1. A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.
2. Theology
a. Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God.
b. A condition of estrangement from God resulting from such disobedience.
3. Something regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong.
intr.v. sinned, sin·ning, sins
1. To violate a religious or moral law.
2. To commit an offense or violation.
Who wants to talk about sin? Nobody really. It's uncomfortable. It makes people uneasy. Why? Vulnerability and the ideology of wanting to APPEAR perfect and flawless. By exposing sinful natures and habits, exposes a deeper, painful and often times, darker side to ourselves. And we all have vulnerabilities. We all have painful life experiences and choices we've made which more often than not, leads us into sin in the first place.
Sin is described in the Bible as transgression of the law of God (1 John 3:4, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.”) and rebellion against God (Deuteronomy 9:7, “Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.” and Joshua 1:18, “Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.”). Sin had its beginning with Lucifer, probably the most beautiful and powerful of all the angels. He wasn't content with his position though so he desired to be higher than God, and that was his downfall and the beginning of sin (Isaiah 14:12-15, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! v13) For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; v14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ v15) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.").
Satan brought sin to the human race in the Garden of Eden, where he tempted Adam and Eve with the same enticement, “you shall be like God.” In Genesis 3, it describes the rebellion of Adam and Eve against God and His command to them. Since that time, sin has been passed down through all generations and now we, Adam’s descendants, have inherited sin from him. Romans 5:12 tells us that through Adam sin entered the world, and so death was passed on to all men because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
The Bible has the only true definition and it has three parts - inherited, imputed and personal sin. I will spend more time on the personal sin because that's really what we all struggle with from day to day. I've already described the inherited sin above through the rebellion of Adam and Eve. I will now give a definition of imputed sin. Used in both financial and legal settings, the Greek word translated “imputed” means “to take something that belongs to someone and credit it to another’s account.” Before the Law of Moses was given, sin was not imputed to man, although men were still sinners because of inherited sin. After the Law, sins committed in violation of the Law were imputed, or accounted, to them as stated in Romans 5:13, "For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law." Even before transgressions of the law were imputed to men, the ultimate penalty for sin, death, continued to reign as Romans 5:14 reminds us, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come." All people, from Adam to Moses, were subject to death, but not because of their sinful acts against the Mosaic Law (which they did not have), but because of their own inherited sinful nature. After Moses, humans were subject to death both because of inherited sin from Adam and imputed sin from violating the laws of God.
God used the principle of imputation to benefit mankind when He imputed the sin of believers to the account of Jesus Christ, who paid the ultimate penalty for that sin—DEATH—on the cross. By imputing our sin to Jesus, God treated Him as if He were a sinner, though He was NOT, and had Him die for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2, "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."). It is vitally important to understand that sin was imputed to Him, but He did not inherit it from Adam. He bore the penalty FOR sin, but He never became a sinner. HIS PURE AND PERFECT NATURE WAS UNTOUCHABLE BY SIN BECAUSE HE IS PURE AND PERFECT AS GOD THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT! He was treated as though He were guilty of all the sins ever committed by the ENTIRE human race, even though He committed none, not ONE. So in God's perfection, in exchange, God imputed the righteousness of Christ to believers and credited OUR accounts with HIS righteousness, just as He had credited our sins to Christ’s account (2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.)
Then there's personal sin. The type of sin that each and every one of us struggle with and have to deal with daily. Because we have inherited a sin nature from Adam, we commit individual, personal sins, everything from seemingly innocent untruths, or white lies as many refer to them as, to murder. However, those who haven't placed their faith in Jesus Christ must pay the penalty for these personal sins, as well as inherited and imputed sin. But, believers have been freed from the eternal penalty of sin—hell and spiritual death—but now we also have the power to resist sinning. We can now CHOOSE whether or not to commit personal sins because we have the power to resist sin through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, sanctifying and convicting us of our sins when we do commit them (Romans 8:9-11, "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. v10) And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. v11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.). Once we confess our personal sins to God and ask forgiveness for them, we are restored to perfect fellowship and communion with Him. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Before I go further, during my research for this blog, I came across 7 types of sin by E.H. “Jack” Sequeira that I want to share by permission from his site:
1) A deliberate act against the law of God. 1 John 3:4. (The King James Version uses the word “transgression,” but the Greek word means “lawlessness,” which is deliberately choosing to live a life of sin.)
2) A mental consent to a temptation or a sinful desire, the sin of coveting. Rom. 7:7, 8. (Also Matt. 5:27,28; James 1:14; Prov. 24:9.)
