What Makes a Given Sin a Sin?

Theology
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Can you look at a given sin and explain what makes it a sin? How do you define what a sin is?

Is a sin only a sin because God says so? Or does God have a reason behind naming a sin a sin?

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@Bruce_Leiter

Lets move our discussion here.

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Concisely, sin is anything that is unlike God. Any thought, any deed, any purpose, any value, any belief.

2-cents
KP

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I think that the Bible’s definition of sin is self-centeredness in any aspect of human life that puts ourselves ahead of or ignores God. That’s what happened in the Garden of Eden, and humans have been self-centered ever since then.

Gen 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

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So if sin is self centeredness, and if anything that takes your focus away from God is a sin, Is going to the doctor a sin?

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In my opinion, this question is a sister to the mother of all questions. Socrates asked Euthyphro “do the Gods love good actions because they are good, or are good actions good because they are loved by the Gods?” But I don’t want to assume your purpose or by any means derail the thread, so I’ll stick strictly to your question.

The thing that makes a sin a sin is the underlying disbelief in who God is, and what God says about a thing. God told Adam and Eve the one thing they couldn’t do, which was to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He also told them that their devastating consequence for disobeying His clear commandment would be death. I don’t think there was anything special (bad) about the fruit itself. So the challenge of the fruit was to their belief in Him and their obedience to Him.

I think we always do what we believe is best for ourselves in any situation. And we always choose what we want to believe. That’s the way God created us.

Eve had competing information sources. The truth from God, and a lie from the devil. Her assessment concluded that the best thing for her to do would be to eat the fruit, because of the benefits (good to observe, good to eat, good for gaining wisdom, probably won’t die after all) she would get.

So, she chose to believe a liar instead of believing God who had created them and everything else. Essentially, it was her disbelief in what God told her that caused her to disobey God. The thing she did was a sin because God told her it was wrong and would have bad consequences. She did it anyway because she didn’t believe Him. She believed it would be good for her at that moment, and that she wouldn’t experience the bad consequences that God had warned her about.

And so it is to this day.

God is good. Not because He says He is good, and not because He likes good things. He is good because goodness is a property of His immutable nature. He is goodness. He can’t be anything but good.

So, any given sin is a sin ultimately because it is a manifestation of our disbelief in God and His goodness.

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I think I read somewhere that the original definition for sin was when someone aimed at a target and missed, it was classified as a sin. Sin is therefore missing the mark, or the way one leads in life.

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Sin is not sin because culture labels it, nor because men invent moral categories, nor because society feels shame. Sin is sin because it contradicts the holy character of God and rebels against His revealed will. The essence of sin is lawlessness, as John writes, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). The Greek word there is anomia, meaning the refusal to be under God’s law, a willful stepping outside the boundaries of His authority.

At its root, sin is not primarily about harm done to others, though sin does wound others. It is not primarily about self-destruction, though sin corrodes the soul. It is first and foremost about defiance against God Himself. David confesses after his adultery and murder, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight” (Psalm 51:4). Though he had devastated Bathsheba, betrayed Uriah, and corrupted Israel’s trust, the ultimate weight of his sin was vertical, against the holiness of the Lord.

The reason sin is sin is because it strikes against the very glory of God. Paul explains, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). To sin is to miss the mark of reflecting His glory, to exchange His majesty for idols, to prefer the creature over the Creator (Romans 1:23, 25). That is why sin carries death as its wage (Romans 6:23), for it separates man from the Author of life.

At the cross, the full horror of sin is revealed. Christ, the sinless Lamb, bore the curse and wrath that our rebellion deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13). There you see why sin is sin. It is not a trivial weakness, not a small mistake, but so offensive to God’s holiness that His own Son had to be pierced to make atonement.

So what makes sin a sin? It is not the shifting morals of men but the unchanging holiness of God. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that refuses His reign, contradicts His law, despises His glory, and tramples the cross that reveals both His hatred of sin and His love for sinners.

J.

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@anon75384934, I don’t think so, as long as we trust in God through prayer to use the doctor and other medical means to bless us with health.

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@Bruce_Leiter

But going to the doctor must be a sin. Becauae we could be serving God in all that time wasted on ourselves. Or filling prescriptions. It is extremely self seeving to spend time going to the store to buy medication when we could be spending that time in prayer.

