Sin and Its Results; by E. Goodrich

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Nov 7, 1878

Sin and Its Results;

By E. Goodrich

OR, LIFE AND DEATH.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.

The great question before us is that of life and death. Neither is it a novel one; for the first real blessing bestowed upon man was life, and the first denunciation against man was a denunciation of death, as the punishment due to sin. And in remarking upon this subject, we may notice:—

1. What is sin, its nature, and its work? 2. The immediate results of sin. 3. The dread and final consequences of sin.

I. Sin is the transgression of law. Sin is an action. Sin does something. Sin is that action that stands opposed to lawful action. And as law not only has an action, but is itself a rule of action, the object of which is to sustain and guide all proper action, securing to all their rights, as life and liberty, it is the nature and work of sin to undo and destroy the action of law.

The idea of sin is not, as some seem to teach, only a moral or religious one, but is quite as much a secular and scientific one, entering into all the affairs of life. There are but two kinds of action; the one lawful, and the other unlawful. And in searching for truth, either in the written histories of the past, the open volume of the present, or the unturned pages of the future, the first lesson that should be impressed upon the mind is, that this world and all its kingdoms, and divisions, and classifications of facts, is governed by law—inflexible, sovereign law. There is not an atom of matter, whether at rest or in motion, whether in a chaotic or highly organized state, endowed with life and volition, that is not under the immediate and constant jurisdiction of some divinely ordained law; law perfectly adapted to the objects and subjects governed; law which, if obeyed, is able to bless every act of obedience, but which, if resisted, is able to break down and defeat all opposition.

This argument demonstrates that sin is temporal; for any action offered to a superior living force is in its very nature temporal. And the declaration of the text, "For the wages of sin is death," is not simply a religious dogma, but a great and universal truth, founded in the nature of things and applicable to all kinds of life and action. And how any one who has given the subject of law and its universal application any attention can teach that man was without law for two thousand years, turned loose like a herd of wild cattle upon the pampas, is indeed most unaccountable.

Again, sin is a mortal disease that defiles and corrupts the soul, and, like a rust or gangrene, corrodes and eats out all the moral sensibilities of our nature, driving away the holy influences of the Spirit of God, leaving the soul a charred and blighted thing. And now, having defined sin, its nature, and its work, let us consider,

II. Its immediate results. In remarking under this division of the subject, there seems to be danger of running into an extreme, either in claiming that man now suffers the full punishment for sin, or that punishment for sin is wholly reserved for a future state.

The action of sin begins in the mind; and at the very time and place where the action begins the consequences begin. And as every action of sin is in the direction of death, but the end is not reached until the action is completed, it follows that sin has both an immediate and final result, and the present is both a state of suffering and of punishment as well as the future. But present punishment for sin is disciplinary, and may be escaped, while the latter is retributive, and is everlasting.

The above argument is founded on the law, that what a man sows that he reaps. And to reason, as some do, that because a man now suffers on the account of sin, therefore he will be justified and saved hereafter is not good. On the contrary, present suffering is an assurance in demonstrative form of future punishment.

If sin was not followed by present evil consequences, there would be no reason to predict its final results. But the religion of Jesus Christ and God's moral government over man, in all its parts and bearings upon man, has been reduced to a practical demonstration. And the world is filled with notable examples, both of virtue and of vice, and is strewed with moral wrecks, showing us what sin can do.

If a man could find life, peace, and rest of soul, while walking in the paths of sin, this would be a complete argument for sin, showing that it is good, and that the sinner will be happy and blessed hereafter. But there is no peace to the wicked, either here or hereafter.

Again, to show the complete history and workings of sin, we read, "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:14, 15.

In this figure, lust is the mother, enticement is the father, sin is the child, and death is the full grown man. The reading of this scripture, and the doctrine that it contains, opens to the mind a large field of thought and controversy. Quite a large class of Bible expositors teach that the very day that man sinned, the sentence of death, which was a moral or spiritual one, was executed upon him. And some even teach that this death in the form of total depravity is entailed upon our race. This gives us a proper occasion to notice both the doctrine of total depravity and the sentiment that man died the day that he sinned.

