What Is Sin?

When I was a child and teen-ager, I was taught by my parents what the Bible said was right and what was wrong.  Many other doctrines in the Bible were taught to me.  I read them in the Bible, believed them, lived by them, and was blessed in my soul and life.  There came a time in my life that I began to desire for God to teach me personally what was right and what was wrong.  I never doubted that the Bible was true but I wanted to say that I believe this or that because God’s Word says so.  I began to search things out in the Bible.  I believe God wants each of us to have this firm foundation to stand upon.  So my dear grandson, you are not different from your grandmother.  When I finished my search I was glad that I could say I believed this or that because it says in the Bible thus and so.  I didn’t believe it because someone else said it, but because God had said it.  This is the way I want you to know it.

There is one thing that I had when I began my search, that was the Holy Spirit as my teacher.  The Bible tells us definitely that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness unto him:  neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”  I Cor. 2:14.  Since the Bible was written by “holy men of God” who “spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” and it is not “of any private interpretation,” then we need to have the Holy Spirit to reveal, or help us to understand all of the Word of God. (II Peter 1:20,21).  Yet there are a lot of the basics that we can know.  I do hope that you will understand what I write to you by the help of the Holy Spirit.

First, let us know what sin is.  In other words that would be what is wrong.  When we find out what is wrong then we can know what is right.  Sin means “Willfully breaking religious or moral law.” (Web.  Dic.) The Bible also gives us the definition of sin.  In I John 3:4 it says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth [or breaks] the law [of God]; for sin is the transgression [or disobedience] of the [God’s] law.”  Then in James 4:17 we read, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”  We see that sin is either a direct disobedience of God’s Word or a willful failure to live by its requirements.  It is a serious thing to disobey God’s law because it involves the destiny or end of our soul.  It means living in either eternal torment or eternal bliss.  To commit sin is a terrible thing and a very serious thing.  That is the reason we need to search the Scriptures to find out how to live pleasing to the Lord in this world.  We can’t do this within ourselves.  God had a plan for us by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our salvation, so through Christ we can live right.

If sin is disobeying God’s Word then we must find out what it says in the Word of God so we can live up to it.  First we want to find out why we sin, and then get rid of the cause.