I have heard that Satan and sin command powerful forces over people. That statement is not biblical. It is Satan’s lie.
Neither Satan nor sin commands real power. Sin is simply a thought or action directed by the person sinning. Satan wants us to think he controls the world, claiming dominion through Adam’s sin. In believing his lie, we grant him influence over our birthright and credit him for making us sin.
Actually, God retains control over everything. Additions that attribute God’s authority to something inside creation is idolatry. The Bible stories credit God for the creation of everything. If everything truly meant everything, then from the beginning, “everything” included sin and death.
God does not sin (transgress law), nor does He force any person to sin (James 1:13-15). Yet, God is responsible for giving humans the ability to sin and become evil. He constructed the scenario of Eden’s garden.
God is not too holy to look on sin. That is a religious addition. Sin never repulsed God. He deliberately spoke to Adam and Eve after they sinned, then God taught them to make clothing to relieve their discomfort. If God is everywhere, then he is with each person while they sin. He is with us when we do evil. Without the capability to experience sin and evil, his children would not be able to choose to be good, his image.
Satan knows our animalistic cravings overwhelm self-control. His whispers twist our desires to justify wanting possessions and power. When we stop resisting temptation, we do the work for him.
To preserve reputation, people bend the truth and embrace deception. They incorporate lies to hide behind a veil of goodness. Humans divert blame onto someone else. We even kill to conceal guilt. Evil becomes routine, and truth turns loathsome. In a life filled with evil thoughts, our spirit dies in the distortion.
Sin and evil are similar but not the same. Sin is a choice that goes against Law (James 4:17; Romans 5:13; 1 John 3:4) with a distinction made between accidental sins and defiant sins. On the other hand, evil is a choice to manipulate or harm someone for selfish gain or without just provocation. Sin is not always evil, yet evil always begins as sin.
Eve sinned before she touched the fruit, and so did Adam, because they chose to disobey. When Adam saw that Eve did not die, he trusted his eyes and her taste buds over the command of God. They sinned against God’s Law before either knew evil. God let them.
Eating the fruit gave Adam and Eve knowledge like God’s, the ability to choose between good and evil. That knowledge came with a price: shame. They realized they were no longer innocent, so their spiritual self-image became distorted. Without something (repentance) to cleanse within, sin would slowly kill their spirit.
The first translation of the Old Testament was into Greek, and the writers of the New Testament wrote in Greek. They did this so more people could read the message. However, the Greek definition of “sin” influenced and still influences our understanding.
The most common word for sin in Hebrew depicts actions that are bad or evil because they oppose God’s ways. Other words imply morally wrong actions, cause guilt, or are rebellious. Such actions deserve punishment under Law because they defy Law.
The literal meaning of the word “sin” in Greek is “miss the mark,” or figuratively, “an ethical error.” Too many Christians live under the curse of “Greek sin.” Imperfections become sin, where mistakes reap the consequence of eternal punishment. Every denomination has rituals to offset this outcome, but the next error returns guilt onto the petitioner, which requires more rituals to remove (1 John 5:17-18).
Most mistakes are not sins. As in mathematics, 2+2=5 is wrong; correct the error and continue. We make mistakes, but sin requires a trespass against the law set by an authority and held by the community.
God asks us to repent. Do not intensify what God erases.
