Many people today ask, "If sin is the transgression of the law, and the Law of Moses is gone, what is sin now?" From the fulfilled perspective, we understand that the Law of Moses was temporary, but sin existed before it and still exists after it. We also understand that scripture teaches there is a point when sin's power is ended through the completed work of Christ.

SIN DEFINED IN SCRIPTURE

Sin is not limited to the Law of Moses. 1 John 3:4 says, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." The Greek word for lawlessness (anomia) means living without God's moral order or rebelling against His authority, not just breaking the Law of Moses.

Before the Law of Moses was ever given, sin was in the world. Romans 5:13-14 says, "for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not counted against anyone when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses..." Adam's sin in Genesis 3 happened when he disobeyed God's direct command, long before Sinai. Cain's sin in Genesis 4:7 was also before Moses' law, when God warned him, "sin is lurking at the door, and its desire is for you, but you must rule over it."

This proves sin is any violation of God's revealed will, not merely a breach of the Mosaic covenant.

THE LAW OF MOSES HAS ENDED

Romans 10:4 says, "For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Galatians 3:24-25 says, "Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian."

Hebrews 8:13 says, "When He said, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear." Colossians 2:14 says that Christ "canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us... having nailed it to the cross."

The Old Covenant system was brought to an end in Christ and was fully removed with the destruction of the temple in AD 70, just as Jesus foretold in Matthew 24:2.

SIN UNDER THE NEW COVENANT

Even though the Law of Moses has ended, sin is still real. Under the New Covenant, Jesus gave a higher standard. John 16:8-9 says the Spirit would convict the world "concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me." Unbelief in Christ is now the ultimate root of sin.

James 4:17 says, "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." This shows sin includes not only doing wrong, but also failing to do what is right.

Jesus summed up God's will in Matthew 22:37-40, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets."

Paul echoed this in Romans 13:9-10, "For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law."

GENTILES GUILTY OF SIN WITHOUT THE LAW OF MOSES

Paul also showed that Gentiles who were never under the Mosaic Law could still be guilty of sin. Romans 2:14-15 says, "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law naturally do the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them."

Acts 17:30-31 says, "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to people that all everywhere should repent, because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead." Paul spoke these words to Gentiles in Athens who had never been under the Law of Moses, showing God's moral standard applies universally.

THE END OF SIN IN SCRIPTURE

The Bible shows that through Christ, sin's power would be ended in a covenantal sense:

• Daniel 9:24 – "Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness..."
  
  

• John 1:29 – "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
  
  

• Hebrews 9:26 – "...but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been revealed to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
  
  

• Hebrews 10:17-18 – "And their sins and their lawless deeds I will no longer remember. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, an offering for sin is no longer required."
  
  

• Revelation 21:27 – "...and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."
  
  

• 1 John 3:5 – "You know that He appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin."
  
  

From the fulfilled perspective, these promises were completed in Christ's redemptive work, fully realized with the judgment and removal of the Old Covenant in AD 70, bringing the New Heavens and New Earth where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13).

THE FULFILLED PERSPECTIVE ON SIN TODAY

From the fulfilled perspective we understand:

• Sin existed before the Law of Moses (Genesis 3, Genesis 4:7, Romans 5:13-14)
  
  

• The Law of Moses ended in Christ (Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:24-25, Hebrews 8:13, Colossians 2:14)
  
  

• God's moral standard remains in Christ (Matthew 22:37-40, Romans 13:9-10)
  
  

• Unbelief in Christ is the greatest sin (John 16:9)
  
  

• Those who know the right thing and do not do it sin (James 4:17)
  
  

• Even without Moses' Law, all are accountable to God (Romans 2:14-15, Acts 17:30-31)
  
  

• Christ's work has ended sin's covenantal power and removed its record for those in Him (Daniel 9:24, Hebrews 9:26, Hebrews 10:17-18)
  
  

1 John 2:3-4 says, "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Today His commandments come through Christ, and in keeping them we walk in the light and live free from the guilt and condemnation of sin.