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24.D.5. What Happens When a Christian Sins?

a. Our Legal Standing Before God Is Unchanged: Though this subject could be treated later in relation to adoption or sanctification within the Christian life, it is quite appropriate to treat it at this point. When a Christian sins, his or her legal standing before God is unchanged . He or she is still forgiven, for “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Salvation is not based on our merits but is a free gift of God (Rom. 6:23), and Christ’s death certainly paid for all our sins—past, present, and future—Christ died “for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3), without distinction. In theological terms, we still keep our “justification.” Moreover, we are still children of God and we still retain our membership in God’s family. In the same epistle in which John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth in not in us” (1 John 1:8), he also reminds his readers, “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:2). The fact tha...
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24.E. The Punishment of Sin

Although God’s punishment of sin does serve as a deterrent against further sinning and as a warning to those who observe it, this is not the primary reason why God punishes sin. The primary reason is that God’s righteousness demands it so that he might be glorified in the universe that he has created. He is the Lord who practices “steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord” (Jer. 9:24). Paul speaks of Christ Jesus “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, through faith” (Rom. 3:25, author’s translation). Paul then explains why God put forward Jesus as a “propitiation” (that is, a sacrifice that bears the wrath of God against sin and thereby turns God’s wrath into favor): “This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Rom. 3:25). Paul realizes that if Christ had not come to pay the penalty for sins, God could not be shown to be righteous. Because he had...
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24.A. The Definition of Sin

The history of the human race as presented in Scripture is primarily a history of man in a state of sin and rebellion against God and of God’s plan of redemption to bring man back to himself . Sin that separates man from God. We may define sin as follows: Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature . Sin includes not only individual acts such as stealing or lying or committing murder, but also attitudes that are contrary to the attitudes God requires of us. We see this already in the Ten Commandments, which not only prohibit sinful actions but also wrong attitudes: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Ex. 20:17 NIV). Here God specifies that a desire to steal or to commit adultery is also sin in his sight. The Sermon on the Mount also prohibits sinful attitudes such as anger (Matt. 5:22) or lust (Ma...
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