Sin violates the vital connection between a person and God. Citing Isaiah 59:2, the source explains that true religion, from the Latin re-ligare, "to bind fast," depends on that connection, and where it is broken, true religion soon fails. The damaged relationship is like that between a headstrong child and a parent: as long as the child remains unyielding, a mature and balanced relationship and growth are greatly diminished. All sin is ultimately committed against God, and it also harms the sinner, who belongs to God because Christ bought him with His blood. Habitual sin enslaves like an addiction, hardening the heart and lowering the conscience's barriers to further sin. Its effects are cumulative and spread outward to family, community, and the world, and it ends in death (James 1:15). Because people are at enmity with God, they often refuse to acknowledge sin, and a world that rejects God's definition of sin learns to justify evil. The remedy lies in God's nature of love, which means walking according to His commandments. Sin separates us from the Father and His love, without which we would be eternally lost, yet the life and blood of Jesus Christ is the provided antidote.

Sin separates mankind from God and from one another, and war is its most obvious and terrifying demonstration. The roots of this division lie in Helel's rebellion and the deception of Adam and Eve, who did not believe God's Word and declared their independence from Him. Since then, the carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7). Isaiah 59:1-2 shows that God's hand is not shortened and His ear is not deaf, but iniquity builds barriers, hides His face, and keeps Him from answering. It only appears that God has gone far off, when in fact the sinner has drifted away. Isaiah 1 shows that ritual observance cannot bridge the gap when it is not matched by obedience to God's moral law in daily life. Hatred, greed, and contempt for others are divisive, and as John says, someone who hates his brother cannot truly love God. Breaking any commandment, not only the sixth, separates a person from God. At its essence, sin is disbelief in God's Word, which slanders His character and assumes mankind knows better. Such unbelief hardens the heart and blocks repentance. The wages of sin is death, the second death being the ultimate separation. Reconciliation comes through belief, repentance, and Christ's blood. Only when sin is removed will separation from God end.

All sin separates us from God, even though some sins are worse than others and carry heavier consequences and penalties. Isaiah 59:2 states the principle: "your iniquities have separated you and your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." Whether a sin is greater or lesser, it creates distance between the sinner and God. Unrepented, that separation becomes permanent and ends in the second, permanent death. Some sins deepen the break more than others. Those marked by rebellion and defiance, such as blaspheming the Holy Spirit, willfully falling away after receiving knowledge of the truth, or persistent apathetic neglect, lead to a sin unto death for which no sacrifice remains and God cannot forgive because the sinner will not repent. Sins that arise from weakness, ignorance, or poor judgment do not lead to death when the sinner genuinely confesses and repents. Then Christ's sacrifice cleanses the sinner and removes the penalty (I John 1:8-9). The remedy is to overcome all sin, giving first priority to the greater sins, through the strength of Christ, since without Him we can do nothing.

Sin always produces separation and never heals or improves anything. God created us for an everlasting, peaceful relationship with Him, and that relationship is the source of power to overcome, so estrangement from God means defeat. Isaiah 59:1-3 makes the point: the Lord's hand is not shortened and His ear is not heavy, but iniquities have separated people from their God and hidden His face from them so that He will not hear. The lesson runs from the beginning of Scripture. After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree, death, the ultimate separation, followed, and God also physically drove them from the garden and barred the way to the tree of life (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:22-24). Revelation 22:18-19 confirms that God remains as serious at the end as at the start, warning that He will take away from the Book of Life and the holy city the part of anyone who departs from His words. Those dominated by sin will not be there. Sin destroys relationships, whether with God or with other people, and this is hard for us to grasp. Because God and Christ do not sin, the goal of becoming one with Them, in full agreement with Them and with each other, is the reason sin is so grave. Sin is always near and beckoning (Genesis 4:7), yet we are responsible to rule over it.

