Lesson for September 10, 2025
The Doctrine of Hamartiology
Lesson 2
God is perfect righteousness. What the righteousness of God demands, the justice of God executes. Therefore, the justice of God judged every sin in human history in Christ on the Cross. All sins were imputed to the perfect human nature of Christ on the Cross. Since the justice of God judged every sin in human history, the love of God can provide salvation to the human race, based entirely on grace. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
In eternity past, Jesus Christ made four decisions with regard to the salvation of mankind:
1) Propitiation – Jesus agreed to satisfy the justice and righteousness of the Father by paying the penalty that sin placed on every human being, which is spiritual death. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
2) Reconciliation – Jesus agreed to reconcile mankind to God. Mankind is the enemy of God before salvation and needs to be reconciled to Him. Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also celebrate in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
3) Redemption – Jesus agreed to free mankind from slavery to the sin nature by providing the redemption solution of salvation through faith alone in Christ alone. Ephesians 1:7, “By Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace.”
All personal sins after salvation are forgiven by using the Rebound Technique, applying I John 1:9. Believers acknowledge their personal sins directly to God, not another human being. Not only does God the Father forgive us the personal sins we acknowledge, but He also forgives us for the personal sins we didn’t know were sins or those sins we have forgotten.
The personal sins of unbelievers are never forgiven. And their personal sins are never used in judgment against them. Their personal sins are not even mentioned, because these sins were judged on the Cross. Unbelievers are, therefore, judged because they don’t believe in Christ for salvation and do not possess the righteousness of God.
Categories of Sin
- Adam’s original sin – mankind was counted guilty when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. (I Corinthians 15:22; Romans 3:23, 5:12)
- Inherent sin – when Adam sinned, he acquired a sin nature. Therefore, the sin nature was brought into existence by Adam. (Romans 5:12) The human race inherits the sin nature at physical birth through the chromosomes of their father. (Psalm 51:5) Believers retain the sin nature after salvation. (I John 1:8)
- Personal sin – the result of succumbing to the temptation from the sin nature. (I John 1:10)
God is not the author of sin or temptation. (James 1:13-15) All sins come from the volition of the soul. The sin nature only tempts and motivates people to sin. A person must use their free will to give in and act upon the temptation.
God created Adam and Eve in perfection. When God created Adam and Eve, they were perfect beings and their point of reference with God was His personal love. Once they sinned, their point of reference with God changed to the impersonal love of God.
God did not create Adam or Eve with a sin nature. They acquired sin natures through negative volition.There was only one prohibition in the Garden of Eden and that was not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When the original sin occurred, the justice of God created an invisible barrier between God and mankind. Adam and Eve hid themselves from Jesus Christ in the Garden, because there was now a barrier between them and God.
Free will gave mankind the right to choose for or against God. Adam’s choice was made against God’s will, but “God isn’t willing that any should perish,” so He designed a salvation solution for us. (II Peter 3:9) Adam knew exactly what he was doing when he sinned; Eve was totally deceived. (I Timothy 2:14) This is why the sin nature is passed down from the man, not the woman.
Sin is acting independently of God’s plan, either mentally or overtly. So, God did not create sin, sin is a result of negative volition. At the point of physical birth, which occurs when God breaths life into biological life, human life is created. Simultaneously, Adam’s original sin is imputed to the genetically formed sin nature. Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin [the original sin] entered into the world and [spiritual] death, so [spiritual] death spread to all people, because all sinned, when Adam sinned.”
The justice of God created a barrier between God and mankind, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. This barrier is spiritual death. Every person is born with this barrier. The Virgin Birth of Jesus allowed Him to be born without this barrier because He was born without a sin nature or Adam’s original sin. So, there was no barrier between God and the humanity of Christ. Jesus Christ was born as Adam was created (perfect). Jesus lived a perfect life, using the two power options and eight of the ten problem solving devices to resist all temptation and arrive at the Cross in a state of absolute perfection. I Corinthians 15:22, “For in Adam all die [spiritual death], so also in Christ shall all be made alive (eternal life).”
Only the justice of God the Father can remove the barrier that exists between God and mankind. He removes the barrier by the salvation work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, through the imputation and judgment of all sin in human history. The justice of God the Father called for the imputation of all sins of the human race to Jesus Christ on the Cross. Christ’s spiritual death removed the barrier of sin by bearing the punishment for our sins, so that sin is no longer an issue in salvation. This is seen at the last judgment where sin is not the issue in eternal judgment. The issue is not sin but the righteousness of God, versus the righteousness of man for salvation. II Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The unbeliever is judged because he has not believed in Jesus for salvation. John 3:18, “He who believes in the Son is not judged. He who does not believe is judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
Sin is not the issue in salvation; faith in Christ is the issue. Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God the Father. God the Father was propitiated by the judgment of Jesus Christ on the Cross. I John 2:2, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
The reason sin is not an issue at salvation is that Jesus Christ received the judgment of every sin in human history while He was on the Cross. The penalty for sin has been paid in full.
Proverbs 6:16, “There are six things the Lord hates, no, seven things he detests.” As an anthropopathism, hatred describes the policy of God in human terms, so that we can understand it. Here’s the list:
Proverbs 6:17-19, “Haughty eyes (arrogance), a lying tongue (malicious gossip and slander), hands that kill the innocent (murder),18 a heart that plots wicked plans (premeditated evil schemes against others), feet that race to do wrong (participating in evil acts), 19 a false witness who pours out lies (spreading lies to hurt or defame a person), a person who sows discord in a family (any form of deliberate strife).”
The more we know about sin, the closer “accounts” we can keep with God. Understanding what sin is gives you the opportunity of building up resistance against it. You can identify what is sin in the temptation stage, which helps you to resist it. Temptation itself is not the sin, but the volitional act of succumbing to that temptation is sin. Remember that one of the problems in identifying sin is that many sins become accepted in a culture through many generations, so that they are no longer considered a sin by society; nevertheless, they are sins according to God’s Word. If you do not know a sin is a sin, you won’t Rebound until you commit a sin you do know is a sin. For the ignorant, that may take some time; and in the meantime, they decline in their spiritual life, including going through various stages of carnality and reversionism. Remember that sinning after salvation is dealt with by using the Rebound Technique.
I John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin (nature), we are deceiving ourselves and the truth [doctrine] is not in us.” We are not deceiving anyone else, only ourselves. One of the greatest problems in spiritual adolescence is self-deception. You think you’re “good” or even perfect.
I John 1:10, “If we say that we have not sinned (commit personal sins), we call Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” So, don’t kid yourself; as long as you live, you will have the sin nature in the cell structure of your body, and you will sin.
Using the Rebound Technique means a believer has taken responsibility their own sins, does not blame someone else for their sin, and doesn’t make excuses for why they committed a sin. We must always take the responsibility for our own decisions, good or bad!!!