what are sins according to the bible

To the question, "What is sin?" many contradictory answers would in all probability be given. God's definition of it — which alone is authoritative — may be found in the Revised Version of 1 John 3:4: "Sin is lawlessness." This way of defining it cuts very deep. Every exercise of the human will in independence of God is by this divine statement declared to be sin. It matters not what the act may be, whether it be that which human courts would punish, or whether it be what would pass muster in the eyes of men, every action taken without reference to God is sin. This leaves no loophole for escape to any of us. Judged by such a standard, every child of Adam must be brought in guilty. Man having been created a being dependent upon his Maker, the fact that he acts, and even loves to act, apart from Him is proof of his revolted and alienated condition.

In 1 John 3:4 there is a definition of sin, "sin is lawlessness," for this is the proper translation. Man does not like to be under restraint, he desires to do his own will, not the will of God, and this can be manifested in a multitude of different features of sin. In Adam the first feature of sin that is evident is his disobedience to the word of God, and perhaps the next feature that we see is his robbing God of the tree, of which God said he was not to eat, the only tree God had reserved for Himself among the many He had planted in the garden. All were at the disposal of Adam except that one tree, and Adam, in disobedience, robbed God of that which He had reserved for Himself.

Before considering the chapter in detail it may be well to enquire, What is sin? And, what is involved in continuing in, or under the power of, sin? Sin is defined for us in the word of God as "lawlessness" (1 John 3:4, N.Tn.). It is the evil principle of doing ones own will without reference to God, or, in other words, insubjection to God. By one man — Adam, this evil principle entered into the world; as a result, a system has grown up — called the world — which is entirely dominated by sin, or the will of man. The result of man doing his own will is depicted in Romans 3:9 to 19. It has filled the world with misery and sorrow and brought man under death and judgment. Moreover, what is true of the world as a whole is also true of each individual. The misery of each individual life arises from doing one's own will without reference to the will of God.

Now, sin is "lawlessness," as 1 John 3:4 should read. It is the creature asserting itself against the Creator, declining to be subject, striking out to do its own will and pleasure. At the outset and for many centuries rebellious man was left to himself, when he lapsed into such a state of violence and corruption that the earth had to be cleansed by the flood. In the succeeding centuries conditions rapidly deteriorated, with the added menace of idolatry. This state of affairs God met by calling out one man, Abraham, and from him raising up a nation, that should be under His special instruction.

As for special revelation, Scripture is full of definitions for sin, which all boil down to breaking God's laws or going against God's will. Summed up, these definitions might be stated: Sin is proud, independent rebellion against God in active or passive form.

What, then, is sin? It may be seen in a thousand aggravated and sickening forms, from murder to a thought of foolishness (Mark 7:21-22); but notice, "the movement of a heart in opposition to the will of God is sin." Who can escape here?

What, then, is sin? It may be seen in a thousand aggravated and sickening forms, from murder to a thought of foolishness (Mark 7:21-22); but notice, “the movement of a heart in opposition to the will of God is sin.” Who can escape here?

Sin is lawlesness. So the real translation of 1 John 3:4 tells us—“Everyone that practises sin practises also lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (NT). It is most unfortunate that this verse is so badly translated, for the right definition of sin is most important. Everything that comes from the hand of God is under law. The planets must keep to their orbits, apple trees must bear apples, and apes beget apes, and so on throughout the length and breadth of creation.

But man in the realm of action has some choice. He may conform fully to God’s laws for him, or he may not. When he diverges from the will of God and exerts his own will it is sin, and “sin is lawlessness.” Sin is missing the mark. Transgression is trespass, or overstepping the mark, breaking a positive command. Iniquity is perverseness, a deeper shade of guilt.

Three words are given in Scripture to define sin; they are brought together in Exodus 34:7, Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 — they are transgression, iniquity and sin. These words are not mere synonyms that could displace one another and nothing be lost, for each has it own terrible meaning. TRANSGRESSION is revolt from, it means a tearing of ones self away. God has declared His will for men, but they prefer their own wills, and in the pursuit of their own wills they tear themselves away from God. INIQUITY means twisted, crooked, perverse. God has laid down a road for the feet of men to tread, and that road is as straight as His everlasting sceptre, but men have made for themselves crooked ways (Isa. 59:8); they are a crooked and perverse generation (Phil. 2:15). SIN means missing the mark. God has set up His mark, the end at which every man should aim. God Himself should be the end and aim of every man's life, but every man has substituted self for God, and set up his own mark to displace God's; and has missed the very mark and purpose of his existence. Along with sin in this threefold character goes GUILE; it permeates the life of every man who has not been honest before God His effort is to appear different from what he knows himself to be, to cover up and hide his sinfulness and even to imagine that be can deceive God Himself as to it. Then the New Testament gives us a striking definition of sin in 1 John 3:4 where we should read, "for sin is lawlessness," and that covers all that sin is; it is not a mere yielding to the sudden and capricious impulses of our nature, but the determination that lies deep in a man's will, though perhaps seldom expressed, to go his own way and be independent of God.

"Sin" is that which at the fall of Adam gained an entrance into the world. Just as the poison of a snake, once injected into la man's body, will run through his whole system doing its deadly work, so sin - the virus of that old serpent the devil - has permeated man's moral being to his ruin. The result of this is "all have sinned." "Sins," of thought, word, or act, whether of omission or commission, are chargeable to each of us.