What is sin?

What is Sin?

​​"Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Lawlessness is a transgression of the Word of God, and transgressing the Word of God is considered rebellion against God." Rebellion against God is sin. (see 1 Samuel 15:23)

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Anything that doesn’t bring glory to God is sin. To understand sin, we must first understand God. God is absolutely Perfect, Just, Merciful, Sovereign, Eternal, and He is the Creator. The Word of God declares, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3).

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If God created everything, then where did sin come from? Two of God’s most notable creations are humans and angels. Both were uniquely designed but shared one common trait: free will. Without free will, love, obedience and worship would be meaningless. God granted us free will so we could choose to love and offer obedience as worship to Him. However, free will doesn’t mean absolute autonomy.

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Fundamentally, it was His choice as the Creator and Sovereign. Since He is perfectly just and righteous, His decision to grant humans free will has a profound purpose. The Bible says we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and He is the original possessor of free will. However, unlike us, God is perfectly just, and therefore His will is pure and holy. By this we know God is absolutely just in providing us free will. 

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The first mention of choice in the Bible is in Genesis 2, where God permitted Adam to eat from any tree in the garden except one. By giving Adam this choice, God was providing an opportunity to exercise free will. He made the boundaries clear, defining what was acceptable and what was not, so that Adam could choose the right path and offer God the ultimate act of worship: obedient submission. However, Adam chose to disobey, demonstrating that free will is accompanied by divine guidance and, if disobeyed, consequences. 

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How to Discern Sin?

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We are designed to love, and we thrive when we operate in love. We are created in God’s image, and the Bible says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8). The opposite of love is hatred, which brings no glory to God. As we've established, "anything that doesn't bring glory to God is sin."

Therefore, hatred is sin. Since God is just, injustice is sin. And because God is truth, lying is sin. Transgression of the Word of God/commands of God is considered rebellion against God, and rebellion against God is sin. 

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Dear beloved child of God, read the Bible to know God better. The more we know Him, the better we can discern right from wrong and avoid sin.

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