3) Unbelief, a deliberate rejection of a Biblical truth. Rom. 14:23. (Also John 3:18; John 16:8,9.)
4) Neglect of known duties or opportunity. James 4:17. (Also James 2:14; Matt. 23:23; Matt. 25:43-46.)
5) Doing the wrong thing out of ignorance. Lev. 5:17-19. (Also Luke 12:48; 1 Tim. 1:13.)
6) Our sinful natures, which we inherited from Adam. Psalm 51:5; Psalm 58:3. (Also Rom. 5:19,20; Eph. 2:3b; Phil. 3:20,21.)
7) A law, principle, or constant force, dwelling in our sinful natures (indwelling sin in the flesh). This makes us slaves to sin. Therefore, holy living, in and of ourselves, is impossible. Rom. 7:14, 20-23. (Also Luke 11:39; John 8:31-34.)
Our personal sins are exactly that....personal. What may be a temptation to me, won't be a temptation to you and vice-versa. The operative word here is TEMPTATION. Sin STARTS from temptation, although temptation in and of itself is NOT sin. Temptation is only the opportunity to do either right or wrong, to choose either virtuous good or evil or to serve either God or Satan. It's a matter of control.....take a simple example for instance.....The birds that fly over our heads cannot be controlled by us. It happens by nature. But to let them build a nest in our hair is quite another thing because we are CHOOSING to ALLOW them to build their nest in our hair and that's just it....CHOICE. JESUS TAUGHT THAT SIN ALWAYS INVOLVES A WILLFUL REJECTION OF LIGHT and sin is relative to light; meaning that sin NEVER occurs without a conscious and willful choice of evil. Wherever Jesus spoke of sin this moral principle was clearly implied or plainly taught. Jesus was tempted by Satan. Jesus faced every temptation that we do, yet He never sinned. It is important to understand that Jesus was NOT tempted to sin - as in wanting to sin but just holding back the urge. James 1:13 tells us, “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.”
We have all heard the phrase “the temptation of Christ” for so long, that we, often times, compare it to our own “feeling tempted” which is an inward desire to commit sin. Christ does NOT, I repeat, DOES NOT, have a sin nature as we do. Jesus was born of a virgin, not created and conceived by the sinful seed of Adam which is where the sin nature originated from in the Garden of Eden. Christ’s temptation was an outward exposure to Satan’s ploys. The significance of these temptations being offered to Christ, and His refusal to partake in them, is that Jesus remained sinless and therefore remained the perfect sacrifice, able to take on the sin of mankind on the cross.
In John 15:24, Jesus taught that sin consists in doing wrong when we know better. It says, "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father." Christ taught that even the Pharisees, in rejecting Him, would not have been sinning if they had no proof of His divinity. Christ repeatedly taught that wherever sin is involved, there is always a WILLFUL rejection of light. For example, in John chapter 3, Jesus explained clearly what He means by sin, and what God considers sin. Many of you know by heart John 3:16, ("For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.") but few seem to notice the clear teaching that FOLLOWS the 16th verse. I'll quote Jesus' words from verse 18 onward. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. v19) And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (note this next verse carefully) v20) For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed."
Temptations are many in this fallen world in which we live in and we are faced with many things we don't always want to be exposed to, but because the world is a much darker place, and Satan is prevailing in many areas, we must choose not to let the temptations become sin. Struggling with sin and falling down isn't always easy. Some people don't understand that totally surrendering to the Lord and laying those strongholds down at the foot of the Cross, will be a wonderful beginning to being able to turn from ACTING upon a temptation that the devil puts in front of us. Satan can only bring up our past sins and tempt us with what he knows worked in the PAST. He wants to make us fall over and over so we question our security in the Grace of our Lord Jesus! He wants us to feel unworthy, unloved, and far from God. He knows that if we give in to our temptations, we will feel GUILTY. He knows that if we continue to succumb to willful sinning, the guilt begins to eat at our spirits and since Satan is a Master of Confusion, he will spin another web to convince us that we've LOST our salvation, which is the BIGGEST LIE KNOWN TO MANKIND! One cannot, I repeat, CANNOT, lose their salvation. However, he will try to turn that guilt, which is from the Holy Spirit, into CONDEMNATION! When we are under the blood of Jesus and have become born again, we are no longer CONDEMNED but oh how Satan wants us to believe we are condemned! He is the Master of Deception.
