what is sin?

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Where did sin come from? What exactly is sin? Are some sins worse than others?

These are just a few of the questions people have when dealing with the idea of sin. For many in our society, the word sin itself is repulsive. They attempt to blame offensive behavior on the cultural or family environment, social status, or some sort of syndrome or disease. Yet the Bible clearly tells us that we are all, by nature, sinners with a natural inclination to do the wrong thing over the right thing. With that in mind, let’s examine the nature of sin.

God did not create sin; He allowed sin.

God Himself did not sin, and He is not to be blamed for sin. People and angels are the ones who sinned—and they did so by willful, voluntary choice. To blame God is to attack His character (For more on the elements of God’s character see “Who Is God?”).

God is just: His view of right and wrong is perfect and unflawed by sin (while ours is not).

God is good: God is the final standard of good, and all that God is and does is worthy of approval (see Luke 18:19).

God is loving: He does not merely demonstrate love; He is the personification of love. While God allowed man to sin, and His justness and goodness require judgment, He has also provided us with a way out of this dilemma.

God made a provision for our sin.

Abraham recognized these aspects of God’s character when he said, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). In other words, since God is God, He will ultimately make things right.

We brought the problem upon ourselves.

“Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

We must not be too quick to blame God and Adam for this dilemma; regardless of Adam’s sin, we too have all voluntarily sinned. This will constitute the primary basis of our judgment on the last day (see Romans 2:6; Colossians 3:25). Yet, we are not left without a way out of this predicament.

God provided a way to remove and eradicate the problem.

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

King David, a person the Bible describes as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14), was also, sadly, a man who was all too familiar with sin. In Psalm 32, written after he had asked God for the forgiveness of a horrendous sin in his life, David brings out four different facets of sin:

“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psalm 32:1–2).

Transgression: Implies a defiance. It is a deliberate rebellion against God.

Sin: Implies a defect. It literally means to miss the mark or fall short of God’s requirements.

Iniquity: Implies a distortion. It denotes “perverseness” since it comes from a Hebrew word meaning “bent” or “crooked.” Human nature is warped, bent, and twisted instead of being perfect and true.

Deceit: Implies a deception. This aspect of sin is what makes it so hard for someone to voluntarily confess his or her wrongdoing.

The wrong response to sin

When we sin, we almost never immediately want to come clean. Instead, we tend to do one or more of the following when we are confronted with our actions:

We try to cover it up. Someone has said, “A sin is two sins when it is defended.” Adam and Eve did this after their first sin in the Garden of Eden. They immediately tried to “hide” themselves from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 3:8). Yet, Scripture warns us, “He who covers his sins will not prosper” (Proverbs 28:13).

We attempt to justify ourselves. We convince ourselves that we have a valid reason for what we did, or we place the blame on someone else. This type of response goes clear back to the Garden of Eden again, when Adam tried to place the blame for his sin upon God and Eve: “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12).

We are oblivious to our own sin. Sometimes we sin in ignorance or presumption. That is why David prayed, “Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back your servant from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19:12–13). While some sins (such as murder, adultery, and stealing) are rather obvious, other sins (such as pride, selfishness, and gossip) are not. But according to Jesus, sins of the heart can separate us from God just as easily as sins of the body.

Until we recognize our own responsibility in sin, we will never find forgiveness. Confession is a requirement for forgiveness. The blood of Jesus has never cleansed an excuse.

The answer to this question is “yes” and “no.” Yes, all sins are essentially the same as far as separating us from God. At the same time, the Bible seems to indicate that some sins are worse than others, for there are both sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit:

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit

Sins of the flesh are sins that we can usually see or have some sort of outward manifestation. For instance, when King David committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and then tried to cover it up by murdering her husband, these were obviously sins of the flesh.

Sins of the spirit are the more subtle (yet more dangerous) sins of the heart. We commit these sins when we go against what we know to be true. Returning to the example of David, when the prophet Nathan came to test David by confronting him with a scenario that resembled the essence of David’s sin, David displayed a judgmental attitude. Instead of sensing the similarities in Nathan’s story, he pretended to be more righteous than the perpetrator in Nathan’s story. David’s greatest sin was not the act of adultery and murder, but the covering up of his deeds and then acting as though nothing had happened.

Jesus Himself referred to this type of sin when He told Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin” (John 19:11). Jesus was referring to the High Priest Caiaphas or Judas. Both of these men knew the innocence of Jesus, yet they deliberately did what they knew was wrong. When we have been schooled in the Scriptures (like the High Priest Caiaphas) or exposed to the truth and power of God (like Judas), we are essentially without excuse. We commit a sin of the spirit when we knowingly sin against the light.

In addition, Jesus seems to indicate that there are greater and lesser commandments in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19).

There are people who ignorantly sin and, when convicted by the Holy Spirit, will feel remorse and repent. But then, as this verse attests, there are those who sin willfully, repeatedly, and knowingly with a callused heart. Such people commit a sin of the spirit.

Certainly some sins have more harmful consequences than others. Stealing or murder could lead to prison time or capital punishment, and adultery could lead to disease, an out-of-wedlock birth, and a broken home.

Read Romans 3:19–26. God’s laws were not given to us to make us righteous, but to show us that beyond a shadow of a doubt we are all sinners. Essentially, when we look at all the requirements of the law, we can no longer claim to be moral or righteous. It makes us stop claiming to be what we are not (verse 19).

The law is like a moral mirror, giving us the knowledge of our sin (verse 20). It shows us the full reflection of our guilt.

• It condemns, but does not convert.
• It challenges, but does not change.
• It accuses, but does not give mercy.

The law is a preparation for the gospel, which is God’s provision. Once the law reveals these sins in our character, conduct, and conversation, we discover that we must stop looking within ourselves for the answers and resources we need. Instead, we must turn in absolute weakness and helplessness to God. Galatians 3:24 compares the law to a schoolmaster who drives us to Christ.

You can’t accept God’s remedy for your sin if you don’t first accept His diagnosis. This Scripture passage (Romans 3:19–26) and others make it clear that there is indeed a way to God, but it is impossible to achieve it on our own. We do not deserve it. We can only receive it by accepting God’s gift of salvation through the death of His Son, Jesus.

We are justified.

To justify means to “declare the rightness of something,” not symbolically or potentially, but actually—just as if it never happened. God says, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 10: 17).

We receive redemption.

This word carries the idea of delivering something, especially by means of paying a price. The term was commonly used when paying a ransom to free a prisoner from his captors, or paying a price to free a slave from his master. God did far more than that when He offered His Son in our place, to take the wrath we should have taken, that we deserved.

We are saved through Christ’s propitiation.

The word propitiation signifies appeasement or satisfaction. God is satisfied with what Jesus did at Calvary. The righteous requirements of the law were met.

May the moral mirror of God’s law cause you to see yourself for who you really are, and to see Jesus for all He really is. Then, you will understand the significance of what He has done for you.