SECOND QUARTER 2026
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
MAY 30, 2026
"SIN, THE GOSPEL AND THE LAW".

 

Our lesson title is “Sin, the Gospel and the Law" but I believe “Law, Sin, and the Gospel” is a more preferable order for consideration. 

Today, there is much controversy surrounding the definition of sin. Is sin merely a mistake, a misdeed, an oversight, or something humanity must live with because it is rooted in human nature? Everyone seems to have their own definition, and, as in the days of the Judges, each person does “what [is] right in his own eyes” (see Judges 14–16; 17:6; 21:25). In our post-Christian age, sin—if it is discussed at all—is often trivialized. Popular culture encourages ideas such as: “If it feels good, do it,” “Follow your heart,” “Go with your gut,” “Trust your instincts/hunches,” “Allow your inner feelings to guide you,” “Act on your personal conviction,” and “Live without regrets.”

American entrepreneur and visionary co-founder of Apple Inc., the late Steve Jobs, once said, “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition,” while media mogul Paula Abdul echoed, “Break the rules, stand apart, ignore your head, and follow your heart.” Yet Scripture gives a sobering warning in Jeremiah 17:9: “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (NLT).

Most institutions today, up to the highest levels of education—including, sadly, some Adventist institutions—promote a philosophical and postmodern approach to life. The postmodern world challenges the very concepts of truth, sin, and spirituality. Much of Christianity has likewise embraced the Historical-Critical Method, in which biblical truth is continually questioned and reinterpreted. In contrast, a diminishing number still adhere to the Historical-Grammatical Method, which seeks to understand Scripture through its grammar, syntax, and historical context alone.

This distinction becomes critical when defining sin. First John 3:4 states, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (NKJV). The KJV renders it as “…sin is the transgression of the law.” In its simplest sense, this verse defines sin as the violation of God’s moral Law—the Ten Commandments. Though the text appears straightforward, it has been interpreted in vastly different ways.

From the historical-grammatical perspective, sin is understood as an objective violation of God’s Law, consistent with the author’s intended meaning and the plain reading of the text. The historical-critical approach, however, often treats sin as a context-dependent concept shaped by social evolution, redactional history, or cultic practice. Thus, the definition of sin becomes subjective rather than absolute.

Additionally, in an effort to excuse sin, many dismiss God’s Law altogether, claiming that the gospel alone is sufficient both to identify sin and to remove it. Yet Romans 3:20 plainly declares that “…by the law is the knowledge of sin.” From Genesis to Revelation, only God has the authority to define sin, and He does so through His Law. Paul adds in Romans 7:7, "I would not have known sin except through the law."

He states in Romans 5:12: “Therefore…through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin…thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 6:23 further explains that “the wages of sin is death.” Since sin is the transgression of the Law, death becomes its just penalty.

In Romans chapter 3, verses ten through twelve, Paul quotes from the Psalms: 

“There is none righteous [Law-abiding], no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one.”

This fallen condition is Adam’s legacy to humanity. Herein lies the problem with the moral man: he boasts of “keeping” the Law while remaining a lawbreaker at heart. His heart is estranged from God. Isaiah describes all human righteousness as “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Paul understood this truth, despite his impressive religious attainments listed in Philippians 3:4–6.

The prophet Zechariah presents a vivid illustration of the condemning power of the Law. In Zechariah 5:1–4, we read, “Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof" (KJV). This roll represents the two tables of God’s Law, His divine standard for diagnosing sin. Because all humanity has violated that Law, all stand condemned under its curse, and unless a remedy be found, humanity would be hopelessly doomed.

Paul therefore writes in Galatians 4:3–5: “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Likewise, Galatians 3:13 declares: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).”

Hebrews 2:14–15 further clarifies that Christ partook of “flesh and blood” so that through death He might destroy the devil "and release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Sin separates humanity from God because sin is the transgression of His holy Law, which is the transcript of His character. God’s character is agape—other-centered love. In love, He created humanity with the freedom to choose either self or God. Sin, therefore, is fundamentally self-love, and it is deadly.

Ellen White notes the consequences and the solution:

“Justice demands that sin be not merely pardoned, but the death penalty must be executed. God, in the gift of His only begotten Son, met both these requirements. By dying in man’s stead, Christ exhausted the penalty and provided a pardon.”—Manuscript 50, 1900.

 This is the Gospel! 

Christ became our Waymaker! In exchange for our sin, He offers His righteousness—His right-doing. Through Him we pass from death to life, from condemnation to justification. By believing and receiving this Gift, the sinner is justified by faith (Romans 5:1). Thus Christ declares in John 3:17: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Because God’s Law is eternal, the moment sin entered the world, the Law pronounced humanity guilty and condemned man to death. Yet Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” so that “as soon as there was sin, there was a Savior” (Revelation 13:8; The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901). Since God cannot violate His own Law, He provided “Himself, a Lamb”—the second Adam—to pay the wages of sin (Genesis 22:8).

