SIN AND ITS REMEDY by D. P. Zeigler

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Jan 24, 1906

SIN AND ITS REMEDY.

By D. P. Zeigler

By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. That one man by whom sin and death entered was Adam. 1 Cor. 15:22. As “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4)—the law of the Ten Commandments (Rom. 7:7)—Adam’s fall was the result of the violation of that law.

That we may be able to know that Adam brought sin and death upon himself and posterity by transgressing the ten-commandment law, let us briefly glance at their act of disobedience in the light of that law.

The first commandment says, “Thou shalt have no other gods.” In listening to the enticing voice of the serpent, his voice was placed above that of God; hence he became to man and woman what God should have been. And in their obedience to Satan, they violated also the second commandment against worshiping another god, as obedience is the essence of worship.

The third commandment says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” This name was taken in vain when they presumed to take it upon their lips after ceasing to obey God.

The fifth commandment says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” God being their Father, they ceased to honor Him when they listened to the insinuations of Satan.

God had said, “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Thus in eating

of the fruit, they took their own lives and the lives of their posterity; hence they violated the sixth commandment.

The seventh, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” was violated in their illicit intercourse with the serpent. In this they ceased to be true to God.

In taking of the fruit that belonged only to God, they were guilty of theft, and thus violated the eighth commandment.

They bore false witness in listening to the malignings of Satan against God, and accepting them as truth to be afterward repeated. Believing Satan’s false witness, and acting upon it, was to endorse it, and hence to assume responsibility for it.

In seeing and longing for the fruit, they were covetous; and by coveting that which did not belong to them, they violated the tenth commandment.

In Gen. 5:5 we find that all the years of Adam were nine hundred and thirty, and he died. God had told him, after his transgression, “Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.” Was there any way of salvation opened to these sinners?—Yes; for the loving Son of God, looking down and seeing that there was no man to save them, brought salvation Himself. Isa. 59:16.

So we find the Lord, in the Garden of Eden, opening the way of life before the guilty pair. He proclaimed the Gospel of salvation, as He said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15. It was decreed in the heavenly courts that the Son of God should take upon Himself “the likeness of sinful flesh,” and condemn, or overcome, sin in the flesh. This was not to set aside the violated law, but “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.

“But not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one Man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Rom. 5:15. “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” 1 John 3:5. Thus for the violation of the law, and to save man from the wages—death, to save him, to restore him, Jesus Himself took upon Him the nature of the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16), and became the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).

But what must the sinner do to partake of the benefits of this blessed Gospel?—Let the Spirit answer: “The times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30. The command of God to the sinner is to repent. “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21.

Why repent toward God?—Because sin is the violation of His law; hence repentance should be toward Him, and He therefore commands it. Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin, so much so that it causes the sinner to quit sinning, which is plainly stated as follows: “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will ye die?” Eze. 18:30, 31.

Let us now note Paul’s answer to the Philippian jailer, after repentance toward God: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31. This, then, is our “faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why faith toward Him? What was His attitude toward the law that had been transgressed? “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. Then, inasmuch as He has kept the law, He has maintained its righteous principles, which we have transgressed. Thus He sets us an example, that we should walk even as He walked. 1 John 1:6.

D. P. ZEIGLER.