So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. (Romans 7:4—NIV)

Now we know whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:19,20—NIV)

It appears numerous Christians do not know what sin is, under the new covenant. If you ask them what sin is they will say, "The only commandment is that we love one another." Or, "We are not under the law but under grace." It seems everyone in the world knows what sin is except Christians.

According to the New Testament, sin is the breaking of the moral law as expressed in the Ten Commandments. Yet it is clear from the Scripture that when we take our place with Christ on the cross the Law of Moses has no jurisdiction over us.

What is the answer to this seeming contradiction?

What is sin? According to the New Testament, sin is breaking one or more of the Ten Commandments.

Sin is sin. Adultery is sin under the Law of Moses. Adultery is sin under the new covenant. Sin is always the same because it is a transgression of the eternal moral law of God. The eternal moral law of God reflects God's Character and so it will never change. The horrible error of contemporary Christian doctrine is its implication that God somehow has changed so sin is no longer sin.

The only reason God is able to exercise such forbearance and kindness toward us today is that Christ suffered the penalty of sin on the cross of Calvary.

Those who teach or imply that the God of the Old Testament was harsher than the God of the New Testament do not comprehend the unchanging Nature of Almighty God.

When we say that righteousness is imputed to us when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, do we understand what that righteousness is? It is the righteousness that would have been ours had we been able to keep the Law of Moses perfectly.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,  God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in sinful man,  in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3,4—NIV)

The above verse is referring to the righteous requirements of the Law of Moses, that is, the Ten Commandments.

Sin against God is sin against God under both covenants, the Mosaic and the new. The difference is not what sin is, the difference is in the manner in which God deals with sin.

To be continued.