It is really common for us to say, “our sin separates us from God.” It’s a loose quotation of Isaiah 59:2. What’s generally said is that mankind has a sin problem, and that sin keeps people away from God.

That’s true, as far as it goes. Separation brings up the holy/unholy dynamic, and points out that God is entirely holy, and we have no business being in the same space that he is in. Sin and God don’t go in the same room.

Here’s the problem, though, in terms of how we often think about it: generic ‘sin’ is not what now keeps us from God. Your immoral behavior no longer keeps you from God. Your unrighteous anger no longer keeps you from God. Those are not good things, not moral things, not behaviors that you should cultivate or ignore or not want to improve in. But to say that it separates you from God is to miss the point of the Bible.

The Bible’s main point is the presentation of the Gospel. Jesus Christ has come, and he lived a sinless life, and he sacrificed himself as the perfect lamb, and he shed his innocent blood. When he died on Calvary, the curtain of separation that kept the holy space of God from the rest of the unholy world was ripped right in two. Dead people came to life. Unclean people roamed Jerusalem and did not defile it.

Atonement happened.

The proclamation of the Bible is that Jesus Christ has paid for sin. His sacrifice was enough for all sin; his sacrifice was once for all. And his sacrifice is applied for those who believe: as he was famously recorded in John 3:16, God gave his only begotten son so that “whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

It is now a particular sin that keeps you from God, that separates you. It is the sin of rejecting the Son. Of unbelief. Stealing from the corner store or basic immorality is still sin – it just isn’t sin that makes you unholy. What Jesus makes holy is holy, even though people who believe in him still stumble in many ways.

The atonement points to another way into the holy space of God, into the presence of the Almighty. It is the way Jesus made by his own sacrifice. My efforts to create a way for myself by keeping some code or being better than the next person are doomed. The way has been made. God’s plan has come to fruition. Jesus Christ came for us. The atonement is true.

May this lead us to the emphasis of the Bible: believe in the Son. As we do we will link behavior to the gospel, we will respond to the holiness and righteousness and adoption that has been accomplished for us with lives that more and more reflect the truth that we believe: Jesus has really paid it all.

And it also means this: that (of course!) Christians still sin. And their sin does not separate them from God. That’s the point of Romans 8:1, that “there is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus.” Paul is talking about his post-Christian sin! If sin kept us from God now, then we would never be in his presence (hmm… or possibly flicker in and out?).

So rejoice. Take heart. Jesus really did pay it all. Hug a sinner today. And tell them about the atonement.