And the money for that visit and that medicine could be given to God’s Church.

Everything we do must be dedicated to God, yes? Looking for God to bless us is incrediboy selfish. We should be asking, how can ws bless God.

Based on your definition of sin. Care to try again?

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So sin is failure? Or grasping?

Sounds a bit Buddhist. The only way to truly avoid sin is not to aim for any mark. Just to accept and surrender.

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Eph 5:29. “No one ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.”

And goes to the doctor. You have a loving Heavenly Father. Not a drill master.

Every person does what they believe is best for themselves, at that moment. That’s the way He created us. When we believe God about what is best for ourselves, we bring our will into alignment with His. When we don’t (as in, we believe we know what’s better for ourselves, at that moment) then we make the decision to sin.

Ultimately it’s comes down to what we choose to believe that drives what we choose to do. That’s why salvation is by faith - belief in our Lord Jesus Christ.

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@Pater15

We are talking about definitions of sin, not aboit going to the doctor. The only reason the doctor is in the discussion is to follow a line of reasoning to its conclusion. Yes, you found a Scripture that validates going to the doctor, but it is still a sin under the current definition being discussed by me and another person.

I could just as easily used family vacations, watching television, eating a fancy meal verses a cheaper meal and giving that money to the church.

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Those are not the same as going to the doctor. You have to listen to your conscience about whether you’re wasting money, or enjoying God’s blessings.

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I agree the consequences are not as dire for the others as missing a visit to the doctor.

A conscience can lie. Some people have no conscience. Some people reason a sin is acceptable and bypass the conscience. Such as a sex addict reasoning that God wants him to do ministry helping other sex addicts.

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Yep, I agree. These are the tools we have, so we trust God to sharpen them. And we become skillful in their use through study of His word and prayer.

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Since you cannot trust your conscience, can you name a single scripture that slices away all doubt to what is God’s Will and Law and what is not?

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I can, and do trust my conscience. It seems to me that yours is bothering you.

God’s will and law can be summed up in the greatest commandment - Love God with all your heart, soul, and spirit, and your neighbor as yourself.

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In other words, the Way of Christ hits the target. All other ways, miss the target.

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You want a definition of sin @Tillman ?

ἁΌαρτÎč́α
hamartĂ­a; gen. hamartĂ­as, fem. noun from hamartĂĄnō (G264), to sin. Sin, missing the true end and scope of our lives, which is God. An offense in relation to God with emphasis on guilt.

(I) Aberration from the truth, error (Jhn_8:46 where it stands as the opposite of alḗtheia [G225], truth. See also Jhn_16:8-9).

(II) Aberration from a prescribed law or rule of duty, whether in general or of particular sins.

(A) Generally (Mat_3:6; Mat_9:2, Mat_9:5-6; Mrk_1:4-5; 1Co_15:3; Heb_4:15; Sept.: Gen_15:16; Gen_18:20; Isa_53:5). “Thou art wholly born in sin” (a.t.; Jhn_9:34) means thou art a sinner from the womb (cf. Psa_51:5; Psa_58:3; Isa_48:8). To “commit sin” (a.t.; 2Co_11:7; 1Pe_2:22; 1Jn_3:9) means the same thing as to work sin (Jas_2:9).

