“What is sin?”  This is a question I don’t usually get asked so directly.  More people should be asking and considering it, so I sometimes ask it of people to get them thinking.  Unfortunately, while most people can confidently name many sins, they don’t know how to define sin or don’t realize its effects.  Fortunately for all of us, God answers this question in His written word, the Bible.
     Let’s explore God’s word together now to find God’s answers to this question “What is sin?”  In part one of this article we’ll focus on facts we learn from His explanation of sin, and in part two we’ll look at how sin affects people.  Lord willing, we will examine with questions in other “Plowing the Fields unto Harvest” articles what He has done to provide His solution to the problem and what He requires of us to accept His solution for ourselves.

•  “What does the word ‘sin’ mean?  Is sin some action I do or is it some defect I am born with?”
     In his letter to the church in Rome, the apostle Paul spends several chapters explaining the problems of sin and why God expects Christians to turn from doing sin to doing righteousness.  In chapter three, verse 23, he summarizes one of his points by saying “… for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, …”.
     Many people would insist that “sin” is an attribute or a characteristic of what people are and therefore it’s not their fault if they “have sin.”  But, notice carefully the wording Paul used here — “have sinned” as opposed to “have sin” — a verb instead of a noun, an action instead of an attribute, something a person does instead something a person is.  Being a farm isn’t what makes a person a farmer.  Being a swim isn’t what makes a person a swimmer.  Being a run isn’t what makes a person a runner.  As we can correctly understand that farming farms is what makes people farmers, swimming swims makes people swimmers, and running runs makes people runners … so too, we can correctly understand from the Bible that sinning sins makes people sinners.
     According the Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the Greek verb Paul used here for sin originally meant and literally means “to miss the mark” like when an arrow misses its target because the hunter undershot or overshot .  (In today’s English and in a non-religious sense, we might simply define a sin as “ a mistake.”)  The word’s usage gradually changed and restricted to a religious meaning over the years so that by New Testament times the word generally meant “to disobey God and His instructions.”  (See how the “disobedience”of sin qualifies as the “mistake” of sin.). Therefore, when Paul wrote “… for all have sinned” we know he meant they disobeyed God … which just so happens to be the point of his discussion since chapter 1 verse 18.
     On only five rare occasions does the New Testament mention people sinning against other people and in each of these situations the reader is plainly told so.  In Matthew 18 and Luke 17, Jesus instructs us what to do when people sin against us.  In the parable of the prodigal sons recorded in Luke 15, the son who left home admits that he has sinned both against heaven and before his earthly father.  In 1 Corinthians 6:18, we read that people who commit sexual immorality sin against their own bodies.  And in 1 Corinthians 8:12, “But when you thus sin against the brethren,” Paul warns Christians, “and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”  (Notice how in these passages Jesus and Paul are using the older and more literal meaning of “to miss the mark” to make their points about sinning against against other people.)
     Even when the Old Testament discusses sin, the focus is usually on sin against God.  In Genesis 39, Joseph is invited by his owner’s wife to commit adultery. After acknowledging the trust and confidence his owner has in him, Joseph lets us know his ultimate motivation to refuse her in verse 39. “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”. Joseph is concerned about how sin affects his relationship with God.  David expresses a similar concern in Psalm 41:4 “Lord, be merciful to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.” “Your word I have hidden in my heart,” David repeats this concern in Psalm 119:11, “that I might not sin against You!”
     Since that’s how the Bible talks about sin, that’s the understanding we will use here — i.e., we sin when we make mistakes against God by disobeying His instructions to us.  With that in mind, we also understand that “living in sin”or “practicing sin” refers to a lifestyle or situation when someone is disobedient toward God.  Fact #1: Sin, by definition, involves disobeying God.
     How does this understanding compare with the popular religious teachings?  Many so-called “Christian” denominations label infants as being sinners because they say babies are born in a “sinful condition;” that sin is simply a characteristic or quality is born with, like the number of fingers & toes or the color of skin, but an evil quality instead of good or neutral.  Why do they teach such a thing?  If sin by definition involves disobedient action on the part of the sinner, when would any newborn baby have disobeyed God enough to sin?  By applying the point we just studied, we should understand that if babies and small children can neither obey nor disobey God, then they must be free of sin — at least until they are older and capable of sin.  And, as we are about to see, sinning requires a knowledge of right and wrong — something babies and most children lack.

