How does the Bible define sin? How do sinful human beings relate to God? Read more to find out.
Sin is pictured in Genesis as beginning with Adam and Eve, who disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:9). The Jewish Scriptures, which Christians call the Old Testament, describe sin in a number of ways:
1. Sin is breaking the Law of Moses and failing to live as God intended (Exod 20:20; 32:31-34), or turning one’s back on God to follow other gods (Ezek 44:10).
2. Sin is defying God or rebelling against God (Jer 2:22-24,29-37), with the result that a right relationship with God is broken.
3. Sins are acts of violence against others (Gen 6:10-12), or ways of secretly hurting or harming others (Ps 64:1-6).
4. Sin occurs when the people do not follow the Law of Moses by failing to offer correct sacrifices. This makes them unfit to come into God’s presence (Lev 4–5; Num 5:1-4).
5. Sinful people are proud of the wrongs they have done (Isa 2:12). The prophets understood this pride to come out of an evil human heart (Jer 17:9-11).
6. Sin is not living up to or reflecting God’s glory. Humans are to reflect God’s glory, since they were created in God’s image (Gen 1:27; Ps 8:3-8). Sinful people do not live by the Law or love others as God desires. This is why Paul says in Romans 3:23 that, “All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.”
7. The sin of one person can have consequences for many others. For example, when the head of a family did wrong, all members were considered guilty (Josh 7; Deut 22:21,22). God was expected to punish the wicked, and the final punishment was to be death (Gen 2:17; Exod 21:15-17; Lev 24:10-17).
In contrast to this understanding, the New Testament brings a new message. All people are descendants of Adam and are inheritors of sin that leads to death. But Jesus brings new life because he brings forgiveness. This new life includes being raised to life from the dead (1 Cor 15:22,23). God used Jesus’ death to take away the power of sin (Rom 3:9) by having Jesus pay the penalty for human sinfulness (1 Cor 15:3; 2 Cor 5:21). He was sacrificed in order to forgive sins (Rom 3:25,26; Heb 2:17; 9:25-28). Jesus paid the penalty we deserved, and God made a new agreement with people, which includes offering us eternal life (Rom 6:23). Instead of continuing as “slaves of sin,” God’s new people are now God’s faithful servants (Rom 6:20-22).