Part I The origin of sin

1. Sin enters the world

In the beginning, God made a beautiful creation, then he made Mankind to take care of it. Mankind is made of both heaven and earth. Spiritually, Mankind has been made in God’s likeness: we possess the divine qualities and creative power God himself has. In our earthly nature, however, Mankind is subject to the flesh’s drive and inclination just like the animals who are also formed out of the dust of the earth. As God appointed Mankind to rule over his creation, he also makes provision for them to survive on earth. God created a paradise where Mankind can freely enjoy a relationship with God and with each other while carrying out our responsibilities as caretakers of the world.

With a bite into the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, the eyes of Mankind are open and their consciousness is awakened. We become aware of the power of our will – that we, like God, have the sovereignty to make decisions for ourselves. This leads to the illusion that we have the ability to take full control of our lives, the lives of others, and our environment. The illusion then produces a false self-image that we are to be perfect like God. At the same time, we also become aware of our nakedness: in our inferiority bonded by our earthly body, we can never become fully divine like God. We become shamed by our imperfections. In our shame, we fear of being exposed by God who knows the full truth of who we really are, including our desire to supplant his role as the true ruler over the whole creation, including us. This is the birth of Mankind’s rebellion against God.  Sin enters the world when we put ourselves in the place of God as the ruler of our lives and of our world. As we exercise our free will in rebellion against, rather than in submission to God’s will, we make choices that produce thoughts, attitudes, and actions that are polluted, evil, and ultimately destructive.

Read Genesis 2: 26- 31, 3:1-11

2. To sin or not to sin

 This is the first example of Mankind’s struggle against sin.

1. Cain is angry when he sees that God did not look at his offering with favor.

2. God asks Cain to reflect on the reason he is angry – and to simply make the appropriate corrections to change the outcome (i.e. do what is right so that your gift to God would also be accepted).

3. Cain’s anger has a spiritual cause – something in his heart is not right toward God. And the result made him feel shame (inferior to his brother). He tries to remove the shame by removing his brother, rather than by correcting his own spiritual issue.

4. God admonishes Cain to master his desire to commit a transgression. There is a constant battle between our moral consciousness to do what is right and the earthly desire to do what feels good for our ego and our flesh.

5. We always have a choice – it’s only a question of awareness, willingness, and willpower.

When we have a spiritual problem, such as anger, jealousy, fear, or shame, we should take the time to reflect on how we get there – and address the spiritual issue. Often we find this very hard – as in the case of Cain. To do so, he would have to be honest and shameless about his own shortcomings while accepting God’s perfect love for him as he is. But why is this so hard to do? Adam and Eve learned to fear and to feel shame after the fall and passed this understanding onto their children. In our ego when we believe that have the power like God to be in control, we expect ourselves to also be perfect like God. Hence we are terrified to face God,  the only Perfection, and are ashamed when we could not maintain a self-image of perfection of ourselves.

So instead of acknowledging the shortcoming in our hearts before God and accepting his perfect love for us, we hold down to our ego and try to remain in control as the boss of our lives and our world. We turn to our physical power and commit sins to cover up our spiritual imperfection (missing the mark, sin). Soon sin becomes commonplace and accepted as the norm in our daily existence.

Read Genesis 4:1-8

Sin starts with an evil desire that first drags us away from our consciousness, then entices us to sin. The result of sin is death – in the case of Cain, Abel paid the price of Cain’s sin with his life. Think of an example when you became aware that your desire was unrighteous. How were you first enticed to sin and eventually decided to commit the sin?  And the consequence of it.

3. Evil desires that lead to sin

Read James 1: 14 -15

Part II Sins as Defined in the Bible

Read Galatians 5: 19-21

1. Sins of destruction

These behaviors and actions cause visible destruction in our lives and the lives of our fellow mankind. They also separate us from God. Sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like. Go through the list and define the meaning of each sin (look up in the dictionary as needed). Then write down why you think God calls it a sin.

Read 2 Timothy 3: 1-9

These sins are deceptive because people can live in these sins yet still be considered a good person. When Christians harbor these sins, we render the impact of the cross powerless in our lives. Lovers of themselves, lovers of money ,boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God Go through the list and define the meaning of each sin (look up in the dictionary as needed). Then write down why you think God calls it a sin.

2. Sins of deception

Read Mark 7:20.23, Jeremiah 17:9, Probervs 4:23

When we sin, the people and the law judge us by our actions. But Jesus points to our hearts – the source of evil thoughts. What corrupts our hearts? Can anyone of us have a pure heart? Or are we all one heartbeat away from producing evil thoughts and actions? James 4:17 Sins of Omission What does this Scripture mean to you? Remember Pilate? His indecision is a decision. Our non-action is also an action.

3. Sins from the evil of the heart

Read Ephesians 5: 3-5

The standard for God’s people is not righteousness (that we don’t sin), but holiness. A holy life is one that is set apart from the world’s values and attitudes. How do we stand apart in our sexual purity and the purity in our speech? Other Mentions of Sins in the Bible 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 here Paul got very specific regarding homosexuality, which was prevalent even during the first century. Revelations 21:8 Those who do not stand up for Jesus or who do not believe in the message of the cross will suffer the same fate as murderers and those who are sexually immoral.

4. A higher standard for God's people

Part III Self Reflection

1. What are the sins in your life and what damages have they done – to yourself, others, and in your relationship with God? (both sins others committed against you and sins you have committed against others)

2. What are the things that make you feel guilty, shame, fear, inferior, self-accusing, regretful, resentful, or the need to hide? In what ways have your pursuit of happiness, love, prosperity, or fame causes damage and pain to yourself and to others?

3. In what ways do you try to control or manipulate others or your circumstances to get more than your share, or to make you feel more superior or important than others?

4. In what ways do you trust in yourself more than you would trust in God to provide for you?

Next Study

the reFoundation series overview

or go back to

Study #5 Repentance

• Repentance defined

• Steps in repentance