1. How does Jesus prevent sin from killing us every time we sin?
2. Is He preventing the first death or the second death?
3. Is Jesus preventing sin from killing evil angels?
4. How does sin kill sinners?
5. If sin kills sinners, why will Jesus employ fire to punish sinners in duration and intensity according to their sinfulness?
6. If sin kills sinners, why would eating from the tree of life enable them to live forever?

7. What would happen to a sinner who lied about reaching the summit of a mountain if Jesus were to allow sin to run its natural course? How would sin kill him? Would sin use the forces of nature to kill him (like a flood, a fire, a plague, or something of the sort)?

A: The understanding of sin is needed in order to understand the answers to these questions.

1. How does Jesus prevent sin from killing us every time we sin?
2. Is He preventing the first death or the second death?
3. Is Jesus preventing sin from killing evil angels?
4. How does sin kill sinners?
5. If sin kills sinners, why will Jesus employ fire to punish sinners in duration and intensity according to their sinfulness?
6. If sin kills sinners, why would eating from the tree of life enable them to live forever?
7. What would happen to a sinner who lied about reaching the summit of a mountain if Jesus were to allow sin to run its natural course? How would sin kill him? Would sin use the forces of nature to kill him (like a flood, a fire, a plague, or something of the sort)?

A: The understanding of sin is needed in order to understand the answers to these questions.

M: Please use your favorite definition to answer the questions above.

A: Understanding sin as just thought, word, or deed offers no explanation why all of creation is suffering.

It is the privilege of every sinner to ask his teacher what sin really is. Give me a definition of sin. We have one in 1 John 3. "Sin is the transgression of the law." Now this is the only definition of sin in the whole Bible. {1SAT 228.2}

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." This is the only definition of sin given in the Holy Scriptures, and we should seek to understand what sin is, lest any of us be found in opposition to the God of heaven. We are required to be in a position of obedience to all of God's commandments. {RH, July 15, 1890 par. 2}

Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it is to defend it. Could excuse for it be found, or cause be shown for its existence, it would cease to be sin. Our only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is "the transgression of the law;" it is the outworking of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine government. {GC 492.2}

The only definition of sin given in God's Word is transgression of the law. It is not excusable, and has no defence or justification. It will be the final and eternal condemnation of the originator of sin and all the angels who united with him in the heavenly courts, who joined the confederacy of evil, identifying themselves with the great apostate. . . . Sin entered the world by the defection of one who stood at the head of the holy angels. {PC 167.5}

APL, please respond to 158783, 84. Thank you.

The world is in a sorry state because of what sinners (evil angels and evil people) think, say, and do - not because of what sin thinks, says, and does. Sin cannot do anything. It's not a sentient being.

APL, what is your definition of sin? Please use it to answer the 7 questions posted above.