You may wonder – why does sin matter so much?
Picture heaven as perfect in every way. That means nothing imperfect can exist there. The moment anything flawed enters, heaven stops being perfect. It becomes defiled.
That presents a problem. And the problem is us.
We are not currently compatible with God, because we are not perfect. We couldn’t exist in His presence as we are. It’s as though humanity has been “unplugged” from the dimension God exists in. We have no real capacity to grasp His holiness and purity, but Scripture makes clear that if God revealed Himself to us physically right now, we could not survive it. Perhaps our confinement to three spatial dimensions is itself a mercy, protecting us from His supreme holiness and justice.
When Adam was created, he lived in God’s presence. Everything was different then. But when Adam chose to disobey, that relationship fractured and death entered the world for the first time. Since that moment, God has kept His distance from us for our own survival. That distance is itself an act of mercy.
This incompatibility comes down to one issue: sin. And it affects us on two levels.
1. Sin we inherit
Scripture tells us we are all descendants of Adam. Because Adam sinned, creation no longer functions as it did before the fall.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned (Romans 5:12 NIV)
We inherit sin. That’s not a matter of fairness – it’s a fact, and it makes us incompatible with God as we currently are. Death itself, and everything that leads to it – illness, disease, decay – is evidence of this genetic problem. The fact that every one of us will die is the clearest proof of the sin we carry.
Scripture gives us a strong clue about God’s unapproachable holiness in the story of Moses on Mount Sinai, when he asked to see God’s glory:
And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:17-23 NIV)
God refused Moses’ request for his own protection – seeing God’s face would have destroyed him. We would face the same fate, carrying the same genetic flaw. But inherited sin isn’t the whole story.
2. Sin we choose
If we’re honest, none of us can claim perfect conduct. We are all guilty of wrongdoing. That’s why sin is such a serious issue for God, heaven cannot contain it, and if we carry any guilt at all, there’s no place for us there. Even if we somehow gained entry with our imperfections intact, heaven would stop being heaven.
Scripture shows us what happens when people encounter God directly. Isaiah and Daniel both became acutely aware of their own sin and both were overwhelmed by it.
“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:5-7 NIV)
So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. … Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.” Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. “Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.” (Daniel 10:8-11, 16-19 NIV)
Both men were faithful servants of God, and both were undone by His presence. If they couldn’t withstand it, our situation is far worse. See our page on What are God’s standards? to measure yourself against God’s law. On judgement day, this incompatibility becomes impossible to ignore.
Why can’t God simply overlook it?
It’s a fair question. If God is loving, why not just let sin go?
Because God is not only loving, He is also just. Justice means wrongdoing cannot be waved away without consequence. A judge who lets every crime go unpunished isn’t compassionate; he’s failing to be a judge at all. God’s holiness works the same way. Overlooking sin wouldn’t make Him more loving – it would make Him unjust, and a God who compromises on justice can no longer be trusted to be good. His holiness and His love aren’t in tension. Both have to be satisfied at once, and that’s exactly what the cross achieves: justice is served, and mercy is extended, without either being compromised.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished — he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23-26 NIV)
What is the solution?
This is where Jesus Christ comes in. He makes it possible for us to become compatible with God.
Jesus did not inherit the sin the rest of us carry. Born of a virgin, He had no earthly father and so did not inherit the corrupted pattern passed down through generations. He was perfect. And because of that perfection, He was willing and able to pay the price for our imperfection. He then offers His perfection to us on judgement day, if we accept it. We gain entry to heaven only because Jesus has already paid our way in – He holds the passport.
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30 NIV, emphasis added)
Just before He died, Jesus spoke those words. In the original Greek, “tetelestai” literally means “paid in full.” That declaration guarantees our sin has been dealt with completely – not through anything we do, but through our acceptance of what He’s already done. His resurrection confirms the Father accepted that payment. The payment was made. The resurrection is the receipt.
Look across the religious spectrum, including denominations where the true gospel has been lost, and you’ll find endless attempts to earn heaven through works and ritual. None of it works. No amount of effort removes sin. At best, we’d arrive at judgement carrying both our works and our sin, and the sin alone disqualifies us. A lifetime of ritual changes nothing if sin remains. No human effort can earn what only Christ can give; to think otherwise misunderstands God’s holiness entirely.
Even mainstream Christianity increasingly softens this message, blurring the reality of sin in an attempt to make the gospel more palatable to a culture uncomfortable with accountability. But a gospel that doesn’t address sin through repentance isn’t the gospel of Jesus and it cannot save. Our only way back to compatibility with God is repentance and trust in Christ.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. (John 3:36 NIV)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2 NIV)
Jesus made access to heaven as simple as possible. We present the passport stamped “paid in full”, available to anyone, free of charge. All we do is accept it. Once we do, we carry no sin before God on judgement day, and a full relationship with Him becomes possible. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is the guarantee of this, energising us to share the gospel and live with Christ as our model. You can invite Jesus into your life with a simple prayer of repentance. See How to be saved for a clear gospel presentation and a prayer of confession.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)
that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:15-16 NIV)
In short: sin makes us incompatible with a perfect God – both through what we inherit and what we choose. Jesus resolves that incompatibility by paying our debt in full and offering His perfection in exchange. Repentance and faith in Him are the only way to close that gap.