Genesis 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

No one talks about sin any more. Talking about it makes people uncomfortable. As I began this line of thought I did a word search in BLB.ORG and discovered 66 separate entries under definitions. Some had a long list of explanations, some listed use and effects, topical references, and of course there was the inevitable mentioning of sin offering, what to do about sin.

I list here the first biblical use of the word sin. It is not the first encounter with sin, just the first mention of sin. In context God is speaking to Cain about Cain’s demeanor. Cain as yet has not committed any sin, but he was about to commit the first deadly sin, murder.

The unique issue here is lost on some of us, that Cain and Abel were the first two born in sin. Able made an acceptable sacrifice and Cain did not. These were not sin offerings, neither lad had yet sinned. Their issue was trying to please God, to be acceptable. God looked on Abel’s sacrifice with favor, not so with Cain’s.

Stop and think for a moment about all the souls that were born in sin long before the law was given. Generation after generation sought or did not seek God’s favor, to be looked upon with acceptance without the law.

Abraham, Issac and Jacob all had a relationship with God long before the Law was given to Moses. Did those men sin? If you compare their lives in view of the law, then yes, they sinned. But the law had not been given. Enoch walked with God and pleased God so much that God saved him from the flood that was coming. Noah and sons needed an Ark to save them, Enoch did not.

Abraham is called the father of faith but he died. How did Enoch escape death?

Enoch just like the rest of us was born in sin, but sin did not stop him from having a favorable relationship with God.

Returning once again to the first use of the word sin, let us look at sin’s position. It lies at the door. The door is ill defined. What door? What does the door represent? The door is a transitional place defining that which is within and what is without. Go out and sin will trip you.

So I will now redefine sin in a manner that does not relate to the law, as it did before Moses. If Enoch had a right standing with God and was accepted then let us view sin as anything that puts our right standing with God in danger.

Anything that soils our robes of righteousness is a sin.