The two dimensions of sin (1)

1Jn 3 “⁴Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. ⁵And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. ⁶Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” And our Lord summarized the law as follows:

Mc 12 “²⁹And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: ³⁰And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. ³¹And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

Loving not God with all one’s heart, with all one’s soul, with all one’s mind and with all one’s strength and loving not one’s neighbor as oneself, that it is to transgress the entire law of God and sin. Thus we find at this level two dimensions of transgression: the first is the failure to love God, namely to love His Word and love the Truth, which results in disobedience, rebellion, stubbornness, revolt or disbelief. This dimension of sin is in the heart or spirit: it is the heart that accepts or rejects the Word of God. The second dimension is the failure to love one’s neighbor, namely wish him good and spare him evil, which is reflected in the works or desires of the flesh, such as fornication, uncleanness, adultery, murder, perjury, etc..

The Apostle John presents these two dimensions of sin in these words: 1Jn 5 “¹⁶If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. ¹⁷All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.”

The sin that leads to death is unbelief. The Bible tells us: Jn 3 “³⁶He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”  He who rejects Christ, in vain he shows a model and blameless life, yet he expects the wrath of God. This is the sin of unbelief, man rebelling against God and his purposes: Jn 16 “⁸And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹Of sin, because they believe not on me » Sinner is whoever does not believe the only Son begotten of the Father. And there is no sacrifice for the sin of unbelief, because believing not in the Son is to reject the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is the sin unto death.

At this level, the works of the flesh are not yet involved: adultery, fornication, envy, etc., but still the incredulous one, rebel, revolted or stubborn is hopelessly sinner. It is in this context that we say unbelief has no cure. Crime, prostitution, adultery, fornication, etc., are curable, but not rebellion against God. The Lord puts it this way: Jn 12 “⁴⁸He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”  We need to believe and love the Word of the Lord with all our heart, we must obey and submit to Him at the bottom of our heart.

In heaven, Lucifer was perfect in his ways, he was wiser than Daniel, he did not kill anyone, he did not take the wife of his neighbor, he did not bear false witness, but he simply rebelled in heart against the sovereignty of God (Isaiah 14:12-13, Ezekiel 28). Notice that God never asked Michael, Gabriel or other cherubs to pray for Lucifer. Why? Because there is no sacrifice or intercession for disbelief. Indeed, God so loved humanity and always wants to help mankind, and it is through our own faith that God comes to our help. When we do not believe we make God absolutely powerless to help us. The Bible says: Jn 3 “¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If someone does not believe he makes that God's love ineffective to him.

Between Cain and Abel God was impartial. What’s more, for Cain God provided an extra effort to speak directly to Cain to advise him what to do in order to become acceptable as his brother Abel. And the council was telling him to follow the path that is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, instead of trusting in the products of the earth. Cain was stubborn in his own religion. At that time God did not even need to call upon Adam and Eve as witnesses or ask them to intercede for Cain. Why? because Cain had then committed an irremediable and incurable sin, i.e. rejecting the Lamb of God. God incurably cursed him: Cain’s curse (and his descendants’) is eternal and without suspension.

The soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4,20). Adam sinned by following the voice of his wife, and therefore had to die. The Bible says that in Adam, we have all sinned and deserved death. Because of this sin, death took place on the earth for the first time, and it was in the Garden of Eden where sin (work/lust of the flesh) had also taken place for the first time. But notice that instead Adam dying in the Garden of Eden; it is a lamb, type of the Lamb of God, that was slain, the first sacrifice for sin. We can distinguish here two different attitudes between Adam and Cain:

Adam disobeyed following the voice of his wife, he invented a religion to hide his nakedness, but in the very bottom of his heart he did not believe in this religion: in fact, he covered his nakedness with fig leaves but when God came, he went into hiding because he reckoned himself naked, despite the clothing he had made. He did not rely on the religion of fig leaves to boast that he was already dressed, but he waited until God himself appointed an eternal solution to his sin. And when God slaughtered the lamb to cover him with its skin, Adam showed no resistance; instead he received it with alacrity. Cain on his side turn up his own religion: the products of fields. Cain put his trust in this religion, insomuch that when God came to show him the best way forward, the Lamb of God , Cain was shocked because asking him to abandon his religion, be it for his eternal salvation, it was too much to ask .

Adam sinned by transgressing the word of God through weakness, but in the very bottom of his heart he loved God, he waited forward to seeing his redemption and his spirit was willing. While he was in sin, his spirit was troubled, anxious and communicating directly with God the Father, calling for help. But Cain showed that he had no need either for the counsel or the help of God. The sacrifice was effective for Adam, but useless to Cain, only curse was effective to him.

All children of God can sin, i.e. yield to the desire of the flesh, because their spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26: 41). What more, the Spirit says: 1Jn 1 “⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”  After the sacrifice of the Lamb of God was offered in the way that God accepts, we can believe and cling to the words of the Lord pronounced on the cross: Jn 19 “³⁰It is finished.” “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

For all those who expect his aid, the Lamb of God has taken their death, he has destroyed it by giving himself to an ignominious death on the cross, so that by his resurrection he could shut up for them the way that leads to death and give them one free path: that of eternal life. That is why the Apostle John says, "All unrighteousness is a sin, and there is a sin not unto death" the path that leads to death is blocked by the Lamb of God for us who believe in Him, he blocked it by snatching the keys to death and Hades. Thus, when a brother or sister did not deny the Lamb of God, but fell into a weakness of the flesh, the Spirit urges us to pray for such a brother, or sister, and God will give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. And he insists “There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”

The three friends of Job had angered God by their fanatical zeal which moved them to speak about God giving their own opinions, but they were sincere in their heart and were not opposed to God. God instructed Job to pray for them, and he gave them life. Jesus said to Peter: Lc 22 “³¹Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: ³²But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not » When Peter said to the Lord, "I will give my life for you," he did not say it in malice but in the sincerity of his heart. But the sincerity of our heart does not imply the truth, or that we are not in error. Jesus prayed for him because he was sincere but ignorant.

Unlike, behold what the Bible says of the Jews: Jn 12 “⁴²Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: ⁴³For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Since God decides to show one the way of truth, but one opposes him, like Cain or like those Jews who loved their religion more than the path of eternity, one is in sin that leads to death, which sin has neither sacrifice nor intercession. We will continue this discussion in our next epistles.

If you feel blessed, share and pour out the same blessings!