In this essay we want to consider the origin and extensiveness of sin and consider God as the apprehender of sin to bring us to judgment. In Rom. 5:12 we read, "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."  God gave the law to Adam.  Adam transgressed the law and died as the result of sin.  However, this sentence of death was more than just upon Adam, but it was upon all his posterity as well.  The sentence of death passed upon all men, for all men were in Adam when he sinned.  According to Rom. 5:14 Adam as the head and representative of his race was a figure of Christ who is the head and representative of his elect people.  In verses 15 thru 19 of this chapter we read of those things that happened to Adam's race as a result of the sin of Adam.  We read that we are dead as a result of Adam's offence, and that we were judged to condemnation because of Adam's offense, and that death reigned over us because of Adam's offense, and that we were made sinners because of Adam's offense.  Thus we see that sin in man originated with Adam and this sin nature and condemnation of sin passed upon all of Adam's race.  David said in Ps. 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me."  David pinpointed his being a sinner as starting at conception.  Furthermore, in Ps. 58:3 David affirmed that we bear the fruit of that sin nature as soon as we be born.  Paul said in Rom. 7:18 that there is no good thing dwelling in the flesh.  Thus sin is pervasive.  It extends into the innermost thoughts of our heart.  We are altogether filthy with sin.

    Unlike in man's legal systems which are very imperfect, God's legal system is perfect.  It has no flaws and results in perfect judgment and justice.  In man's legal system most transgressions of the law are never apprehended.  There are not near enough officers of the law to identify and bring every transgression of man's laws to justice.  How many times, for instance, has the reader broken the speed limit for driving and never been apprehended for doing so because there was no traffic officer present to witness the transgression and ticket you?  God has no such limitations.  He is everywhere present and no where absent and has all knowledge.  He is the perfect apprehender of His laws broken by fallen man.

    According to Heb. 4:12, 13 God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and every creature is manifest in his sight for all things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.  According to Job 26:6, "Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering."  Job also said in 42:2, "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee."  This is in harmony with Ps. 94:11, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity."  Also Prov. 15:26 testifies to the wickedness of our thoughts and that God knows them, "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord."  Lest we think we are not among the wicked 1 Cor. 3:20 says, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain."

    David lamented in Ps. 69:5, "O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee."  Jeremiah recorded the words of the Lord in 16:17, "For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes."  The Lord said in Matt. 10:26, "Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."  That nothing can be hid from God is manifest in Prov. 15:3, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good."

    Thus we are made to conclude that God knows our every thought and our every action and thus our every sin.  Not one of his laws are ever broken without his knowing it and without the sin being brought to the bar of justice for judgment.

In our next essay we will consider God as the judge over all the earth.

Elder Vernon Denton is the pastor of Denton Primitive Baptist Church, Denton, Texas.