1 John 5:16–18 (KJV)
If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
This means there are two kinds of sin:
1. Sin unto death, and 2. Sin not unto death
Today, I want to focus on the sin that leads unto death, and we will continue with the other kind in the coming days.
What Is the Sin That Leads to Death?
When you go to Genesis 2:16, you see that when God created Adam, He gave him an instruction.
Adam’s creation included all of us. Adam was not the only one created on that day — all of us were created in him. Adam was simply the first of mankind to be made.
There’s a difference between creation and making. God creates everything at once, but He makes them at different times. So Adam was the first human being made out of the human race, but all of us were created at the same time.
That’s why parents say, “We’re going to make a baby.” They don’t create the baby — the spirit of that baby has already existed. The spirit of that baby has been around for over 6,000 years, since the time when Adam was created. I can prove all of this to you in the Scriptures, but I’ll do that another time.
So, when God gave Adam an instruction in Genesis chapter 2, that command wasn’t meant only for Adam — every human being was included. Adam represented all humanity.
Genesis 2:16–17 (KJV)
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
When you go to Genesis 3, you find that Adam partook of the fruit — meaning all of us partook of it too.
Sometimes I tell some of the brethren: if you were in Adam’s shoes, you might have done even worse. Some people say, “It’s because of Adam that we’re all here. If Adam hadn’t eaten the fruit, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” But I tell you, if you were Adam, you would have eaten not only the fruit — you’d have eaten the tree and maybe even the root! That’s how serious it is.
When Adam sinned, it affected everybody, because all of us were in Adam’s loins the day he sinned. And because Adam sinned, all of us sinned.
“…for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
The Hebrew rendering says: “Thou shalt surely die — in dying, you shall die.”
When Adam partook of the fruit, he didn’t die physically that day. It took him 930 years to die physically. So what kind of death was God talking about? God was referring to spiritual death.
The Nature of Spiritual Death
You see, God is Spirit. And when God is absent, you experience death — because the absence of life is death. So when God said, “If you eat of this tree, you will surely die,” He was speaking of spiritual death.
There are three kinds of death:
1. Spiritual death
2. Physical death
3. Eternal death
When a man dies spiritually — which is the condition of all humanity — we see this confirmed in Romans 5:12:
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
(For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.)
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of Him that was to come.
Even though we were not physically present when Adam sinned, we were in him when he partook of the fruit. Therefore, whatever he did affected all of us.
The death Adam experienced was spiritual death, and that spiritual death was passed upon all mankind. Adam transgressed the law that God gave him. The Bible says, “Sin is the transgression of the law.”
Because Adam transgressed that law, all men were made sinners. That’s why Romans 3:23 says:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Why Men Are Going to Hell
Why are men going to hell?
Men are not going to hell because they are thieves, idolaters, adulterers, or any of those things. Men are going to hell because of this particular sin that Adam committed — the sin nature that entered man through Adam’s disobedience.
That sin is not just an act — it is a nature. It is the nature of sin inside every human being by virtue of what Adam did. That sin is the sin unto death — spiritual death, which eventually leads to eternal death when a person rejects Jesus.
The Remedy Through Christ
John 16:7–9 (KJV) says:
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Of sin, because they believe not on Me.
So why are people going to hell, and why are they called sinners? It’s because they do not believe in Jesus Christ.
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you are no longer a sinner — because Jesus came to die to take away the sin that Adam committed.
So if you believe in Jesus Christ, you’re no longer a sinner. It’s as simple as ABC. The seed of sin that was once in you has been taken away, and now the seed of righteousness has been planted in you.
