as we grow in grace, knowing the multiplicity of sin should create a desire in us not to do anything contrary to God’s will. Our desire as children of God should be to “purify ourselves, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). May the Lord add His blessing to these words and apply them to the needs of each individual reader.