It is true that the law contemplated death as the punishment for sin, but to contend that this death was executed upon man the day that he sinned, contradicts the entire economy of divine grace, as revealed to us through various dispensations for nearly six thousand years.

God has provided a remedy for sin, and, like all other remedies, this is to be applied before the disease has taken on a fatal or incurable form. Sometimes the physician is called when it is too late, and he says, Oh! if I could have been called sooner, I could have saved you; but now you are dying. Again, if the convict is pardoned, it is always before the execution. Hence, we see that to argue that man was threatened, convicted, and at once punished for sin, would cut off all possibility, as well as necessity, for mercy upon the part of God.

Neither does it seem to help the matter much to go a step further and include temporal or physical death into the penalty; for all men die, notwithstanding the remedy provided.

As to the doctrine of total depravity, it is certainly a Bible doctrine; but that all men are born totally depraved, and that even infants that die, at once go to hell (a place of torment), is most certainly not a Bible sentiment; because this would place man at the very lowest point of moral degradation; he could get no lower by sinning, and it would be folly to talk of curing such a one; for there is nothing to cure. It is sin that depraves, and the history of sin is the history of depravity; for depravity is but the progressive development of sin and its ravages upon the moral man. Every sin and every iniquity committed, and every truth rejected, is a lesson in total depravity.

We have instances of total depravity recorded in the Bible, as in the first chapter of Romans. But it is of those wicked nations who, having the truth, held it in unrighteousness; and, "when they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness . . . and to vile affections. . . . And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind [margin, a mind void of judgment], to do those things which are not convenient."

The principles of God's government are the same in all ages of the world; and whenever we find either a man or a nation depraved, it is sin that has deprived. As long as the Spirit of God performs its office work upon the heart, enlightening the mind and giving knowledge of sin, it cannot be said that the man is totally depraved. But when the light which is in us becomes darkness, because we do not follow it, and when the Spirit of God ceases to strive with us, it is then we are totally depraved. And the doctrine of depravity is the doctrine of reprobation, because when one is depraved and rejected of God, that is reprobation.

There are only three positions of moral relation that are possible for man to sustain to God: 1. That of perfect friendship and reconciliation. This is a state of peace and security, in which we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. In this state, the cure has been applied, and man is safe. 2. A state of perfect alienation and reprobation, in which the person is given over to hardness of heart and reprobacy of mind to believe a lie, that he may be damned. This state is represented by the earth, which, although it drinketh in both the rain and dew from heaven, bringeth forth only briars and thorns, and, therefore, is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned. This is an awful state, in which and for which there is neither hope nor mercy. 3. There is a state of partial alienation, in which there is a remedy and possible salvation. And the object of probation, mercy, and moral training, is perfect reconciliation, a development of good and a suppression of evil. In this state the gospel, when preached in power and in demonstration of the Spirit, becomes either the savor of life unto life or of death unto death.

III. As to the final results of sin, there remains but little to be said. The work that has been begun is completed. As in nature, so in sin, there is first the blade, then the stalk, then the ear, then the ripe corn in the ear, and then the harvest. In the governments of earth, there is the power that makes the law, there is the power that explains, expounds, and applies the law in all doubtful cases, and there is the power that executes the purposes of the law. In criminal life, there is: 1. The penal statute that denounces the crime and apportions the punishment; 2. The crime itself committed, of which the law takes cognizance; 3. Conviction and condemnation that consigns or appoints to punishment, and, 4. The execution. So it is in God's moral government. And, as the figure used in the text, there is the labor and then the wages. This is all that there is of sin. The wages of sin is death. And as the punishment for sin is final, the death threatened is everlasting.— E. Goodrich.