1 John 3:4 says, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” This very important scripture teaches us where to look for a definition of sin—to the Ten Commandments. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:7: “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.”

Do you realize though that this is not enough knowledge concerning sin? It is only a start. We need to know not only a description of sin, but also how sin operates in our lives. We need to understand the root cause of sin in humanity. We need to understand where sin starts. And, we need to fully understand the consequences of sin.

The Bible teaches in Romans 7:14, that the law is “spiritual.” This means several things. The most important lesson that this verse teaches us is that there are eternal consequences for disobedience to God’s spiritual law.

We know that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The penalty for sin unrepented of is eternal death! This fact should drive us to be sure we understand deeply everything there is to know about sin. But Romans 7:14 also teaches us that the truth about sin must be revealed. It is spiritual knowledge. God is willing to reveal this knowledge to anyone who will listen and obey.

Where Did Sin Begin?

Who committed the first sin? Was it mother Eve? No. The first sin ever committed in the entire universe was committed by the great cherub Lucifer, who became Satan the devil. If we are going to understand the root cause of sin in humanity, we must look to Satan’s life and learn from his mistakes. What caused Lucifer to sin?

“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity [lawlessness] was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:14-15). God had specially created Lucifer to be a great angel. God had a great purpose for Lucifer. He was trained at the very throne of God in order to administer the government of God on the Earth. (For more, read The Incredible Human Potential.)

Lucifer saw how God the Father, and the God known as the Logos lived. He saw firsthand the fruits of their righteousness and character. He also had inside knowledge as to God’s plans for the universe. Ezekiel 28:12 describes Lucifer as a being that “sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” God gave Lucifer everything that he needed to be successful. But something went tragically wrong.

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:15). Lucifer sinned! A great spiritual being, who had all the credentials to please God, rebelled against God’s law. Taking on a rebellious nature, Lucifer became Satan the devil. He became God’s number-one adversary. Verse 17 tells us why: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by the reason of thy brightness.”

The root cause of Satan’s sin was his own vanity! Very pleased with all the gifts God created in him, Satan corrupted his wisdom. He began to trust in his own abilities to decide what was right or wrong. He began to feel that he was above God’s law. He began to feel that he was better than God—that he had a better way. Eventually, he decided to overthrow God.

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Satan’s vanity led him to believe he was as good or better than God Himself.

What is the root cause of human sin? It is vanity. The Ten Commandments show us what sin is; vanity causes us to do it! If we are going to overcome sin, we must know what sin is. The law tells us that. But we must also understand what causes us to sin. Just like Satan, it is our own human vanity that causes us to think that we are equal to or better than God when it comes to deciding what is right or wrong. When we sin, it is because we think we know better than God. That is what caused Eve to sin.

First Human Sin Caused by Vanity

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-5).

If we look closely at this example of Eve, we see that the root cause of her sin was vanity. Satan got to her through vanity. Satan was able to cast doubt on God’s words to Eve by saying that she could become a god. He appealed to her vanity.

God had explained to Adam and Eve that their purpose for being on the Earth was to become a member of the God Family. God explained that this process would take some time. But Satan told Eve she could have it all immediately. She could keep all of her beauty and be great instantly! Eve succumbed to her vanity and, as verse 6 explains, used human reasoning to justify her sin.

Christ Conquered Satan Through Humility

Satan used a similar tactic on Jesus Christ. Matthew records this monumental confrontation in his Gospel. “And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:3-4). Jesus Christ set for us the perfect example of humility.

Humility protects us from committing sin. Satan tried to get to Jesus through vanity by saying: “If thou be the Son of God.” Satan knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. In an appeal to vanity, Satan tried to get Christ to create bread from stones to prove it. This would have caused Christ to act outside the scope of God’s will and law—causing Him to sin. God had willed that Christ should fast until after His confrontation with Satan. Matthew 4:1 says “Jesus [was] led up of the Spirit.”

