James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
We see here in James the difficulty that man faces. If he does not keep the entirety of the law, then he is guilty of all the law. What is the fundamental problem with man not keeping the law?
1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Scripture tells us plain and simply that to transgress the law of God is to sin. It then tells us that the wages of sin, the punishment of sin, is death. Every sin that we commit must be paid for in blood. That is the requirement of God. God cannot overlook sin. He is just and good and must punish iniquity.
Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;
The law was given so that we could see our sin.
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
The law was given to show us our state before God. It was given as a curse, it condemned us. It pointed out the problem man has before God that he is not righteous in His sight.
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Another question comes to mind when thinking of the origin of our sin. Look at Romans 5:
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
What this verse shows us is that it did not take us transgressing the law of God to be sinners. Sin was in the world before the law was given to Moses. This shows us the true state of man. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. The transgression, the sin of Adam passed to all his seed. That excludes no one. We all are born as sinners. As such, man is not righteous in the sight of God. Man cannot work to be righteous in His sight. We were cursed but then He came.
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
That is our hope, that He was made a curse for us. Look at the very last word of the Old Testament.
Malachi 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a CURSE.
Curse, that is the state of man. Who is the very first person mentioned then in the New Testament?
Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.