The Nature of Sin.

In an excellent message entitled "The Gospel for Muslims", Thabiti Anyabwile argues that one of the best ways to show others their need for Isa is to let them experience the weight of their sin.  This brings up the question of the nature of sin.  

We find in Genesis chapter 3 the first sins committed by man.  I say "sins" in the plural because three sins are evident in this passage.  Rather than place the entire chapter here, I will provide this link to Bible gateway.

For reference, here is the single commandment given by God in Chapter 2:

"And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

The first sin Eve committed in the garden was changing God's law.  She told the Serpent  "God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”  Now, one might say that she was just being careful, keeping her distance from temptation.   There's a longstanding tradition among the Jews of putting a "hedge" around the Law.  They don't want to get anywhere near it, so they live by rules that keep them at a safe distance from breaking the law.  This isn't what Eve did.  She put her words into God's mouth.  She changed his law.

The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, 

The second sin committed by Eve was judging God and his law.  She assumed he was keeping her inferior out of fear.  She put her desire for self-improvement ahead of her desire to follow God.  She wanted to be a smarter, wiser, better Eve.  She wanted that more than she wanted to follow God.  There are Churches today throughout the world that are built on the foundation of self-improvement.  Their Pastors write book after book on being a better you and having a better life.  When self is the primary focus of a Church or Pastor, that is idolatry.  She thought her morals better than God's morals.  Self becomes it's own god.  

...she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

With this last act, Eve's other sins came to fruit, literally.  She changed the law, she judged the law, and then she broke the law.  She brought her husband into her sin, and it became his sin. Adam, who had been created in the image of God, was now a man of sin.

What does this mean to Muslims?  In Genesis chapter 5 we read this account of Adam's offspring:

In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.  When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.

Adam's children (and we by extension) were no longer born in the image of God.  They were born in the image of sinful, fallen Adam.  Islam teaches that men are born without sin, and if they can do enough good deeds to outweigh their bad deeds, they can please God.  It's all about self-improvement.  It's about being a better you.  The scriptures teach that man has sin and rebellion, a streak of evil, woven into the very fabric of his being.  It is about this sin that Isa spoke in his Sermon on the Mount, which I will detail in a subsequent blog.