•  “How can I know for certain if I have ever sinned?”
     In the fourth chapter of his letter to Christians in general, James mentions how some people have a habit of speaking inappropriately even though they know better.  In verse 17 he sums up his point, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”  That’s the wording in the New King James Version, the translation I usually use.  Let’s look at the wording in a couple other translations to get a fuller appreciation of this passage.
     “If you don’t do what you know is right, you have sinned.” CEV¹
     “Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.” NRSV²
     “And when a person knows the right thing to do, but does not do it, then he is sinning.” ICB³
     Fact #1: Sin, by definition, involves disobeying God.  Fact #2: Sin involves a decision and action to stay away from doing what is right; i.e. avoiding righteousness.  In considering these facts we can see fact #3: Sin is disobeying what God instructs and commands as being right.
     In a discussion with the Pharisees, Jesus confirms this fact that the instructions and commands God gives us through Jesus are good for us.  “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.  I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.”  Listen carefully to what Jesus says next.  “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” ( John 12:44-50)  This brings us to fact #4 of this discussion: God will judge us (i.e. whether we’ve sinned or not) according to the words He’s given us through Jesus.  
     God gave us through Jesus the words that will judge us.  These words also include the words Jesus gave us through the apostles and other New Testament writers.  “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual,” the apostle Paul cautions us in 1 Corinthians 14:37, “let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.”  The apostle Peter tells us the same thing, “Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior,…”  (2 Peter 3:1-2)
     Some people have told me that Paul’s writings are less important to Christians because he was not an “original apostle” like Peter or John or Matthew.  These same people also made it quite clear that they didn’t like some of Paul’s instructions for them.  What does Peter, one of the “original apostles,” have to say about these people?  “… and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,” Peter instructs us in 2 Peter 3:15-16, “as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.”  Fact #5: People sin when they twist and distort the Scriptures to suit themselves.
     Have you ever sinned?  Yes, you’ve sinned if you ever didn’t do what was right when you knew the right thing to do from God’s instructions in the Scriptues.  

•  “Does that mean I cannot sin as long as I don’t know the right thing to do?”
     In 1 Corinthians chapter 8, Paul instructs the stronger Christians to be patient and flexible with weaker Christians in matters that God’s Word allows some flexibility of opinion.  (Please note he uses “stronger” and “weaker” as a relative measure of their understanding and application of their Christian liberties and not as a contrast of faithful versus sinful.)  How he addresses the immediate topic of eating of meat sacrificed to idols reminds me of a warning Jesus gave his disciples:  “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.” (Mark 9:42).  Paul warns that if a stronger Christian use his liberties in such a way that pressures a weaker Christian to act with doubt and without the full confidence of faith, then both sin – the one for stumbling in faith and the other for causing a believer to stumble (verses 9-12).  In Romans chapter 14, Paul writes similar instruction and warning.  He summarizes in verses 22 & 23 the point he’s trying to teach there.  Compare how these two verses read in the different translations we saw earlier.
     “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God.  Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.  But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.”  New King James Version
     “What you believe about these things should be kept between you and God.  You are fortunate, if your actions don’t make you have doubts.  But if you do have doubts about what you eat, you are going against your beliefs.  And you know that is wrong, because anything you do against your beliefs is sin.”  CEV¹
     “The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God.  Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve.  But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”  NRSV²
     “Your beliefs about these things should be kept secret between you and God.  A person is blessed if he can do what he thinks is right without feeling guilty.  But if he eats something without being sure that is right, then he is wrong because he did not believe that it was right.  And if he does anything without believing that it is right, then it is a sin.” ICB³
     What facts about sin can we gather from these verses?  Fact #6: People act in faith when they act within their understanding of what God instructs and commands as being right, and so do not sin.  Fact #7: People sin if they do what they think is wrong.  Fact #8: People sin if they pressure others to sin.   

When is my action faithful or sinful to God? disobey God = sin obey God =  faith  disobey God = sin  doing what you know/believe is wrong to do  doing what you know/believe is right according to God’s word  not doing what you know/believe is right thing to do

•  “How am I supposed to get this faith that tells me the difference between right and wrong?”
     As adults we have learned that we benefit if we deliberately overcome ignorance in matters important to us.  It’s the right thing to do.  Likewise, as adults we have learned that we harm ourselves if we deliberately stay ignorant in important matters.  It’s the wrong thing to do.  Those basic principles of life apply to God’s religion as well. We’ve seen that God has given us through Jesus the instructions we need to discern right and wrong.  The right thing to do is to explore God’s Word for those instructions.
     “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  Romans 10:17
     “These things I write to you, … so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”  1 Timothy 3:14-15
     “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.”  2 Timothy 2:15-16
     “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17
     “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12
     God’s instructions are for our benefit.  We are obeying God’s instructions in the Scriptures when we study the Scriptures and grow in our understanding of the word of God. Therefore, fact #9: People sin when they refuse knowing or stop growing in understanding the Scriptures.

