What is man’s single greatest malady? What is the ultimate cause of worldwide pain and suffering? Why are we subject to disease and death? The Bible explains sin as the ultimate enemy of mankind. Sin is “transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). When men choose to disobey the will of God, sin is the result.
Sin has been in the world since Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:6). The apostle Paul explains that as the offspring of Adam and Eve, every man is subject to physical death (Romans 5:12). We all must live in a world filled with sin and death. Further, the Bible declares the universal truth that “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Since “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), all sinners are subject to separation from God. As physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body (Ecclesiastes 12:7; James 2:26), spiritual death occurs when man is separated from God. Isaiah told his hearers, “Your sins have separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2). This is the consequence of sin, and this is why sin is man’s greatest enemy.
We cannot ultimately survive separation from God. Through God’s longsuffering, each man is allowed to live in this world while spiritually dead, but must seek remedy for his malady and be reconciled to God. If he fails to find a remedy for his condition, he will enter an eternity of ultimate separation from his Creator; this is what the Bible describes as hell (2 Thessalonians 1:9; Matthew 10:28). We can rejoice that all men today have been offered a remedy for sin and death, for there has indeed been one who has conquered man’s greatest enemy (Hebrews 2:14).