What is the definition of "sin"?

[Jason0047]

Dear Hitchens Guy:

Sin is defined in the Bible as transgression of the Law (1 John 3:4). A Law is also known as a Commandment or Command. There are 1,050 + New Testament Commands (i.e. the Law of Christ) and 613 Old Testament Commands (i.e. the Law of Moses).

Christian Assemblies International's List of New Testament Commands:
https://www.cai.org/bible-studies/1050-new-testament-commands

New Testament Commands (that I did not find on their list):
http://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/99639-new-testament-commands.html

The 613 Old Testament Laws:
Judaism 101: A List of the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments)

Also, today, believers of the Holy Scriptures follow the Commands given to them in the New Testament and they do not seek to go back and follow the Law of Moses. Granted, all the moral laws have been carried on over from the Old on into the New, but none of the ceremonial laws or judicial laws have transferred over. For the Scriptures say there was a change of the Law (Hebrews 7:12). For Jesus Christ nailed to the cross those ordinances that were against us (Colossians 2:14). For shortly before Christ was crucified, Jesus said..."A new covenant, ... has made the first old. Now that which decays and grows old is ready to vanish away." (Hebrews 8:13). In other words, sin is breaking any of the Commands as listed in the New Testament (And it is not a breaking of all of the Commands in the Old). For the Old Covenant ceremonial and judical laws are no more.

To learn more about how the New Covenant replaces the Old, check out the many articles here at Grace Community International:
https://www.gci.org/law/lawmoses

There are many different levels of sin (Which some Christians deny). For some believers will say all sin is the same (When the Bible does not teach that). Anyways, there are:

A. Unforgivable Sins.
There are unforgivable sins: Like suicide or self murder (and not coming back to life to repent of it) (1 John 3:15) (1 Corinthians 3:17), apostasy (willingly rejecting Jesus Christ as your Savior after having accepted Him and after having the Holy Spirit and the gifts thereof) (Hebrews 6:4-6) (Which is not about backsliding into a life of sin which is forgivable - James 5:19-20), speaking wrong words against the Holy Spirit or the works of the Spirit (Matthew 12:32) (Matthew 12:24), and or dying in serious unrepentant sin after being a believer (Such as lying, hate, adultery, etc.) (Hebrews 10:26) (Hebrews 10:38) (1 John 2:1) (1 John 1:9) (1 John 1:7) (1 John 2:3-4).

B. Sins that lead unto Spiritual Death.
1 John 5:16-18 mentions that are two different types of sins. (1) Sins that lead unto spiritual death and (2) sins that do not lead unto spiritual. Sins unto spiritual death are those types of sins that the apostle Paul lists several times in the New Testament whereby a person who does such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21) (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) (Ephesians 5:3-7) (Romans 1:28-32) (Colossians 3:5-6). They are sins such as lying, stealing, murder, hate, adultery, idolatry, theft, and drunkenness, etc.). They are called sins unto death because Paul says in Romans 1:32 that they which do such things are worthy of "death." The apostle John also lists these types of sins and then says, that those who do them will face the "Second Death," which is the Lake of Fire (Revelation 21:8). These sins lead unto spiritual death because men do not repent of these types of sins to the Lord (i.e. confess or forsake them). For he that confesses and forsakes sin shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

C. Sins that do NOT lead unto Spiritual Death:
Sins that do not lead unto spiritual death are serious sins (Like lying, hating, etc.) that are confessed and forsaken. Other types of "Sins that do not lead unto Spiritual Death" are hidden or secret faults like Psalm 19:12 mentions. I believe these types of sins can be going over the speed limit a little (without realizing it), or disobeying the traffic laws to get your wife to the hospital, etc.; or not doing something "extra good" at your job for the Lord that you know you could have done, but you chose not to do it (Whereby you did only what was required instead).

D. Greater Sins.
There are varying degrees of seriousness when it comes to certain "Sins that lead unto Spiritual Death." For Jesus Himself said there is a greater sin (John 19:11); And Jesus seem to pay special focus on a particular form of punishment if one were to make a child to sin (Luke 17:2). For even in our own culture, we believe certain sins or crimes are more serious than others (Like murder is more serious than say... lying). However, the Bible still classifies them as both being the type of sins that will still send someone to be destroyed in the Lake of Fire.

Anyways, if you want to fully understand the teaching on this and know more about Jesus Christ and His Word, I would encourage you to accept Him as your Savior today by checking out the link of the mini online comic book titled, "This Was Your Life."

In any event, may God bless you and please be well.

With loving kindness to you in Christ,

Sincerely,

~ Jason.


...

 

[Angela53510]

Rather than talk about "morality" I think it would be instructive to talk about ethics. I'm going to post a link that would be better than me just rambling on and on about the meaning of ethics.

[h=1]How does Christian ethics define morality?[/h]A normative ethic philosophyis a system of ideas that sets guidelines for determining right or appropriate behavior as it applies to a group. It is similar to morality, which applies to individuals. Throughout history, mankind has developed several different theories of ethics based on the consequence of the action, the governing law of the culture, or other means. Christian ethics is that system which is mandated by God as explained in the Bible.

An ethic is different from a law. Ethics are philosophies as to how to find out what would be a good law to follow. Some comparisons are listed below:

Biblical ethic: worship God as holy (Deuteronomy 6:13)
Biblical law: do not sacrifice to idols (Exodus 20:5)

Biblical ethic: love God (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Biblical law: obey God (Deuteronomy 6:1-3)

Biblical ethic: honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12)
Biblical law: do not curse your parents; obey your parents (Exodus 21:17; Deuteronomy 21:18-19)

Biblical ethic: love others (Mark 12:30)
Biblical law: do not steal (Exodus 20:15)

Biblical ethic: consider your body a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Biblical law: do not practice sexual sin (1 Corinthians 6:9)

Christian ethics also give overall guidelines without specifically stating all the laws which would epitomize those ethics. In this case, we are called to develop the spiritual maturity to determine our own course of action.

