God had said to Adam, “In the day that you eat of [the forbidden tree] you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Or as Paul later explained, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). But physical death is merely the “first death.” The second death is far worse. The book of Revelation contains a harrowing vision of the day of judgment, harrowing at least for those who do not know Jesus.

The Battle with Sin

One catechism defines sin this way: “What is sin? Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, not being or doing what he requires in his law.”1 Or as artist Shai Linne says, “What is sin? Sin is the breaking of God’s law plus our condition, which means from birth we all got flaws.”2

Sin is in us and comes out of us. We are born with a sin nature, and even after we become Christians, we still battle with ongoing sin. Sin appears in our affections and our actions, in what we desire and what we do, in what we seek and what we say. It consists in doing what we shouldn’t (sins of commission) and in not doing things we should (sins of omission).

Sin Is Personal (Ps. 51:4)

Sin is also personal. During the Last Supper, Peter assured Jesus that he would die for him (Luke 22:33). Jesus, however, knew that Peter would succumb to temptation and deny him three times. Over the next few hours, Peter did just that. While Jesus was being beaten and wrongly accused, Peter distanced himself from his master, and even said “I do not know him” (Luke 22:57). As soon as the rooster crowed, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter,” causing Peter to recognize his sin against a man he loved and had followed for three years (Luke 22:61). We then read that Peter “went out and wept bitterly” (Matt. 26:75; Luke 22:62).

In other words, sin doesn’t merely break an arbitrary rule. It rejects God, who is personal. It effectively says to him, “I do not love you. I will not follow you. I will not obey you” (see Ps. 78:40; Isa. 43:24; Eph. 4:30). When Jesus looked into Peter’s eyes, he suddenly felt the weight of his betrayal. He had denied the one who had only ever loved him.

Or think of that famous story about King David committing adultery with the wife of one of his soldiers and then arranging the man’s murder. The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to expose David (2 Sam. 12), and David’s subsequent prayer shows how personal sin is. He cries out to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Ps. 51:4). Sin is always against God, and it’s always personal.

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