Sin, according to Paul, is simply anything that is against God. The Bible is clear that every little thing you do, whether it is going to the grocery store or watching TV is either sin or it is not. There are no gray areas; everything is wickedness or goodness.

Paul recognizes that everyone, himself included, is a sinner except for Jesus. If sin is against God and everyone sins, then we are all acting out against God and since God cannot (more theologically accurate to say will not) be in the presence of sin, then no one is able to be in his presence.

This is where the love of God comes in. He loves all men so much that even when we sin, he still loves us and desires to be with Him. This “problem” is why there is atonement.

Paul uses atonement much like a legal term. If someone steals a goat and eats it, then he owes retribution to the goat’s owner. If we sin against God, then we owe retribution. Atonement is the payment of that retribution. In our case, the cost for our sins is death, so death is owed in order for atonement to take place.

Because we are man, only the death of man can atone for the sins of man. But, we are of our own accord only capable of dying for our own sins (and many will and have). It would take divine intervention to atone for the sins of many by one death.

God chose to accomplish this through Jesus, who being all man and all God was able to die as man for retribution, but through his divine perfection, was able to consume the sins of all men—past, present and future.

Therefore, this is atonement: the price of death that is on the heads of all men because of their sin which was paid at the cross, by the death of Jesus Christ. (In the spirit of Easter, a note on the resurrection: Many ask why it is important that Jesus was resurrected. It is important because were he not resurrected, he would not have been God and therefore would have simply been a man and only capable of paying the price for his own sinful soul.)

A quick clarification, one does not go to heaven through paying the cost for your sin. It is your eternal spiritual death which pays that price, eternally separated from the love of God.

It is important that we understand sin and atonement as it is the foundation of Christianity. In my personal experience, there is a lot of debate over this. It is not that you cannot be saved without a clear understanding, but how useful can someone be for evangelism if we do not have a clear understanding of our own faith. Jesus paid the price whether we ‘get it’ or not as long as we have faith, but you could challenge that one cannot have faith if you do not explore your own hearts understanding of what you claim to have faith in.

For verses backing the above statements, see How to Lead Someone to Christ.

The Theology of Paul Regarding Sin and Atonement