Satan tempted Eve with fruit. Satan tempted Jesus with bread. Both involved food. The lesson is that we must be careful to control our fleshly appetites. Not just our appetite for food, but also our appetite for things that aren't good for us like a sharp tongue, lies, violence, idolatry, foul language, pornography, fornication, too much entertainment like video games, internet and movies and etc. The most important similarity is that in both cases, Satan tried to plant the seed of doubt. To Eve he said, “Did God REALLY say not to eat the fruit?” To Jesus he said, “IF You are the Son of God…” And isn't doubt what many people struggle with today? Confusion and doubt is NOT of the Lord God! It is of Satan, our adversary, and the sooner we accept that, apply it and rebuke it, the quicker we will be able to combat our temptations from becoming sin. One must know that Satan is also keenly aware of what the Holy Scriptures say and what's written in the pages of the Bible. He quoted Scripture to Jesus! He quoted Psalm 91:11-12.
God can and does protect His children, but remember, we are to use good judgment. We are not to experiment with God. Satan was challenging Jesus to “push the limits” with God. Jesus quotes Scripture back, saying in Deuteronomy 6:16, "You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah." Jesus answered him, “It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” - (Matthew 4:7) The word “test” here doesn't mean the kind of test you take at school. It means to “make God prove Himself”. God is Holy. He is the King of the universe. He does not have to prove anything to anybody! Especially to the very ones He CREATED and gave His only Begotten Son to die on the cross for all of our sins! Do not attempt to “test” God! God’s Word is like a sword. It cuts through the deceit of the devil.
Satan will do his best to tempt, trick, trap and ensnare every follower of Jesus (1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because[a] your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."). He is very clever. He knows all of our weaknesses, and he'll always try to catch us off guard. Unlike Jesus, we are all born with a sin nature (Romans 5;12; 7:18). This means that without God’s help, rebelling against God is natural to us. Therefore, we MUST rely TOTALLY on the power of God to resist the devil’s snares. It's not going to be easy but it's in His power, His STRENGTH and His TRUTH, that we will overcome! We need to tap into God’s power by following Jesus’ example. And His example is the simplest, yet the hardest to attain UNLESS we are His children! The awesome news is that we all have access to the same devil-defeating tools that Jesus used. Don't be fooled! Good intentions can't, and won't, defeat the evil one! Only the divine tools that God has given to us, God’s Word, prayer, and praise, will do the work of defeating such a crafty, deceitful enemy.
Satan has been defeated and each of us need to remember that! NOTHING we, in our SINFUL FLESH, can do will defeat the enemy, nor will it fight temptations! We also need to remember that he will attack the children of God harder because we ARE His children! He doesn't have to work so hard on the unbelievers because he already has them! They chose him. He wants us to fall....to doubt....to believe his lies. That's why he uses our personal sins to trap us. Some have a harder time with dealing with their sins than others do and those seem to be the ones the enemy goes after with a vengeance. Why? I suppose because doubt is planted easily in those that constantly struggle with surrendering their sin and doubt continues to grow with each lie the enemy tells. Doubt is probably the worst seed that can be planted to anyone who is struggling!
That's why it's SO important to KNOW that we NEED Jesus! We need His strength. We need to turn to Him for each temptation that is placed before us and call on Him to help us turn from it! We will NEVER be free from sin and temptation in THIS life! That would make us perfect like Christ! And until we are taken home to be with the Lord, we will continue to fight our temptations. Sin is why we NEED the Lord God! However, it's because we are covered in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, we are SEEN BY OUR FATHER GOD AS HE SEES HIS OWN SON! PERFECT AND PURE BECAUSE THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS IN US AS PROMISED BY JESUS WHEN HE LEFT! Our spirits are perfect and blemish free, but while we're in the world and in the flesh, and while alive, we must continue to rely on the Grace, Love and Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and continue to make choices that are righteous and pleasing to the Lord! But when we fall, when we slip and scrape our knees, we need to call on the Lord for His forgiveness, and ask Him to help us turn from whatever sin that keeps bringing us to our knees because we NEED Him! Because we love Him and because.....HE LOVES US!
And He is waiting for YOU to make your choice....to accept Him into your life, as your personal savior, to believe on His virgin birth, death and resurrection, that He died on the cross for ALL of OUR sins and will return one day for His bride! If you don't know Him, now is the time to call upon His name! He hears the prayers of salvation......and He's waiting! It's never too late.....
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