God's Law Demonstrates the Origin and Reality of Sin

by Lee Edward Enochs


"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12).

"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

"For there is not a just person on the earth that does not sin" (Ecclesiastes 7:20).


In recent years, evangelists Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort have done much positive ministerial work in proclaiming that the righteous standard of God's Law must be preached in any effective presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Cameron and Comfort have demonstrated from the Bible, that for a person to be saved, they must first acknowledge that they are sinful transgressors of God's Law as revealed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20).


In a postmodern and inherently anti-Christian civilization such as contemporary North America, questions pertaining to the Law and origin and nature of sin are deemed irrelevant, obstructionist and obscenely obsolete by most people functioning inside and outside of the historic Christian Church.

However, those who deny the existence, reality and perpetuity of sin are guilty of self contradiction and by self denial, they at once simultaneously affirm the Bible's teaching on the exceedingly sinfulness of sin and humanities enslavement and blindness due to their inherent sinful nature inherited through Adam (Romans 5:1-18).

For to deny the existence and ongoing reality of sin, one needs to give an account of why there is evil and suffering in the world. If sin does not exist as many rebellious Americans postulate, then, where does all the pain and misery originate from?

If there are no such things as sin and absolute evil as our secularist friends postulate, than why is there a universally transcendent feeling amongst all people groups of the world, that things are not as they should be on this earth and that men and women, at times do things they ought not. That people trust that some people in their given society will at times do evil things is demonstrated in the fact that almost all people have locks on their doors or other means of protecting their goods from being the victims of their respective neighbors thievery.

FACT: It is universally self evident that all people at times do wrong things. To say otherwise is to be dishonest and self-deceived. Any honest person, must acknowledge that he or she does things that are not right.

If it is a given that we all do wrong things at a given time, then we must affirm that there is an objective standard and absolute ethical criterion of good and evil by which we can conclusively deem something inherently virtuous or not.

The fact is, that we all have this objective standard of right and wrong inherent within ourselves. These moral sentiments are innate within us.

According to God's exclusively inspired, inerrant, infallible and authoritative Word, all men know there is such thing as sin; Romans 2:12-16 says,

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares."


All men and women know they are sinners and they have sinned against God's righteous standard, those who say otherwise suppress the truth in unrighteousness and stand under the condemnation of God's Law.

The Ten Commandments, when preached effectively to non-Christians, demonstrates to them their sinfulness and need of a remedy for their predicament of condemnation; namely, the saving grace of God as found in the cross of Jesus Christ.

In short, all men and women know deep within that God exists and that we are transgressors of God's law, those who say otherwise are guilty of self denial and self deception (Romans 1:18-32).

Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's approach to Evangelism, uses the Law of God effectively, showing men and women they they must realize that they are sinners to understand and appreciate what they are being saved from. Such a message is of absolute necessity in the exceedingly dark world that has become American civilization.

We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory and need to trust in the saving Gospel of God's grace through the person and cross of Jesus Christ to be saved from the wrath of God.

"But these have been written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing, you might have life in His name" (John 20:31).