•  “Don’t I inherit sin from my parents?”
     As we mentioned earlier, some denominations teach that children are born in sin. The typical claims are that children inherit sin from their parents, either directly their sins or indirectly the sin of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. In chapter 18 of the Old Testament book Ezekiel, God confronts people who were teaching that God condemns children for their parents’ sin.  He tells them not to teach that falsehood anymore and clarifies that He condemns the wicked and not the righteous.  Then, in verses 19-32, He explains why He judges the way He does.
     “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’  Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.  The soul who sins shall die.  The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.  The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
     “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.  None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live.  Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
     “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live?  All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.
     “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’  Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?  When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies.  Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive.  Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.  Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’  O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?
     “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God.  “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.  Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.  For why should you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God.  “Therefore turn and live!”  (Ezekiel 18:19-32)
     Fact #10: God does not permit people to inherit sin.  Fact #11: God demonstrates His fairness by punishing only those people who die in their sins and by His sincere desire for everyone to repent from their sins.  

•  “Does God make me sin?”
     It seems to me that people generally have trouble coping with criticism, even when it’s helpful.  Tell people they’ve made a mistake, and they will probably either (1) deny they’ve made a mistake; (2) try to justify their actions; or (3) attempt to explain why the mistake was not their fault.  Often they aggressively offer their denial, justification, or explanation with a great deal of resistance, anger, hostility, and ill-will.  Hard-to-find are the individuals who quickly admit responsibility for their errors and strive to improve by learning from their mistakes.
     In James 1:12-18, we learn that we cannot blame God for our sins.  “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”  Fact #12: God does not tempt, encourage, pressure, or force people to sin.
     James goes on to explain the real reason why people sin.  “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”  In other words, people sin because they want something other than what God offers them.  Fact #13: People sin because they choose to sin.
     He then points out what God offers people, especially Christians.  “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
     Later, in chapter four, James warns Christians about the problems that come from misplaced desires and bad motives.  “Where do wars and fights come from among you?” he asks in verse one.  “Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have.  You murder and covet and cannot obtain.  You fight and war.  Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  Adulterers and adulteresses!  Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  Fact #14: People who choose to remain in sin make themselves enemies of God.

     Let’s review the facts we’ve learned from God’s explanation of sin.
     Fact #1: Sin, by definition, involves disobeying God.
     Fact #2: Sin involves a decision and action to stay away from doing what is right; i.e. avoiding righteousness.
     Fact #3: Sin is disobeying what God instructs and commands as being right.
     Fact #4: God will judge us (i.e. whether we’ve sinned or not) according to the words He’s given us through Jesus.
     Fact #5: People sin when they twist and distort the Scriptures to suit themselves.
     Fact #6: People act in faith when they act within their understanding of what God instructs and commands as being right, and so do not sin.
     Fact #7: People sin if they do what they think is wrong.
     Fact #8: People sin if they pressure others to sin.
     Fact #9: People sin when they refuse knowing or stop growing in understanding the Scriptures.
     Fact #10: God does not permit people to inherit sin.
     Fact #11: God demonstrates His fairness by punishing only those people who die in their sins and by His sincere desire for everyone to repent from their sins.
     Fact #12: God does not tempt, encourage, pressure, or force people to sin.
     Fact #13: People sin because they choose to sin.
     Fact #14: People who choose to remain in sin make themselves enemies of God.
     
     There is one more fact about sin that we’ve talked about, but haven’t said plainly yet.
     Fact #15: Sin has consequences that you should consider concerning both what sin causes and how God responds to sin.  Lord willing, in part two of this article we will look at how sin affects people.

     
     ¹ “The Contemporary English [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995 by the American Bible Society.”
     ² “The Scriptures quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition copyright © 1993 and 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
     ³ “Scriptures quoted from the International Children’s Bible, New Century Version, copyright © 1986, 1988, 1994 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75234. Used by permission.”     
     [*EGW editor’s note:  Originally I had planned to publish this article and its sequel articles under the feature column “Questions & Answers.”  However, when the first half of the article was published, the initial reader feedback indicated some confusion understanding the topics worded as questions and some confusion as to the intent & reasoning of the article.  After considering this feedback, I made some clarifying changes to the article and then relocated the article to this feature column where asking lots of little questions is part of the study process.  Also, I extended the reader’s questioning of the article’s intent to questioning the intent of the Exploring God's Word site in general and prepared a Q&A article to handle that as well.
     Please keep sending us your questions, comments, and other input so we can continue improving our on-line efforts to help meet your Bible study needs. (Back to beginnning of article)]