Thus, Galatians 3:24 states: “The law [then] was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

Romans 5:18, 20–21 summarizes this glorious truth: “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life…. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:7). 

This is the gospel!

In his fallen condition, man is incapable of keeping God’s Law and is naturally hostile to it (see Romans 8:7, KJV). The Law functions as a mirror, revealing the true condition of the heart, but it cannot remove sin. Yet eternal life is possible only when humanity is brought into harmony with God’s Law. Therefore Romans 8:3–5 declares: “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

This is why Paul proclaims in Philippians 3:7–9: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (KJV).

Martin Luther captured this truth beautifully when he said: “When I look at myself, I don't see how I can be saved. When I look at Christ, I don't see how I can be lost.”

Paul likewise exclaims in Galatians 6:14: “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!” The love of Christ stands at the center of the Gospel:

“Oh, wondrous love of Christ, stooping to heal the guilty and the afflicted! Divinity sorrowing over and soothing the ills of suffering humanity! Oh, marvelous power thus displayed to the children of men! Who can doubt the message of salvation? Who can slight the mercies of a compassionate Redeemer?”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 269.

With gratitude for God’s love transforming the heart, Paul writes in Romans 13:8–10: “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.... Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Other-centered love overthrows self-centered love, “for the gospel of Christ...is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.” It would be an anathema to continue in sin, having died to it in Christ and resurrected in Him to newness of life. This is the power of grace! (see Romans 6). This is the effect of the Gospel! This is the Law written in the heart!

Christ alone is the Remedy for the curse. Therefore, we read: “Hanging upon the cross, Christ was the gospel!”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript 49, 1898.

“Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth.”—Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times,  May 17, 1905.

—Rey Forde

The following quotes are helpful—the first two from Ellen White and the last from E. J. Waggoner: 

Our first parents were not left without a warning of the danger that threatened them. Heavenly messengers opened to them the history of Satan’s fall and his plots for their destruction, unfolding more fully the nature of the divine government, which the prince of evil was trying to overthrow. It was by disobedience to the just commands of God that Satan and his host had fallen. How important, then, that Adam and Eve should honor that law by which alone it was possible for order and equity to be maintained. The law of God is as sacred as God Himself. It is a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, the expression of divine love and wisdom. The harmony of creation depends upon the perfect conformity of all beings, of everything, animate and inanimate, to the law of the Creator. God has ordained laws for the government, not only of living beings, but of all the operations of nature. Everything is under fixed laws, which cannot be disregarded. But while everything in nature is governed by natural laws, man alone, of all that inhabits the earth, is amenable to moral law. To man, the crowning work of creation, God has given power to understand His requirements, to comprehend the justice and beneficence of His law, and its sacred claims upon him; and of man, unswerving obedience is required. —Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 52.

The tide of woe that flowed from the transgression of our first parents is regarded by many as too awful a consequence for so small a sin, and they impeach the wisdom and justice of God in His dealings with man. But if they would look more deeply into this question, they might discern their error. God created man after His own likeness, free from sin. The earth was to be peopled with beings only a little lower than the angels, but their obedience must be tested; for God would not permit the world to be filled with those who would disregard His law. Yet, in His great mercy, He appointed Adam no severe test. And the very lightness of the prohibition made the sin exceedingly great. If Adam could not bear the smallest of tests, he could not have endured a greater trial had he been entrusted with higher responsibilities. Had some great test been appointed Adam, then those whose hearts incline to evil would have excused themselves by saying, “This is a trivial matter, and God is not so particular about little things.” And there would be continual transgression in things looked upon as small, and which pass unrebuked among men. But the Lord has made it evident that sin in any degree is offensive to Him. To Eve, it seemed a small thing to disobey God by tasting the fruit of the forbidden tree, and to tempt her husband also to transgress; but their sin opened the floodgates of woe upon the world. Who can know, in the moment of temptation, the terrible consequences that will result from one wrong step? Many who teach that the law of God is not binding upon man urge that it is impossible for him to obey its precepts. But if this were true, why did Adam suffer the penalty of transgression? The sin of our first parents brought guilt and sorrow upon the world, and had it not been for the goodness and mercy of God, would have plunged the race into hopeless despair. Let none deceive themselves. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. The law of God can no more be transgressed with impunity now than when sentence was pronounced upon the father of mankind. —Ellen G. White,Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 60-61.