Biblical ethic: we should use our body to honor God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Specific action: do not indulge in mind-altering drugs for the purpose of entertainment

Biblical ethic: children are a blessing from God (Psalm 127:3-5)
Specific action: abortion and child abuse are unbiblical

At other times, Christian ethics lead us to reject manmade laws. Although we are to obey our civil authorities (Romans 13:1-7), Christian ethics must always come first, the classic example being spreading the gospel (Acts 4:18-20).

Passages like 1 Corinthians 6:12 (NASB)("All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.") and Romans 14:1-6make it appear that Christian ethics are relative to the situation and the spiritual maturity of the individual. But the discussion about eating meat sacrificed to idols in Romans14:1-6demonstrates how an ethic can be represented by different laws at different times. The ethic in both the Old and New Testaments is "be set apart" (Leviticus 20:26; 1 Peter 2:9). In the Old Testament, this ethic was followed, in part, by certain dietary restrictions (Leviticus 11). In the New Testament, it is expressed by love (John 13:35). The dietary restrictions were removed as an obsolete cultural reference (Mark 7:19), but there may come a situation where love for a fellow believer is expressed through a voluntary restriction of certain types of food (Romans 14:19). This is not ethical relativismbecause the ethics did not change. It is only the applications of the ethics that had to be modified.

Part of spiritual growth is coming to the realization that believers are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), indwelt with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), and freed from the law (Romans 8:2). But we are still bound to Christian ethics, and the Bible is filled with specific ways in which we can manifest those ethics. Whatever the law, Christian ethics can be summarized in Mark 12:29-31:
Jesus answered, "The foremost [commandment] is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Read more: How does Christian ethics define morality?

 

[MarcR]

I was raised in the northeast to a non-religious family amongst a generally non-religious community, though a considerably accepting one respectful of everyone's beliefs. It's not that my parents raised me atheist, I was just raised without any mention of god. Of course I was aware of the word god and the concept of "a god", but I was largely left to understand god through my own experience and reason. I'm curious to see how "sin" might be defined or described, where it comes from and who is qualified to judge sins/ appropriate repentance?

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Proverbs 18:15
"Prove all things: hold fast that which is good." I Thessalonians 5:21

IMO, Sin is an attitude of rebellion or resistance to God, as revealed in the Bible.

It comes from our attitudes, desires and lack of respect toward God.


There are two forms of judgement: discernment (recognition) and condemnation.

We are all qualified to discern sin in ourselves and in others. When we discern sin in ourselves, we should repent, ask God to forgive us and request His help to stop. When we discern sin in others, we should endeavor to gently lead the sinner to repentance.

Only God is qualified to condemn or pinish sin.

 

[convallaria]

Respectfully, I'm not selling anything. I realize having my username bear Hitchens's name could, in itself, be seen as sort of hostile or anti-christian, especially I suppose when I start threads like this but I assure you I am not against any religion or god. I'm asking questions for my own sake as well as for anyone who might read and consider my questions for themself. Certainly I am ignorant to the majority of scripture but I also am familiar with some. I ask how to determine sin because i legitimately don't fully know how I could. If I take the word litterally I'd be murdering most people i know so dont i then have to judge for myself how to live and which actions to take and not to take?

Hi Hitchensguy,

I appreciate your question. God says, to him that KNOWS to do right but does wrong, it is sin.

So this opens the whole question up into what you personally know about sin. There was a time when you didn't know what sin was at all because you were too small to remember....but I would guess a time came as you grew up, when you were uncomfortable with your own actions, when you kind of thought you were doing stuff wrong but carried on anyway until you forgot about it, or until you got used to doing it, or until someone told you off. Same for us all.

In the old days before Jesus came, God had it all written down to warn people what not to do. Unfortunately, humans being what they are, they became creative about how to do what they wanted to do but not call it strictly sin. That meant they kept on sinning and pretended they still cared about God. They were called Pharisees.

When Jesus came He changed all that. He knows exactly what things we have done that are sin in His eyes, and to be honest He was trying to get our attention when we were doing them, to help us. But mainly we ignored Him.

I think you are interested in truth. Let's not mess about, we all sin, even Christians. We can't seem to help ourselves. Jesus knows that about us and has made a way to help us. His willing death on the cross took the whole punishment for our sin, past, present and future. If we can receive that and trust Him to help us, we find that we have help to do better, and forgiveness for all past sins hitherto. We only have to ask Him.

If you do that willingly without pressure, ask Him to help you not sin any more, and to forgive all you did before, He will, and will send you a helper, the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Christ. Then all you need to do is listen to Him regarding what sin is. He is gentle and kind, and powerful...so He understands what kind of mess we can all get into, and He always has the solution. Furthermore He will not expect more of us than we can bear.

It is not complicated, just believe and receive. He made a way because He loves us greatly, and sees that we cannot help ourselves.

 

[resurrection33]

I was raised in the northeast to a non-religious family amongst a generally non-religious community, though a considerably accepting one respectful of everyone's beliefs. It's not that my parents raised me atheist, I was just raised without any mention of god. Of course I was aware of the word god and the concept of "a god", but I was largely left to understand god through my own experience and reason. I'm curious to see how "sin" might be defined or described, where it comes from and who is qualified to judge sins/ appropriate repentance?

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Proverbs 18:15
"Prove all things: hold fast that which is good." I Thessalonians 5:21

I would call sin the act of breaking one of the Lord's commandments. It is an act of selfishness.