Paul wrote to the Romans: “therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). If Jesus Christ had made the stones into bread, He would have yielded to Satan and violated the First Commandment. By creating bread, He would not have shown love to God or His fellow man; but in an effort to prove that He was the Son of God, in vanity He would have worshipped Satan! Read through the entire account. Satan begins each temptation with an appeal to vanity.

If we are going to become experts at putting sin out of our lives, then we must become sensitive to our own human vanity. Every human being is subject to it! Do not think otherwise!

“For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected the same in hope” (Romans 8:20). God has allowed us to come under Satan’s sway to teach us that vanity gets us nothing.

Satan is about to lose out on everything. God does not want that for us.

Who does God look to? Isaiah 66:2 tells us it is those of a “poor and of a contrite spirit, and [who] trembleth at my word.” This verse is an apt description of Jesus Christ. He beat Satan by remaining humble and relying on God’s Word. We must learn to do the same.

Sin is a very deep subject, spiritually. All too often we look at the “do’s” and “don’ts” aspect of sin. But we need to look more deeply for the causes for our sin. The information in this article reflects the “spirit of the law.” It will force us to ask ourselves “Why do I do the things I do?”

So what gets us into the most trouble spiritually? If we are honest with ourselves, the answer will always come up vanity!

Attitude of Mind

If vanity is the root cause of sin, then where does sin start in a human being? Jesus Christ showed that sin starts in the mind or, as the Bible says, in the “heart.” Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matthew 12:34-35).

Here is what Herbert W. Armstrong wrote concerning this aspect of sin in the July 11, 1983, Worldwide News: “But ‘the heart’ as used in the biblical sense, refers to the attitude, the intent or purpose. Sin results from a wrong attitude, intent, desire, which is an attitude of mind. Yet sin is also an act. It is the act of yielding to an attitude, desire or purpose contrary to love toward God or toward humans.”

Mr. Armstrong always taught that there were basically only two ways of life: the “give” way, or the way of love toward God and fellowman; and the “get” way, or the way of rebellion toward God, and selfishness, envy and jealousy toward other men. This teaching could also be expressed as two “attitudes of mind” or “intents” of the heart. Our attitudes either express love or selfishness.

We need to examine our “intents” or attitudes. We must ask ourselves: Are we really hungering after God’s righteousness, or way of life? “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

We should be driving ourselves, with the same effort we have for food or water, to be like God. We should truly desire God’s way of life, which will be the standard in God’s future world. If we are truly seeking God’s way of life, then we have the “right” or a “good” attitude of mind. Those who have a well-developed “good” attitude are less likely to be caught in sin. These people desire what God has to offer.

On the other hand, a bad attitude, or “evil” intent of the heart, is to love the ways of this world. The Apostle John warns against such an attitude. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).

If we are not seeking God’s righteousness, then we are seeking the pleasures of this world. It can only be one way or the other. We cannot have one foot in God’s way of life and one foot in the world. We either have both feet in God’s way of life or both feet in this world. Attempting to have one foot in God’s way of life and one foot in the world is having both feet in the world.

Paul referred to man’s civilization as “this present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). This world is evil because it is really Satan’s world. “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2). Satan, the prince of the power of the air, inspires the attitude of “get” in human beings. Satan’s way of life is the opposite of the love of God. It is Satan who works on our minds to desire what this world has to offer. It is Satan who inspires self-glorification, pride, envy, jealousy and resentment toward authority.

Do we love this world? If we do, then we will get trapped into sin. Heed John’s warning in 1 John 2:17. This world is going to come to a grand-smash conclusion. If we have this world’s desires as ours—then we are doomed to share its penalties!

Let’s be sure we work to deepen our understanding of what sin is. We owe it to Jesus Christ, who took on Himself our sins, to work harder than ever to put sin out of our lives. To accomplish this, we need to know that vanity is the root cause of sin. We also need to understand that sin starts in the “heart” and reflects an attitude of mind.

We should never allow ourselves to drift into a casual attitude about sin. The ultimate penalty of sin is eternal death. It is a subject we cannot take lightly.

What is sin? Now you know!