(Sin)
The source of all things wrong, evil, corrupt and bad; sin is a word in the Bible that makes many think of things that are bad to do or/and that we are forbidden to do. While sin is at the core of all things bad in the Bible (and reality) do you know what exactly sin is? What makes it so bad? And why should no one ever do it?
What does the Bible define sin as?
In order to understand anything Biblical, especially something as serious as sin, it’s important to see what the Bible says sin is: so, what does the Bible define sin as?
The bible obviously says sin is a bad thing because it talks about it negatively (literally nothing good at all is ever said about sin).
Sin is defined as chaos
1 John 3:4
“... sin is lawlessness.”
And doing wrong:
1 John 5:17
“…All wrongdoing is sin…”
And disobedience:
Psalm 65:3
“…sins,…our transgressions.”
While sin is defined as breaking the law and doing bad from the verses above that still doesn’t clearly define exactly what sin is: so does the bible have anything else to say about sin?
The definition is in the original wording
Many times, in the Bible the definition of something can be found by looking at the meaning of the original word used in the original languages the Bible was written in. For sin, it’s the meaning of the original words used for it that defines what exactly it is:
The original word used for “sin” in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word “חָטָא” (khaw-taw';) this word basically meant to miss something or to make a mistake, implying that it was a failure to reach a goal of some sort.[1]
“Sin” in the New Testament is the Greek word “ἁμαρτάνω ”(ham-ar-tan'-o) or “ἁμαρτία” (ham-ar-tee'-ah) both meaning “No Share (in reward)”: a term originally used in Greek for archers who missed their target. This is because when they missed their target, they were not going to receive a reward because they had failed in shooting their Goal. So therefore, they had “No Share” in a reward.
This phrase was originally used only for archers, however, became used by Hellenized Jews and Hellenized Christian (writers of the New Testament) who use it to describe sin in the Greek language. because like the Hebrew “חָטָא”, It also implying a failure to reach a goal.[1]
So, we see sin is defined as a failure to reach a goal of some sort by either missing something or making a mistake. But if sin is a failure to reach a goal, we should know what exactly is the goal being missed?
The goal is God’s laws for his creations:
It’s clear from the rest of the context of the Bible that God’s laws are the goal: because he often reminds his free willed creations (especially humans in the Bible) to always following his laws:
Exodus 12:24
“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.”
Exodus 34:11
“Obey what I command you today.”
Leviticus 18:4
“...You must obey my laws…”
So, if God’s laws are not followed it is considered sin: so basically, anything done that is not right according to all of God’s laws is sin.
This is why sin is disobedience: because the free-willed creations that he ordered to follow his laws for them choose to not follow them but do the opposite; to do what they wanted to do a break God’s laws for them thus disobey God’s orders for them:
Psalm 65:3
“…sins,…our transgressions.”
This is also why sin is lawlessness: since sin is considered the opposite of God’s laws it's the opposite of righteous laws: that is a lack of order or law.
1 John 3:4
“... sin is lawlessness.”
Of course, something that has no laws in place is unordered and this leads to uncontrolled chaos!
Why all these things are sin there is one other word that perfectly describes what sin is at its core:
Sin IS wrongdoing!
1 John 5:17
“…All wrongdoing is sin…”
As said above, all sin is wrongdoing, but this word pretty much tells exactly what sin is:
Sin is doing wrong
Sin=wrong/bad
Sin in our modern language (or way of understanding) would be basically something wrong. If you're sinning, it’s another way of saying you are just doing something wrong.
The reason all wrong is anything other than obeying God’s laws is because who God is:
Since God is the ultimate life-form and great creator of all reality, he is definitively qualified to know what is right for his creations and what is wrong for them. After all, since he created them, he made their design and how they should function; he knows how a creation should properly function and what is not a proper way to function.
For instance, one of the reasons a plant on Earth was created is to covert carbon dioxide from animals/humans into usable oxygen again: this is it’s proper function and when its doing this it is obeying God’s laws (design) for it and thus doing right. But if this plant messed up somehow and begin producing a poisonous gas from carbon dioxide instead of oxygen, this would be against God’s original design for it and be wrong for it to do this; thus a sin.
This is why God reminds his creations who he gives laws to, who these laws are coming from:
Leviticus 18:4
“You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God.”
Leviticus 18:5
“Keep my decrees and laws,…I am the Lord.”
He is reminding them he is their creator and know what's best for them and how they should function!
This is why God’s laws are truth: it the truth of how a creation should properly function (laws of reality):
Psalms 119:142
“your law is truth”
So really getting down to what exactly sin is, it’s not just wrongness; sin is any violation of natural God made laws/God given laws and a creation’s design.
Sin is an unnatural state or action that was never meant to exist or happen in the first place: because it's a massive violation of God’s original design it causes all types of terrible problems for all creations: it causes chaos, destruction, and especially death!
The Bible even says to choose to live by God’s laws is to choose life and to choose to live by sin (anything else except God’s laws) is to choose death!
Leviticus 18:5
“Keep my decrees and laws, because the person who obeys them will live by them.”
Deuteronomy 30:19
“...I have set before your life (God’s laws) and death (sin), blessings (God’s laws) and curses (sin). Now choose life (to obey God’s laws), so that [you and] your children may live.”
Sources:
[1]
[A] Strong’s Hebrew--2398. “חָטָא”(khaw-taw')--to miss, go wrong, sin; by Biblehub
Website:
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2398.htm
[B] Strong’s Greek--264.”ἁμαρτάνω” (ham-ar-tan'-o)--to miss the mark, do wrong, sin; by Biblehub
Website: