11 Jn 3:4; Gal 3:10, 12

Sin is not simply about doing things which society frowns upon. Yes, because man is made in the image of God, and has the work of the law written in his heart (Rom 2:14), he will by nature disapprove of the grosser sins. However, because of the Fall, man’s heart is darkened and sinful, and therefore, man’s judgement of what is sin is unreliable. Indeed much of what man approves is sinful in the absolute sense of the word. So, yes, murder and theft are sinful. Most people in the world would condemn these wicked acts. But doing business on the Lord’s Day is also sin although most people in the world would not flutter an eye lid over it.

"Lawlessness", we must realise does not merely refer to debauchery or orgies or wicked deeds that will land a person in prison in most societies. No, to be lawless is to be doing, speaking or thinking without regards to the law of God. In other words, sin is failing to measure up to the demands of the law or breaking of the law’s prohibition. Our Catechism puts it this way: "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God."

The law of God is the boundary of moral habitation that God has set for man, or as our catechism suggests: it is "given as a rule to the reasonable [i.e. rational] creature." The law is to man what water is to fish. A fish in a tank may appear very restricted. If the fish were to jump out of the tank, it would be free from its watery bounds, but it would be dying and would die unless it is returned to the tank. So it is with man. God is our creator, and He has decreed that we are to live within a certain moral boundary. This boundary is the law: "The man that doeth them shall live in them" (Gal 3:12).

Within this boundary, man has true freedom in his life. Thus James call the law, "the perfect law of liberty" (Jas 1:25). Outside of the boundary of the law is death, bondage and slavery (Eph 2:1; Jn 8:34; Rom 6:6, 17). In saving us, the Lord Jesus not only justifies us, but sets us free from this bondage and slavery. This is why He says: "the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32); and the apostle Paul affirms: "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Rom 6:18).

Christians are able not to sin. He has,— through the power of the resurrection and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,—the ability to live in accordance to God’s Word, and therefore find God’s commandments to be not grievous (1Jn 5:3; cf. Eph 2:1-10).

Sin is lawlessness. It is important for us to know this definition. This is particular so today when there is rampant antinomianism. Many who profess to be Christians, do not know the commandments of God, or if they know they live in disregard to them. But listen to the warning of the Lord himself: