Dear brothers and sisters, peace be to everyone! I am very happy that we meet again. Today, we touch on the third part of Ancient Teachings for Modern Man — the Gospel of forgiveness. We shall focus on Genesis 3:1-24 unless otherwise stated.

In the previous episode, we talked about God’s revelation. People in darkness have to walk towards the direction of light for God is light. Similarly, we, mankind, are lost in the darkness of the great forest. Therefore, we need light so that we can walk out of it. Jesus is the eternal light. Just as His words say: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) The purpose of God’s revelation is to lead us on the path of light so that we do not grope in darkness; not knowing God and even get lost in our lives. Thus, we constantly live in darkness, fear and insecurity as we cannot see what tomorrow holds. We thank God that even though darkness and sin reside in human hearts, we can still receive the forgiveness of God. Today, I will share with us on the third chapter – the Gospel of forgiveness.

Greek philosopher, Socrates, once sighed and lamented: “Everyone knows the value of doing good but commits evil instead. There’s a Chinese saying that goes, “There are two kinds people in the world. One of them had passed on while the other is yet to be born.” Do you agree with this perspective?  Actually, there are similarities between Socrates’ saying and what Paul mentioned in Romans 7:18&19 from the ESV Bible: “For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” The reason lies in human nature. Therefore, Paul clearly pointed out: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” (Romans 7:18). Dear friends, both Socrates and Paul confessed that there isn’t true goodness in human hearts as we are people in darkness.

We must be very humble regardless of what the Chinese saying or the Bible tells us: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12). What do these verses convey? They imply that we have sins. However, the concept of sins that many people have, differ from Christian perspectives. Usually when others talk about sins, thoughts of illegal acts such as murder and destruction come to mind but in Christianity, it is stated that the people in this world are sinners. What does this mean? Today, we are going to explore how the gospel of Jesus Christ can resolve the issue of sins.

1. What is sin? What is the basic definition of sin in the Bible?

First of all, let us discuss what is sin? Clearly, there are two basic definitions of sin in the Bible. Firstly, sinning is trespassing God’s laws or commandments (Romans 1:18-32). Even though God tells you “You cannot do it” you still go ahead to commit it so this is sin. The Bible says, “Do not be greedy.” so if I harbour greed in my heart, it is a sin. In terms of laws, greed is not a sin but it is a sin in the Bible because God’s definition of sin has surpassed the laws in the world. Therefore, do you dare say that you have no sin and that you have obeyed God’s laws completely?

Secondly, sinning is failing to reach God’s expectations or standards. Romans 3:23 in the ESV Bible tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the original Hebrew text, “falling short of the glory of God” is ‘missing the mark’. It also means “not attaining the standards of God.” God’s standard is the perfect score of 100 marks. If I only attain 99 marks, I have not reached his standards so I still sin according to the Bible. To illustrate this, I failed to hit the bull’s eye as the arrow missed it marginally. ‘Missing the mark’ is a sin. We, the Chinese, always say “it’s okay, since it’s only off by a little.” On the other hand, you must also remember the Chinese idiom, “the slightest difference leads to a huge loss.”

According to two basic definitions of sin in the Bible, it is obvious that our human ancestors, Adam and Eve, had sinned as they went against God’s commands. The fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil could not cause them to be poisoned by sin. Rather, their actions - disobeying God’s words, had caused them to sin. This implied that mankind had misused the freewill that God had given them and done what God told them not to do. It was described in the Bible that when Adam and Eve were created in the garden of Eden, God had commanded them not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and yet they actually ate it. They disobeyed God’s commands and sinned against Him. God expected Adam and Eve to completely obey His Word and attain God’s standards but they did not. On the contrary, they chose what they set out to do in their hearts. As a result, they sinned. Therefore, Adam and Eve had certainly sinned from the definition of sin in the Bible. As their descendants, we have also sinned. Just as The Bible tells us “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man” (Romans 5:12). “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). We not only have the ripple effects of Adam and Eve’s sins, we have also sinned. Therefore, we are called “sinners”.