 

“In Nehemiah 9:13, we find the following words in the Levites’ confession to God: “You came down also on Mount Sinai; and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments.” Here we have reference made to true laws and good statutes. A good and true law would in every case condemn sin; therefore, the law here referred to is of the same character as that which, being transgressed, makes it necessary for the gospel to be preached. This law was given upon Mount Sinai; so, we examine the law there given to see if it meets the requirements.  In the 19th of Exodus, we have a description of the preparation of the people to hear the law from Sinai. We read: “And the Lord said to Moses, Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and let them be ready for the third day. For the third day, the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.” Exodus 19:10, 11

“And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud; so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. And Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” Exodus 19:16-18

This was the condition of Mount Sinai when from it God spoke “true laws, good statutes and commandments.” Chapter 20, verses 3 to 17, contains the words which God spoke at that time. [The reader is encouraged to read this text from their Bibles.]  These are the words which the Lord spoke in the hearing of all the people, from the midst of the fire and smoke upon Mount Sinai. Soon afterward, he spoke to Moses, as follows: “Come up to me on the mountain, and be there; and I will give you tables of stone, and the law, and commandments which I have written; that you may teach them.” Exodus 24:12. Accordingly, we find by reading the remaining verses of the chapter that Moses went up into the mount and remained there with God forty days and forty nights. While he was there, the Lord gave him minute directions concerning the building of the sanctuary. Then we read: “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” Exodus 31:18

“And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.” Exodus 32:15, 16

Then we are told how Moses, as he drew near the camp, saw the golden calf, and the people dancing around it, “and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath [at the foot of] the mount.” But this was not the end of the matter, for very soon we read thus: “And the LORD said to Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke.” Exodus 34:1

We will now read the words of Moses, as he rehearses the whole matter to the Israelites, just before his death. We begin with the point last quoted: “At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.’ So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the LORD had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and the LORD gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.” Deuteronomy 10:1-5

One more quotation on this point. In the course of Moses’ final address to the people, in which he rehearsed all their history in the wilderness, he repeated the substance of the Ten Commandments, and at the close he said: “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.” Deuteronomy 5:22

The gist of these texts of Scripture may be expressed as follows: The good and true laws which were spoken upon Sinai (Nehemiah 9:13) were the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20:3-17; these Ten Commandments were written by God himself on two tables of stone; and there was nothing spoken to the people by the Lord, except that which was placed upon the tables of stone (Deuteronomy 5:22). Therefore the words found in Exodus 20:3-17, and no others, form the Ten Commandments, the perfect law of God.

But what has this to do with the gospel? Just this: We found that the gospel is the remedy for sin, which is the transgression of the law; and that the law must be in force as long and as extensively as the gospel is preached. We were concerned to know what law it is the transgression of which makes it necessary for the gospel to be preached, and we have now found it. One more step completes the identification. It is this: Paul says (Romans 7:7): “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” The law here referred to must be the same law that is referred to in 1 John 3:4, because it is one that points out sin; it does this because it is “holy, and just, and good.” Therefore, it is the law to which the gospel relates. And what law is it? It is the law which condemns unlawful desire by saying, “You shall not covet.” But this is the last one of the Ten Commandments. Therefore, we have proved to a demonstration that the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20:3-17, those Commandments which were spoken by Jehovah, in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the smoke, and of the thick darkness, and which were written on two tables of stone and deposited in the ark, form the law which points out sin. They are the law which has been universally trodden underfoot, making it necessary that the gospel should be preached in all the world, to every creature; and, therefore, it is as plain as the Scripture can make it, that they are still binding upon every creature in every part of the world. If it were otherwise, there would be no sin, and, consequently, no need of the gospel. Whoever, therefore, says that he is not under the jurisdiction of those Ten Commandments, virtually says that he has no sin; and whoever says that he has no sin, places himself outside of the gospel plan; for “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and no others. His salvation has reference only to those who have transgressed the law of God, the Ten Commandments.

The above argument is, we think, so conclusive as to make it almost unnecessary to notice the assumption that the gospel of Christ is that which points out sin. If this were true, we should have Christ introducing the gospel into the world in order to save men from the rejection of it! That is, the remedy for the disease creates the disease, the remedy being introduced to cure that which without it would never have existed! Such an absurdity is too puerile to be entertained for a moment. The gospel must relate to something outside of and prior to itself. Since the gospel saves from sin, it is evident that sin existed before the gospel, and that it continues to exist so long as the gospel exists, and since sin is the transgression of the law, it is just as evident that the law existed before there was sin, and, consequently, before there was any gospel, or any need of it, and that it exists as long, at least, as the gospel exists.—Ellet J. Waggoner, The Signs of the Times, January 14, 1886.