In 1Jn_5:16, to “sin a sin” means to commit any sin. In the gen. after another noun, hamartía often supplies the place of an adj. meaning sinful, wicked, impious. In 2Th_2:3, the “man of sin” means the Antichrist. In Rom_7:5, “the passions of sins” (a.t.) means sinful desires. In Heb_10:6, Heb_10:8 and Heb_13:11, “concerning sin” (a.t.) refers to sacrifice for sin. In Heb_10:26, “offering for sin” (a.t.) refers to those who sin willfully (see also Heb_10:18; Sept.: Lev_5:8; Psa_40:7).
(B) Spoken of particular sins, e.g., of unbelief (Jhn_8:21, Jhn_8:24); of lewdness (2Pe_2:14); of defection from the gospel of Christ (Heb_11:25; Heb_12:1).
(C) By metonymy, of abstraction for concrete, hamartĂ­a for hamartōlĂłs (G268), sinner meaning sinful, i.e., either as causing sin (Rom_7:7, “Is the law the cause of sin?” [a.t.]) or as committing sin (2Co_5:21 meaning He has been treated as if He were a sinner). In Heb_12:4, it refers to the adversaries of the gospel.
(D) By metonymy, the practice of sinning, habit of sin (Rom_3:9; Rom_5:12, Rom_5:20-21; Gal_3:22).
(E) By metonymy, proneness to sin, sinful desire or propensity (Jhn_8:34; Rom_6:1-2, Rom_6:6, Rom_6:12, Rom_6:14; Rom_7:7 ff.; Heb_3:13, “the deceitfulness of our sinful propensities” [a.t.]).
(III) The imputation or consequences of sin, the guilt and punishment of sin as in the phrase “to take away [or bear] sin” (a.t.), i.e., the imputation of it (Jhn_1:29; Rom_11:27; Heb_9:26; Heb_10:11; 1Pe_2:24; 1Jn_3:5). To remit (aphĂ­ēmi [G863]) sins and the remission (ĂĄphesis [G859]) of sins means to remove the guilt, punishment, and power of sin (Mat_9:2, Mat_9:5-6; Mat_26:28; Luk_7:47-49; Jhn_20:23; Heb_10:4). In Jhn_9:41, “your sin remains” (a.t.) means your guilt and exposure to punishment remain (cf. Jhn_15:22, Jhn_15:24; 1Jn_1:9). In 1Co_15:17, “ye are yet in your sins” means you are still under the guilt and power of your sins. In Heb_9:28, “without sin” means He shall appear the second time but not for the putting away of the consequences of sin (Heb_9:26; Sept.: Lev_22:9; Num_9:13; Pro_10:16; Isa_5:18; Isa_53:6, Isa_53:11; Lam_3:39; Ezk_3:20; Zec_14:19). See hamĂĄrtēma (G265), sin as an individual act, a determination of the nature of man as a personal power and also used of individual acts. Used in an absolute or relative sense. Individual sins do not annul the general character or the actions of the regenerate. “There is a sin [hamartĂ­a (G266)] unto death” (1Jn_5:16) refers to willful and intentional sin (see also Heb_10:26, Heb_10:29) and physical death (Act_5:1-11; 1Co_5:5; 1Co_11:30), and there is a sin not unto death. The sins of the regenerate are regrettably unavoidable in view of their present unredeemed body (Rom_8:2-3) and the environment in which they live (1Jn_2:2). The sinfulness of sin depends on the innate or acquired knowledge of God’s expectations (Jas_4:17).
Syn.: agnĂłēma (G51), a sin of ignorance; opheĂ­lēma ([G3783] akin to opheilḗ [G3782], a debt), that which is legally due; adikĂ­a (G93), unrighteousness; adĂ­kēma (G92), a wrong, an injury; ponērĂ­a (G4189), wickedness; paranomĂ­a (G3892), law-breaking; anomĂ­a (G458), lawlessness; parĂĄbasis (G3847), violation, transgression; krĂ­ma (G2917), condemnation; Ă©gklēma (G1462), crime which is tried in court; sunōmosĂ­a (G4945), a plot, conspiracy; asĂ©beia (G763), impiety, ungodliness; parakoḗ (G3876), disobedience; apeĂ­theia (G543), obstinate rejection of God’s will; parĂĄptōma (G3900), a false step, a blunder; ptṓsis (G4431), a fall; apostasĂ­a (G646), a standing away from, although not necessarily a departure from a position in which one stood; aitĂ­a (G156) and aĂ­tion (G158), a crime, a legal ground for punishment, fault; hḗttēma (G2275), a loss, defeat, defect; hamĂĄrtēma (G265), an act of sin or disobedience to divine requirement and expectation.
Ant.: sōtērĂ­a (G4991), salvation; dikaiosĂșnē (G1343), righteousness; ĂĄphesis (G859), forgiveness, removal of sin; chĂĄris (G5485), grace; hagiōsĂșnē (G42), the state of holiness; hagiĂłtes (G41), inherent holiness.

Word Study.

So tell me, how can someone who is practicing homosexuality possibly claim the name of Christ?!

J.