Sin - What is Sin?

• Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

• Cain killed his brother.

• Noah got drunk and exposed himself.

• Abraham lied, twice, to save himself.

• The Law defines what sin it (Romans ===), for example:
  • "You shall have no other gods before Me"
  • "You shall not make graven images ..."
  • "Honour your father and mother"
  • "Do no murder."
  • "Do not commit adultery."
  • "Do not covet"
  • "Do not weave two kinds of thread into your clothes"
  • "Keep the sabbath" - including for your animals.
  • Certain sexual relations are wrong.
  • "Not not lend to a fellow Israelite at interest."

• "Affluence, arrogance, unconcern for the poor" [Ezekiel 16:49].
• Inner attitude of anger, hate, lust, etc. [Matthew 5]
• Showing off one's religious or moral credentials [Matthew 5]

• And many more; see the table below.

Doubtless those who like the definitions can explain why each of these fits their definition. While doing so might satisfy the smug, it does not help us either in everyday life or before the Judgment Seat of Christ / God.

Another question is whether some sins are worse than others. Roman Catholic doctrine differenitates venial from mortal sins, lesser from greater, but maybe that's too simple. Is telling a lie as bad as murder? A lie could lead to many being killed. Is lying as bad at stealing, committing adultery, lusting sexually, lusting greedily, being angry with my brother without cause, keeping a grudge, turning away from God, acting selfishly, having a selfish attitude even though acting unselfishly, perpetrating injustice, refusing to give justice, and many more things? Why or why not?

On this page I want to go deeper to understand what sin is, and what kinds of sin there are. And yet in a practical manner.

Kinds of Sin

Now, I don't want to become all technical, about the difference between sinful acts and deep-rooted sinfulness. Instead, I want to separate out and understand the different kinds of sin and sinfulness. I find Dooyeweerd's aspects useful here.

Explanation of aspects: Aspects are not just categories, but also 'spheres of law', i.e. ways of being lawful or its opposite, ways of being good or bad. Dooyeweerd found fifteen distinct aspects - some mathematical, some governing plants and animals and our biological and emotional life, some cognitive, some social, and some societal. Of the fifteen, nine especially are 'normative', that is, we can live and act either with or against their laws.

Each aspect gives us a different kind of sin:

So sin can be many different kinds. No kind of sin can be reduced to any other, and all are important in the eyes of God. Dooyeweerd held that no one aspect is more or less important than others; all are equally important. Likewise, each kind of sin is equally important. If we think that telling a lie is less important than murder, then let us remember that Jesus chose to characterize the Devil as a liar - someone who distorts truth. Does not James also hold this view, when he says that whatever kind of wrong we do, we are still guilty.

This makes sense, because God intended his creation to be a place of diverse kinds of goodness, all working together like instruments in an orchestra. Any one instrument that goes wrong disrupts the whole.

Misconceptions About Sin

• Sin is not just breaking somebody's rules, even God's rules. (Most Westerns today think this way because they are too individualistic in outlook.) Sin is something that is actually nasty.

• Sin is not just nasty actions. (Many of a Roman Catholic or similar background think this way: they have a well developed sense of the nastiness of sin. But do not fully appreciate that it is a personal insult to God. Just like sometimes a child does something naughty out of spite.) Sin involves thumbing the nose at God.

• Sin is not just a thumbing the nose at God. (Many evangelical Christians think this way, and major on Psa.51 "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." But that is not the ultimate nor the deepest nor the most complete understanding of sin. Since God loves his creation, and his love is infinite, then his concern with sin is also that it harms what he deeply loves.) Sin brings immense harm to God's beloved creation.

• Sin is not just harm to creation that we can see. Many Christians today think only about the immediate, visible harm. Sin is also causes harm indirectly and over the longer term.

• Sin is is not just a cause-and-effect relationship, whether direct or indirect. Some Christians do recognise the long-term, indirect impacts of sin, but then fall into a judgemental attitude. Sin also pervades and shapes the very structures of human living and society.

• Sin is not just structural. Some Christians are so intent on changing the sinful structures of society, that they try doing so in their own anger and strength which lets them down. Sin is also all the rest above, and more.

Remedy for Sin

• Dimension 1: to make us right with himself, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
• Dimension 2: to restore us to effect, joyous life as his children
• Dimension 3: to make us mature, like himself in atttitude, so that we treat his beloved creation aright.

The most important response is repentance.

See Also

This page, "http://abxn.org/sin.html" is part of Andrew Basden's abxn.org pages - pages that open up discussion and exploration from a Christian ('xn') perspective. Written on the Amiga with Protext, in the style of classic HTML.

Comments, queries welcome. or send message to:

       

In case you cannot read that, it is the letters "xn" (for "Christian") at "kgsvr" followed by ".net" (standing for knowledge server on the net"). Thank you.

Copyright (c) Andrew Basden at all dates below. But you may use this material for almost any non-antagonistic purpose (including commercial) subject to certain easy conditions.

Created: Version 1, 31 October 1998 but never completed; Version 2, 31 March 2013. Last updated: 27 April 2019 link to repentance; rid empty table; new .end, .nav; link to nv/sin and nv/; corrected link. 30 July 2020 new intro. 7 November 2024 canon, new .end,.nav.