On sin, law, and grace, as presented in Christian theology.

In the forefront are Adam and Eve in Eden, where sin entered the world (Genesis 3). The serpent, who stands with them on legs, had not yet been cursed to go on his belly, and eat dust all his days (Genesis 3:14).

After sin had existed in the world for millennia, God introduced his law to Moses and entered into a covenant with the Israelites, which he supernaturally wrote on two stone tablets (Exodus 32:15-16). However, the sin of his people incited Moses with anger, and he broke the tablets by throwing them down, as pictured here in the upper left corner, and described in Exodus 32:19.

Jesus Christ introduced a new covenant from his Father, God, that would supercede the old, whereby sins would be forgiven. He paid our debt and consummated the new covenant of our reconciliation to God by shedding his blood through crucifixion, represented here by the crosses in the upper right.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." --John 3:16-17.

"'This is the covenant that I will make with them, ... says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,' he also adds, 'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.' Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.'" --Hebrews 10:16-18.