What is sin in Christianity? Sin was the reason for the separation between man and God. The only way to restore the relationship was for the Son of God to become a man and die, paying the penalty for the sins of humanity. Therefore, sin is serious! Most Christians can easily classify certain actions as sinful, but defining sin seems to be more elusive. The Bible contains several verses that help identify the underlying principles that describe actions, attitudes, and even thoughts as sinful. Let’s investigate what the Old and New Testaments contribute to our understanding of the nature of sin.
What Does Sin Mean?
When we encounter the word “sin” in the Old Testament, it is most frequently a translation of the Hebrew phrase chatah. There are two verses, however, that may help us gain more insight into what sin means when they do not translate chatah as “sin.”
Judges 20:16
“Among all these were 700 chosen men who were left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss [chatah].”
Proverbs 19:2
“Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses [chatah] his way.”
In these instances, the translator rendered the term chatah as “miss.” The Old Testament indicates that to sin is to miss the target or not reach the intended goal.
The obvious question is: “To miss what?” or “Not to reach what?” What would indicate the target or goal? Ariel Berkowitz, in What Do We Mean by the Term Torah? Provides some insight: “The Hebrew word, torah (הרות), is derived from a root that was used in the realm of archery, yareh (הרי). Yareh means to shoot an arrow in order to hit a mark. The mark or target, of course, was the object at which the archer was aiming. Consequently, torah, one of the nouns derived from this root, is, therefore, the arrow aimed at the mark. The target is the truth about God and how one relates to Him. The torah is, therefore, in the strict sense instruction designed to teach us the truth about God.”
So, accepting Berkowitz’s thesis, the Torah is the guide to hitting the mark, thus not sinning. It follows that sin would imply not doing or complying with the law that guides to the goal, resulting in missing the target.
In the Old Testament context, such an understanding would make sense. Would such an interpretation be consistent with the New Testament as well?
John’s first epistle seems to support the Old Testament concept of sin as something closely connected to the law. He stated:
1 John 3:4 (ESV)
“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”
1 John 3:4 (KJV)
“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
Lawlessness is transgressing the law, which is a sin. The Greek word for sin is ἁμαρτία (hamartia). In Greek, νόμος (nomos) means “law” or “principle.” The prefix ἀ- (a-) negates whatever follows it. Therefore, ἀνομία (anomia) is “absence of law” or “lawlessness,” and the King James Version of the Bible sometimes translates this Greek word as “iniquity” (Matthew 7:23; Titus 2;14). So, the New Testament presents the same concept of sin as the Old Testament does when it equates sin with lawlessness.
The New Testament presents this basic understanding of sin and its relation to the law in various ways. Consider the following verses:
Romans 3:20
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
Thus, the law indicates what sin is. Paul builds on this idea later on:
Romans 7:7
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”
Here, Paul presents the last of the Ten Commandments law as an example of what would be sin (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21). According to Paul, knowing the law helps readers understand what sin is. So, the law would be the standard by which to determine if something is a sin or not. This idea resonates with what James had to say on the subject:
James 2:8-12
“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.”
Being lawless is nothing less than rebelling against the laws and the authority that put those laws into place. Sin is, therefore, rebellion against God’s law and, by extension, rebellion against God himself. It rejects the order God set for relationships between himself and the human race on the one hand and between humans on the other.
Sin can be committed against God and others. The Ten Commandments have two parts. The first four commandments speak to the relationship between man and God. The next six speak of the relationship between humans. It could be argued that the fourth commandment relates to the human-God relationship and the human-human relationship. See Exodus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 5:14-15 to note its inter-human aspects.
This division of the Ten Commandments seems to be at the heart of Jesus’s comment in Mark 12:29-31 on the commandments: “Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 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.’”
The first four commandments express love toward God and the rest express love toward fellow humans. To “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” serve as a summary of the law. Sin could then be described as any act that does not express the love of God either to God or to others.
Spiritual Maturity
There are, however, instances where the Bible seems to indicate that something may be a sin to one person but not to another. In this case, the determination depends on the individual and their understanding of what good is.
James 4:17
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
James shows that sin is not necessarily an act of commission, it could also be an act of omission. It would be a sin to omit the fifth commandment, to “Honor your father and your mother.” Similarly, someone with a greater understanding of scripture and a deeper insight into right and wrong may understand that neglecting to do good in certain circumstances, where it may not be obvious to others, constitutes a sin.
Sin could, then, be determined by a person’s level of spiritual maturity and not be universal in some instances. It follows that some sin is based on personal conviction and not objective law, which may be what Romans 14:23 points to when it says: “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” Contextually, this verse shows the role of personal conscience on disputable matters.
The interpretation Jesus had of the Ten Commandments goes far beyond the letter of the text and shows that sin does not refer to acts only. It can also refer to thoughts or attitudes.
Matthew 5:27-28
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Sin in Christianity
The origin of sin in the individual can be traced to the thoughts and whether they are controlled or allowed to mature into actions. James 1:15 says: “Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” For this reason, 2 Corinthians 10:5 advises to “take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
John 16:7-8 indicates that the Holy Spirit convicts believers of sin, among other things. As believers study the Bible, they must understand that the Bible envisions a goal or mark that should be achieved or hit. Few if any achieve success on the first go, and even marksmen miss sometimes. The penalty for missing the mark has already been paid. The guide helps the reader correct previous mistakes, and to improve with diligent practice. The idea is not to abuse the fact that the penalty has been paid by purposefully missing the mark or being too afraid to take the shot for fear of missing. Rather, the character of the individual is revealed by how serious he or she takes hitting the mark with every shot.
