What is Sin? Are all sins equal?

While there are several Hebrew terms for ‘sin’, the most common one means “to miss the mark”. In biblical terms, it’s to miss the mark of perfection. So sin means something that is imperfect. Another way of saying it is that sin is a failure or refusal of us to live the life intended for us by God. Sin is rebellion against God. But you may say, all humans are imperfect. Now you know why the bible says we’re all sinners. We’re all imperfect human beings, according to Romans 3:23 and Hebrews 7:11. But who decides and defines what or who is perfect or imperfect? The One who created all of us, the Earth and our universe. God decides what is perfect or imperfect. He has revealed this to us in the Bible. So, we have a measuring rod to compare ourselves to according to 2nd Samuel 22:31 and 2nd Corinthians 12:9.

     Sin also so carries a legal definition with it. In one sense, it is spoken of as a violation of a standard code…a crime against an established authority. Who is this established authority? The Creator of the universe, the God of the Bible. Since God is a perfect being, He not only is perfect in mercy & forgiveness, but also in His justice. In other words, God’s justice demands payment for our sins, our crimes against God…Romans 6:23. Sin is our nature. We’re not sinners because we sin. We sin because we’re sinners. At the future resurrection, our sin nature will be taken away.

Other Hebrew words for sin are ‘ahar’ (transgress), ‘awon’ (iniquity, perversion), ‘pasa’ (revolt), and ‘saga’ (to go astray)

 

                                                                              The Origin of Sin;

-The 1st sin…Lucifer’s sin of pride (Ezekiel 28:11-19, especially v17, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty…”)
-We inherited our sin nature from Adam (Romans 5:12,18,19)
-We naturally choose sin because of our sin nature but we can fight it because we now have the Holy Spirit in us (Romans 7:15-25)
-Eventually our sin nature will be removed by God completely (Romans 8:22-25)

    The Bible is very clear that we, as imperfect beings, cannot pay for our own sins (Romans 5:6-8). So God came down, in the person of Jesus Christ and paid for all of our sins, our crimes against God. When we accept Jesus into our lives, the Holy Spirit is given to us as a downpayment towards eternal life (2nd Corinthians 5:5). When we go before God, He will take away our sin nature, so we will be perfect in His sight. So, all of heaven’s inhabitants will be perfect (Revelation 21:3-8). This is a very simplified version of the Bible’s story of redemption.

                                     

                                                                               Are all sins equal?

Yes and no! How’s that for a definite answer? Yes, in the sense that any sin will keep you out of heaven (James 2:10). No, in the sense that some sins have more serious side effects than others. Thinking about killing a man and actually killing him are examples of this. This is why the Bible speaks of 7 particular sins being ‘deadly’ (Romans 6:16-19).

     Does God tempt us to sin? NO! – James 1:13-15  “When tempted, no one should say ‘God is tempting me’. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”

     Is temptation the same as sin? NO! Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet He did not sin.”

     The only sin that is not forgivable is the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. It says in Matthew 12:31, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.” What is this sin? In order to answer that, we have to ask ourselves what the Holy Spirit does. He convicts people of their sins and their need for a Savior – Jesus. By blaspheming Him, you are rejecting Jesus as your Savior. Rejecting Jesus as your Savior is the one sin that cannot be forgiven (John 16:7-14).

     Imagine Christ is being crucified, that nailed to His hands is a sheet of paper that has every sin you’ve ever committed on it. When Jesus said, “It is finished”, He was saying that all your sins have been paid for in full and are forgiven.

For His Kingdom,
Dave Maynard
http://BSSSB-LC.com