The Nature of Sin 2 Samuel 12

How Do We Understand: "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” Ezekiel 18:20

How Do We Understand: You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, Exodus 20:5

How Do We Understand: God does not judge children by parents BUT God does visit iniquities on generations

The Twofold Nature of Sin Sin has WAGES Romans 6:23 Sin has CONSEQUENCES Romans 5:18

The WAGES of Sin A wage is: Something deserved Something given at the end Something only one person receives Something absolute

The WAGES of Sin The Wage of Sin is ETERNAL PUNISHMENT Deserved Given at the end judgment Only one person receives Guaranteed Revelation 21:8 Ezekiel 18:20

The CONSEQUENCES of Sin A consequence is: Something possibly deserved Something that can happen anytime Something that affects many Something that may not happen

The CONSEQUENCES of Sin The Consequence of Sin is unspecific May not be deserved Could happen anytime Possibly affects many It may not happen

An Example Two men meet at a bar for drinks Both drive home One arrives safely The other crashes and kills a family of four

An Example Different CONSEQUENCES to their sins Even to innocent people Same WAGES for their sins I Corinthians 6:10

Why? So that the law can be NATURALLY known For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them Romans 2:14-15

AN Example in Genesis "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.“ Genesis 2:17 "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden….. Genesis 3:22b-23a

AN Example in Genesis We did not inherit the WAGES of Sin We are not born sinners We did inherit the CONSEQUENCES of Sin We are born with mortality

AN Example in II Samuel David was FORGIVEN his sin There were still consequences to his sin

Conclusions Sometimes consequences are permanent Repentance may not help Sometimes we can remove them The wages need not be – Romans 6:23 Repentance saves – Acts 2:38 We cannot atone – Ephesians 2:6-8