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of Eden. Why? Because that is the
very law that he broke in the "origi–
nal" sin. Every one of the Ten Com–
mandments was then in full force and
effect. It was sin to transgress any
one of them between the time of
Adam and Moses. You can read this
in your own Bible.
When did this thing that we call
"sin" start anyway? Did it start with
Moses?
We read the answer in Romans
5:12: "Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and
death by
sin;
and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned." And
in verse fourteen, "Death reigned
from Adam to Moses."
"Sin is not imputed when there is
no law," you read in the 13th verse.
Yet sin was imputed, because death
did reign from Adam to Moses.
There must then have been a law
from Adam's time.
What ls Sin?
Is there a Bible definition? ls there
any place in the Bible where it says,
"Sin is ..." and then follows the def–
inition?
The answer is in
1
John 3:4: "Sin is
the transgression of the law."
Sin is the transgression of the law!
Do you realize that God Almighty is
not only the Creator of matter- solid
matter, liquid matter and gaseous
matter, as we know it- but God also
is the Creator of force and of energy
and of every power and of every
law- the laws of physics, the laws of
chemistry, every law that is in motion
and is energized? Do you realize that
God Almighty also created a spiri–
tual law? That spi ritual law regu–
lates your happiness.
Happiness lnstead of Suffering
You want happiness. You want to be
happy above all things. Everyone
does. You want to lead a life that is
comfortable, pleasing and pleasant.
You would like to lead a life that is
full and abundant and interesting–
as a matter of fact, a little bit excit–
ing all the way along- wouldn't you?
And you want alife where everything
is pleasant, where there are no pains
or suffering.
You don't want a life of boredom.
You don't want alife of sorrow, pain
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1979
or suffering. You want a happy life,
and you would !ove to feel well, jolly
and joyful-happy all the time.
You could have a life like that.
Everyone could.
This entire world could be like
that-if we only understood the
way!
God Almighty in His great !ove for
humanity set a law in motion. That
law was designed to produce just that
kind of life for you.
But you're not living that way.
You're breaking that law and that
law has been breaking
you
a long
time, because that's precisely what
happens.
That law is merely love, and !ove is
an outgoing concern, not an in-com–
ing lust. It's the way of !ove. It's the
All the evils that have
beset this worldfor six
thousandyears are the
result ofviolatingGod's
law!
' '
way that love should be expressed–
love toward God and love toward
neighbor.
The apostle Paul tells us what sin
is in Romans 7:7: "What shall we say
then? Is the law sin?" People think
that the law is all wrong; that it's sin.
Paul continues, "God forbid. Nay,
1
had not known sin, but by the law."
In other words, by the law is the
knowledge
of sin, as Paul had said
previously in Romans 3:20.
The law gives you the knowledge
of what sin is.
It
directs you and
guides you as to what you ought to
do.
What ls the Law?
You don't know what is right and
what is wrong except as God reveals.
Paul would not have known what sin
was if the law had not told him. Hu–
man nature will not teach you. Hu–
man nature is evil. As Paul says, in
Romans 7:7, " 1 had not known lust,"
that is, he wouldn't have known that
lust was evil or wrong; he didn't have
such instinctive knowledge, "except
the law had said, Tbou shalt not cov–
et." The law that said, "Thou shalt
not covet," taught the apostle Paul
that coveting is wrong-harmful
- sin. And that is the tenth com–
mandment. So the law that taught
that principie is the Ten Command–
ments!
In Romans 7:12, Paul says that
"the law is holy, and the command–
ment holy, and just, and good." That
isn't what you have been taught to–
day, is it? Many people have been
reared in the belief that the law is
unholy, that it is a ltogether wrong,
and that Christ had to do away with
it.
In verse 14 of Romans 7, the apos–
tle Paul says, "For we know that the
law is spiritual." The law is
spiri–
tual.
Paul said he was
carnal.
He was
fleshly and material. So are you. So
am
l.
But the law is a spiritual prin–
cipie, and it regulates your happiness
- a spiritual matter.
The Original Sin
Every one of the Ten Command–
ments was in existence during the
time of Adam. It was sin to break
any one of them prior to the time of
the law of Moses. The law of Moses,
we know, didn't come until the time
of Moses-430 years after the time
of Abraham. But the spiritual law
has been in existence from Adam!
The original human sin is recorded
in Genesis, beginning with chapter 2,
verse 15: "And the Eternal took the
man, and put him into the garden of
Eden to dress it and keep it. And the
Eterna! God
commanded
the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest freely eat."
God gave him permission. God is
Supreme Ruler. He is Lord-Mas–
ter. God is giving the orders. He is
teaching. The man didn't know. The
man had to be told. He had to
be
taught and instructed. Here is the
instruction-the command, and a
sentence. Notice: "But of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou
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