2. Consequences after humans had sinned

After humans had sinned, they suffered from the consequences of sins. The Chinese character for “sin” comprises of two Chinese characters, “wang” which means net and “fei” which is used for inappropriate actions. This means that the trespasses of humans formed a net, covering the whole of human race which cannot be evaded. Thus as a result of sin, people destroyed their happiness in life and damaged not only their interpersonal relationships but also their personal relationship with God.

As we have learned from Adam and Eve’s story, the consequence of sin is the breakdown of various types of relationships. We will now talk about it in the next section.

1) The breakdown of relationship between oneself

After humans had sinned, we can clearly see the relationship between oneself from Genesis 3. According to Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” Thus when their eyes were opened, they saw their own nudity. In verse 10 it says, “And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” After Adam and Eve had sinned, they could not accept themselves; they saw their nakedness and were ashamed. This means that in the past, they admired their bodies and could accept them. After they had sinned, they started to loathe themselves so they tried to hide from God.

Dear brothers and sisters, can we honestly face ourselves today? Can we accept ourselves unconditionally? On the contrary, we may feel lots of guilt and insecurity in us. On the exterior, we dress up very well. We have talents, beauty, money, position, power, educational qualifications and others. However, all these are used to disguise the darkness inside us. We aren’t our true selves. After humans had sinned, they felt insecure so they attempted to use their own ways to hide themselves behind the trees – they could not accept themselves.

After a person has sinned, his conscience is not at peace; he cannot accept himself for doing such a thing and the pain is evident. Firstly, the relationship between oneself is strained and not harmonious. On the contrary, if a person can accept, love and show care for himself unconditionally, he is in fact blessed. Regardless of the handicaps, weaknesses and inadequacies in your body, if you appreciate and accept yourself, others will do likewise to you. This is the basic condition. Many people cannot accept themselves but they expect others to accept them. How is this possible? After humans have sinned, they cannot accept themselves and try to hide from reality.

2) The breakdown in relationship between God and man

How is the relationship between God and humans after the fall of man? Genesis 3:8 clearly tells us, “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.” Isn’t God good? Isn’t He compassionate? Why were they afraid of Him? Ever since humans had sinned, they avoided God and hoped that He was non-existent. This is the onset of atheism. Why did people reject God? They were scared of Him! When a person commits illegal acts, he would be afraid of the police and the judge. I know a brother who was once the leader of a gang. Each time he walks on the road, he has to look intently around him. What is he looking at? He is afraid that his enemies or the police will appear. Aren’t the police good? Why is he afraid of them? He said: “It is because I had done illegal things and had sinned so I felt guilty and was scared.” In the same way, when people had transgressed against the laws of God, they would be afraid to face Him. As a result, they hid behind the trees. Just like what I have just said, we conceal our ugliness behind façades of cultures, customs, religions, traditions, doctrines and others so that we can avoid God and drift further away. The present day cultures resist God so do a lot of religions these days oppose Him. Dear brothers and sisters, the relationship between God and man is tensed after the fall of man so people wish that God does not exist.

3) The breakdown in interpersonal relationship

Thirdly, how is the interpersonal relationship among humans after the fall of man? According to Genesis 3: 12-13, “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Dear brothers and sister, do you see? After the fall of man, people were reluctant to bear responsibility. On the contrary, they shifted the blame to others. God asked Adam: “Why did you avoid me? Did you eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?” He replied: “That woman told me to eat it.” You see, since the creation of the world, man was irresponsible and pushed the blame to the woman.” In the same way, God asked the woman: “Did you let your husband eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil?” The woman said: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Thus, the woman was also irresponsible. Both the man and woman had sinned; they are all bad. Their lives are in darkness and they need God.

People are enmity against God and themselves after the fall of man. They are enmity against others so there is a breakdown in interpersonal relationships which get more tensed. This is a pity! We implore our heavenly father to help us know that there are consequences of sins and not be caught in such a net. On the contrary, we must walk out of it and return to God to listen to His Word, receive His salvation and forgiveness of sins. Are you willing to do so?

Let us pray together!

Dear God, we thank you for your love. When we were still sinners, you did not abandon us. Instead, you sent your son to bear our sins and die for us on the cross. In doing so, we have forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ for you have paid the debts of all our sins. We also thank God that we can find the grace of salvation in you. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.