'The emphasis of Scripture...is on the godless self-centredness of sin. Every sin is a breach of what Jesus called "the first and greatest commandment", not just by failing to love God with all our being, but by actively refusing to acknowledge and obey him as our Creator and Lord. We have rejected the position of dependence which our createdness inevitably involves, and made a bid for independence. Worse still, we have dared to proclaim our self-dependence, our autonomy, which is to claim the position occupied by God alone. Sin is not a regrettable lapse from conventional standards; its essence is hostility to God (Romans 8:7), issuing in active rebellion against him.'
John Sott, The Cross of Christ, p.106.
