What Is Sin?

Sin, according to the Christian Bible, is an act of rebellion against God's universal moral will or simply put, an act of transgression against God. Sin is by nature anything against God's will and anything that opposes his holiness. The Bible also states in Romans 3:23 that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But what is sin and why does the Bible keep accusing me of it? And if I don't believe in God, am I still a sinner? Simply put, yes you are. A common question that I have heard goes something like this, "is it fair for God to punish the good person living in the middle of Africa who doesn't know anything about Christianity or God but lived a good life?" To this question I would say, "no it is not" but the issue is that there is no good person living in Africa. Every single human person that has lived, and will live, is guilty of at least one immoral act. Sin, or moral unrighteousness, is apparent in every human being and no person would dare step forward to say that they are the standard of human morality. Whether it be Gandhi, Mandela, the Pope or Mother Theresa; they have all done some, of not a lot of, wrong in their lives. Sin is a deviation from what is good and whether you believe God or not, we all believe that there is a "right" and a "wrong." For Christians, the "right" is God himself. So the question really isn't "what is sin?" but rather "what is right?"

There are three ways that sin has condemned us to eternal separation from God. Romans 6:23 says that "..the wages of sin is death." This death is not just physical death, but eternal spiritual death or separation from that which is good. If sin is an act against God then it must be met with a God-sized punishment. When you kill an ant, you face no consequence other than perhaps a mess on the floor to clean. But when you kill a person, there are legal ramifications because an act of killing an ant compared to a person are not considered equivalent due to the value that society places on the one being transgressed against. All sin, big or small, is an act of transgression against God. And God being an eternal being, the punishment is severe and rightfully eternal. If God allowed sin or sinners to be where he is, he would be compromising his nature of justness and holiness. This is why sinners are eternally separated from God.

When Adam committed the first sin of humanity, he and Eve were deceived by the first sinner, Lucifer, by falling for the same lie that Lucifer did. They were told that they could "be like God." This sin is called the original sin and the consequence was total depravity for all those who came after Adam. His sin is essentially inherited by humanity because he was the first of us all. The second way sin condemns us, on the heels of the first, is through imputed sin. After God gave the Mosaic Laws, there was now a clear measuring stick for morality and also a legal sense of knowing when someone had done something wrong. This is an imputation of unrighteousness because the word imputation means "to credit something to someone's account." Another common word along similar lines is the word "accusation." So acts of sin committed against God's laws were imputed, or credited, to the transgressor and they were then liable. The final way that sin condemns us is through our consistently practiced personal sins (not different front eh second way legally but these are less legal and more minor selfish acts). Every person acts immorally everyday at some point. This is a result of the previously mentioned original sin and depraved state. These acts of daily sin condemn us and deem us guilty against God's moral code. So there are three levels, if you will, in which sin has totally corrupted us all; inherited original state of depravity, legal transgressions against a known moral law and personal acts of immoral deviation on every level. Sin is who we are.

An interesting question I received once was, "if sin is so natural to us, then why do we think of it so badly? Can't we just accept our state and live with it?" The answer is yes. Anyone is free to choose to live whatever way they want to, disregarding sin if they'd like. The problem with this is that nobody, who rationally thinks about this, actually desires a disregarding of moral code. All people of all generations and societies desire good morality and an adherence to it. Every culture has their own idea of how people should act. There exists within us an innate understanding that people should not just behave any way they want to. Governments issue laws and policies based on this societal belief. So why do we naturally think that there is a way we "ought" to be. And if the notion of sin was simply a myth, then why do we even attempt to define morality. If I said Hitler's beliefs were correct or that ISIS is doing the right thing for their people, I'm sure that many people would disagree, but why? Sin, regardless of your faith, is apparent, it is real, it is undeniable and it is evidence that there is a "right" way that a human being should be. And if there is a "right" then there must also be a "wrong." Hence, sin is simply the "wrong" in the world.