Sin creates estrangement from God, and this is as dreadful as the defeat it represents, because the relationship with Him is the source of power to succeed in His purpose. Isaiah 59:1-2 says iniquities separate people from God and hide His face so that He will not hear. God does not sin because sin destroys relationships, and sinners cannot fit within a non-sinning relationship. Whether with fellow humans or with God, sin always produces separation, never heals, and destroys any hope of oneness. Genesis teaches this from the start: God warned Adam that eating the forbidden fruit meant death, the ultimate separation, and when Adam and Eve sinned He also drove them from the garden and from the tree of life, removing them from His immediate presence. Revelation 22:18-19 confirms the seriousness at the end of Scripture, warning that God will take away a person's part in the Book of Life. Sin is mankind's enemy, lying at the door as with Cain (Genesis 4:7), and it must be defeated to God's satisfaction or the relationship will not continue for eternity. Even sins of ignorance, carelessness, or indifference bring destructive results, and persistent, unrepentant rebellion is especially grave. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Godly fear of losing this relationship by dishonoring Him motivates the Christian to overcome sin.

All sin, greater or lesser, separates us from a relationship with God. Isaiah 59:2 says, "your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." If sins are not repented of, the separation becomes permanent, and God's judgment ends in final death. Greater sins do more damage to character and to others, and they bring heavier punishment, so the highest priority belongs to overcoming them, yet lesser sins cannot be ignored, because breaking even one commandment makes a person guilty of the whole law. The real issue in any sin is therefore not merely the wrong itself or the harm to other people, but the offense against God. Joseph, tempted by Potiphar's wife, asked how he could "sin against God," and David, though guilty of murder and adultery, confessed, "Against You, You only, have I sinned." What troubled David most was being separated from God. Sin includes both outward acts and heart attitudes such as hatred and envy, and all of it indicates a wrong relationship to God. Separation is overcome through repentance, baptism, and the blood of Christ, which cleanses and justifies the faithful, so that God sees Christ's righteousness upon them. Because all forgiven sin has been fully dealt with, the believer should think primarily in terms of relationship to God rather than dwell on forgiven past sins.

Sin kills and separates. When Adam and Eve sinned they became spiritually dead, and God had to drive them from the garden because their sins separated them from Him and made fellowship impossible. The whole world has followed in their footsteps, for everyone except Christ has chosen to sin when Satan set a choice before him. Trespasses and sins leave people dead until God makes them alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-3). Israel's history shows the same result: because they sinned against the Lord, walked in the ways of the nations, and rejected His covenant, He removed them from His sight and carried them into captivity (II Kings 17). Sin also threatens to cut off those God has redeemed. Under the command of Unleavened Bread, whoever ate leaven was cut off from Israel, and anyone who takes in sin as a habit on the way to the Kingdom will not make it. Believers must therefore purge the old leaven of malice and wickedness, both the sins of the mind and those of word and deed, and replace them with sincerity and truth. Sin is often corporate, as people are swept along by the world, nation, ethnic group, family, or spouse, and Ananias and Sapphira died for colluding in sin. Yet God judges each person individually, so going along with the crowd is no excuse. The broad way the majority takes leads to destruction.

Sin separates man from God. Isaiah 59:1-2 explains that God's hand is not too short to save nor His ear too heavy to hear, but iniquities have separated people from Him and hidden His face so that He will not hear. Access to God is possible only if sin is overcome, and that is accomplished through the blood of Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of the whole world and bring near those who were far off (Ephesians 2:13). The sin and trespass offerings were burnt outside the camp, emphasizing God's disgust at sin and the separation it produces: the sinner had no access to God until he repented and was cut off from the community until cleansed. The seriousness of the separation varied with the sinner. When the high priest or the whole congregation sinned, communication with God was completely shut off, so the blood had to be applied to the incense altar, which represents prayer, to heal the breach. A private individual's sin affected mainly himself, so the blood went on the brazen altar. Because human nature remains in the flesh even after baptism, believers sometimes fall to it and fear separation from God. Works cannot restore access; only Christ's sacrifice keeps communication with the Father open.

