The Bible has much to say about sin. With over 700 mentions, it is one of the most common words in the Bible. Most people, if not all, use this word at some point in their lives, but do you know what it really means?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary says it is “an offense against religious or moral law.” And the Oxford dictionary defines it as “an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.”
The Bible defines it a bit differently. It holds within the above definitions, but there is much more to it. For further understanding, let’s look at the original Hebrew and Greek words.
Sin in Hebrew
The first appearance of sin in the Old Testament is in Genesis 4:7. It says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
The Hebrew word used for sin chatta’ah (khat-taw-aw’) and its verb form is chata (khaw-taw’). It means to fail, miss the way, or go wrong. For instance, when a soldier slings a stone at a hair and doesn’t miss (Judges 20:16). Or when someone on a journey makes a wrong turn and misses his way (Proverbs 19:2).
There are various ways someone can fail to hit the mark and go wrong. And the Old Testament primarily speaks of two specific types of sin.
The first one is pesha (peh’-shah), and it means transgression. Its verb form is pasha (paw-shah’), and it means to rebel, to transgress or break trust. It occurs when someone betrays the trust of a person, institution, or nation.
For instance, after the Exodus, God made a covenant with the children of Israel, whereby they agreed to keep His commandments (Exodus 24:3;7). However, the Israelites violated the covenant and transgressed (broke trust) with God when they made and worshipped a golden calf.
The second word is avon (aw-vone’), and it means iniquity, guilt, or punishment of iniquity. It is related to avah (aw-vaw’), which means, bent, twisted, crooked, or perverted. Avon mainly describes “not an action, but the character of an action.” It has to do with the inner character of an individual. It’s when one’s conscience or heart has been perverted so that the resulting behavior is crooked instead of right.
These twisted behaviors are willful and unrepentant. For instance, David had an avon when he lusted after Bathsheba. His iniquity led to perverted actions such as adultery and murder.
Avon also refers to the consequence of a crooked behavior, and its often translated as guilt or punishment. For example, when God punished Cain for killing his brother, Cain said his punishment (avon) was too great (Genesis 4:13). The Old Testament frequently mentioned people bearing or carrying their iniquities.
Sin in Greek
The Greek word for sin is hamartia (ham-ar-tee’-ah), and it means failure or missing the mark. It was a term used in archery when an archer’s arrows missed the target. Hamartia has the negative prefix A, which means “not,” and méros, which means “a part,” or “share of.” Together, it means, “a loss or no-share because of a failure to hit the target.”
Hamartia first appears in the New Testament in Matthew 1:21, which says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Various things in the New Testament qualify as missing the mark. They are grouped into two main categories, paraptoma/parabasis, and Anomia.
Paraptoma (par-ap’-to-mah) means a trespass, false step, or slip, and it translated as transgressions or trespass in the New Testament. It comes from the Greek word parapitó, which means to fall back or to fall away after being close-beside. So Paraptoma is a slip -up, an unintentional wrong-doing.
Parabasis (par-ab’-as-is) is also translated as transgression, and it means going aside, overstepping, or a deviation. It comes from the root word pará, which means, “contrary” and bainō, which means “go.” So, it means intentionally going over the line. It is used in the New Testament to describe a willful breaking of God’s law, such as in Romans 2:23; 4:15; 5:14, Galatians 3:19, Hebrews 2:2.
Anomia (an-om-ee’-ah) means iniquity, lawlessness, or disobedience. It has the A in Greek, which means “not,” and nomos, which means “law.” So Anomia means without law. New Testament writers used it to describe people who live in deliberate disregard of God’s commandments.
Putting it all together
Sin means failing to meet God’s perfect standard, which is holiness. From the Hebrew and Greek definitions, sin is not merely doing “bad” deeds or breaking divine law; we can also sin by omission.
Our sin comes in many forms, it can be unintentional (Numbers 15:27) or deliberate (1 John 3:4); against ourselves (1 Corinthians 6:18), or against others (1 Corinthians 8:12); through what we do (1 Corinthians 6:9-10), or what we don’t do (James 4:17); by our thoughts (Matthew 15:19), or by our words (Proverbs 10:19).
Regardless of the type, all sin is ultimately a rebellion against God because it is His standards we miss.
Sin and the Savior
We are all born in sin and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Sin is not only what we do; it is our nature. Once it takes hold of us, we become slaves to it (John 8:34). And the consequence of our rebellion against God is death.
But the good news is that God is gracious to forgive us if we turn away from our sins.
Exodus 34:6-7 says, “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
He pardoned our sins, transgressions, and iniquities through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53:5-6 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Jesus met God’s standards and never missed the mark. He who knew no sin became sin for our sake (2 Corinthians 5:21). He bore our failures in his body and died so that we may die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).
Jesus never transgressed God. He obeyed God’s law perfectly and fulfilled it for us (Romans 5:19), And by His obedience and sacrifice, He made us righteous. He reconciled us to God and restored our broken relationship (Romans 5:10).
Jesus carried the consequences of our iniquities on Himself—literally and figuratively. He took away our corrupt nature and gave us His righteous one (1 Corinthians 15:48-49). Now we can walk on the right path as Jesus did (1 John 2:6).
Sin was our mortal enemy that enslaved humanity for thousands of years. But Jesus is our awesome Savior who set us free!
Bible verses on sin
One man brought sin into the world
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
Romans 5:12
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Romans 5:18
All have sinned
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Psalm 51:5
Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us
1 John 1:8;10
Sin separates us from God
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Isaiah 59:2
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
Hebrews 10:26
Sin brings death
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James 1:14-15
Types of sin
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
James 4:17
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
1 John 5:17
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either.
Matthew 12:31-32
There is forgiveness for sin
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
Micah 7:18-19
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 1:7
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse from all unrighteouness.
1 John 1:9
Regenerated Christians do not sin unrepentantly
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
1 John 3:9
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:17-18
