The exceeding sinfulness of sin

[Ezra]

Human beings generally have an inadequate concept of sin.  Even Christians often do not grasp the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Arthur W. Pink (a Calvinist) had an excellent  understanding of this matter, and in his book The Divine Inspiration of the Bible he has described it very well. To read this book you can go to http://www.ntslibrary.com/PDF Books/The Divinie Inspiration of the Bible.pdf

"The teachings of the Bible about sin is unique. Man regards sin as a misfortune and ever seeks to minimize its enormity. In these days, sin is referred to as ignorance, as a necessary stage in man’s development. By others, sin is looked upon as a mere negation, the opposite of good; while Mrs. Eddy and her followers went so far as to deny its existence altogether. But the Bible, unlike every other book, strips man of all excuse and emphasizes his culpability. In the Bible sin is never palliated or extenuated, but from first to last the Holy Scriptures insist upon its enormity and heinousness.

The Word of God declares that “sin is very grievous” (Gen 18:20) and that our sins provoke God to anger (I Kings 16:2). It speaks of the “deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13) and insists that sin is “exceedingly sinful” (Rom 7:13). It declares that all sin is sin against God (Ps. 51:4) and against His Christ (I Cor. 8:12). It regards our sins as being “as scarlet” and “red like crimson” (Is. 1:18). It declares that sin is more than an act, it is an attitude. It affirms that sin is more than a non-compliance with God’s law—it is rebellion against the One who gave the law . It teaches that “sin is lawlessness” (I John 3:4, R.V.), which means that sin is spiritual anarchy, open defiance against the Almighty.

Moreover, it singles out no particular class; it condemns all alike. It announces that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3). Did man ever write such an indictment against himself? What human mind ever invented such a description of sin as that discovered in the Bible? Whoever would have imagined that sin was such a vile and dreadful thing in the sight of God that nothing but the precious blood of His own beloved Son could make an atonement for it! The teaching of the Bible about the punishment of sin is unique.

A defective view of sin necessarily leads to an inadequate conception of what is due sin. Minimize the gravity and enormity of sin and you must proportionately reduce the sentence which it deserves. Many are crying out today against the justice of the eternal punishment of sin. They complain that the penalty does not fit the crime. They argue that it is unrighteous for a sinner to suffer eternally in consequence of a short life span of wrong-doing. But even in this world it is not the length of time which it takes to commit the crime which determines the severity of the sentence. Many a man has suffered a life term of imprisonment for a crime which required only a few minutes for its perpetration.

Apart, however, from this consideration, eternal punishment is just if sin be looked at from God’s viewpoint. But this is just what the majority of men refuse to do. They look at sin and its deserts solely from the human side. One reason why the Bible was written was to correct our ideas and views about sin, to teach us what an unspeakably awful and vile thing it is, to show us sin as God sees it. For one single sin Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. For one single sin Canaan and all his posterity were cursed. For a single sin Korah and his company went down alive into the pit. For one single sin Moses was debarred from entering the Promised Land. For a single sin Achan and his family were stoned to death. For a single sin Elisha’s servant was smitten with leprosy. For a single sin Ananias and Sapphira were cut off out of the land of the living. Why? To teach us what an infinite evil it is to revolt against the thrice holy God.

We repeat, that did men but see the terribleness of sin—did they but see that it was sin that put to a shameful death the Lord of Glory—then they would realize that nothing short of eternal punishment would meet the demands which justice has upon sinners. But the great majority of men do not see the meetness or justice of eternal punishment; on the contrary, they cry out against it. In lands which were not illumined by the Old Testament Scriptures, where there existed any belief in a future life, it was held that at death the wicked either passed through some temporary suffering for remedial and purifying purposes or else they were annihilated.

Even in Christendom, where the Word of God has held a prominent and public place for centuries, the great bulk of the people do not believe in eternal punishment. They argue that God is too merciful and kind to ban one of His own creatures to endless misery. Yea, not a few of the Lord’s own people are afraid to take the solemn teachings of the Scriptures on this subject at their face value. It is therefore evident that had the Bible been written by uninspired men; had it been a mere human composition, it certainly would not have taught the eternal and conscious torment of all who die out of Christ.

The fact that the Bible does so teach is conclusive proof that it was written by men who spake not of themselves, but as they were “moved by the Holy Spirit.” The teachings of God’s Word upon eternal punishment are as clear and explicit as they are solemn and awful. They declare that the doom of the Christ rejector is a conscious, never-ending, indescribable torment. The Bible depicts the place of punishment as a realm where the “worm dieth not” and “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). It speaks of it as a lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10), where even a drop of water is denied the agonized sufferer (Luke 16:24). It declares that “the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night” (Rev. 14:11). It represents the world of the lost as a scene into which penetrates no light—“the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 1:13)—a doom alleviated by no ray of hope. In short, the portion of the lost will be unbearable, yet it will have to be borne, and borne for ever. What mortal mind conceived of such a fate? Such a conception is too repugnant and repulsive to the human heart to have had its birth on the earth.

[Guest Robert]

Very well spoken Ezra, and utterly true. It's in our nature to minimize sin and thus try to negate the effects and consequences of such; it's only when considered from God's eternal and utterly just standpoint that sin takes it's true form and vileness.

Thus the reason for the law; otherwise we would not even think of sin in its' full capacity.

[Willa]

Perhaps it is only when we see God in all His purity and righteousness, and the length height and depth of His love for His corrupted creation--us,  that we see the magnitude  and filth of our own sin.