Sin is what separates us from God, and watchfulness joined with prayer is what keeps us united with Him. Sin is falling short of the glory of God, not merely breaking the law. When the disciples fell asleep in Gethsemane, they fell short of what God would have done in their place, and so they forsook Jesus despite their sincere pledge. The flesh is not passive but eagerly wants to sin; it is enmity against God and attacks at a weak point. Yet we do not have to sin. If we watch to discern the danger and pray for strength, God provides a way of escape, and this tends toward unity with God because we do not sin. Sin also made the world an enemy of God. Sin entered through one man and has shaped every system men built apart from God, so the whole world lies under the wicked one. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, and no one can love the Father and the world at once. Satan can tempt, deceive, and confuse, but he cannot make anyone sin. Since there is no neutrality, believers must fight the flesh, the world, and the Devil, because peace with any of them makes a person God's enemy.

Jesus Christ was made to be sin for humanity even though He knew no sin. This occurred so that believers might become the righteousness of God in Him. The Greek word rendered sin in this statement refers to sin itself rather than a sin offering. In becoming sin Christ was identified with sin and became its representation. The Father therefore dealt with Him as sin must be dealt with. Christ experienced the full effects of sin including separation from God and being forsaken. The same principle appears when Christ is described as having become a curse for humanity after being hanged on a tree. Thorns placed on His head symbolized the curse that entered the world through sin. Darkness covered the land while He bore the iniquities of all and while God withdrew because of transcendent purity. The Messiah thus took the sins and their penalties in full.

Guilt is a corrosive force, eating away at the soul, as it signifies our sinfulness and the separation it causes from God. It burdens us with the realization that we have transgressed His holy law, incurring the death penalty, and leaves us with a profound sense of unworthiness. This guilt, as seen in Simon Peter's reaction in Luke 5:1-8, drove him to fall at Jesus' knees, overwhelmed by his sinfulness, pleading for the Lord to depart from him due to the unbearable weight of his unworthiness in the presence of Christ's holiness. Similarly, in Acts 2:36-38, the men of Israel, upon hearing Peter's sermon on Pentecost, were cut to the heart with guilt for crucifying their Messiah, desperately asking what they could do to remedy their grave sin. Sin creates a chasm between us and God, alienating us from His presence, as illustrated by David's pleas in Psalm 6:1-5, where he cries out for mercy, feeling the weight of God's displeasure and the absence of His response. This separation drives the sinner to despair, as David expresses, fearing death without forgiveness, unable to praise or remember God from the grave. Guilt, rooted in our spiritual condition, can only be resolved by God's mercy and forgiveness, for no external remedy can heal the internal rift caused by sin. Yet, God often uses this painful guilt for a good purpose, motivating us toward repentance and change. In Acts 2:38, Peter instructs the guilt-stricken crowd to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, promising the gift of the Holy Spirit as a path to reconciliation. Similarly, in Psalm 6:8-10, after David's remorse and pleading, God forgives him, restoring his confidence and zeal to separate himself from the workers of iniquity, ensuring he avoids the situations that led to sin. Guilt, though a heavy burden, becomes a catalyst under God's hand to turn us back to Him, to seek His forgiveness, and to restore the covenant relationship broken by our transgressions.

Sin separates humanity from God. Everyone has broken God's law, and the penalty for sin is death (Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 6:23). This death is spiritual as well as physical, because death in itself is separation, and spiritual death is the separation of the heart and mind from God. Adam and Eve show the pattern. Before their disobedience there was openness between God and man, but once they sinned they felt guilt and hid from His presence, and the relationship they had enjoyed was broken. Men and women have been hiding ever since, through self-imposed ignorance of spiritual things, supposed sophistication, or even religion, since many religious experiences are attempts to get away from God rather than find Him. God's holiness lies at the core of His being, so He cannot be indifferent to sin, which tries to diminish His majesty. His wrath is directed against it, and the sinner is alienated from Him. Humanity cannot heal this breach, because sin binds even the will, so that people cannot choose to obey God, let alone please Him. Only God can bridge the gap. Christ, the one Mediator, took the death of separation upon Himself as our substitute, reconciling us to God. By the torn veil of the Temple, God showed that the way into His presence is now open to all who believe.