Sin is when we disobey God and break one of His laws and commandments.
What Is Sin and Temptation?
- When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they allowed sin into the world (Why Jesus Became a Man).
- Satan said bite — Eve bit — Adam bit — sin came into the world — disease, accidents, murders, yada, yada, yada came into the world. Satan began to rule us (Born for the Kingdom; Is Peace an Attitude?).
- Man and Satan are to be blamed for the results of sin, not God (Is Peace an Attitude?).
- The original sin “killed” us all because it separated us from God. We are going to be separated until the judgment — even though we are made spiritually alive at conversion (Will Disciples Have a Judgment Day?).
- The only thing that can — and will — separate God from us is sin (Good versus Evil).
- Sin comes in when we make a conscious decision to do what is wrong (What Does Temptation Mean?).
- The choice to sin comes from inside of us. Opportunities to sin may be presented from outside, but the desires are inside of us (What Is Self-Discipline?).
- Whether we sin or be obedient is a choice of whether or not we are going to give God the position of Sovereign God in our lives. He is Sovereign God with or without us, but we have to choose to submit to Him (How Do We Believe in Jesus?).
- It is personal. Each person must make the decision for themselves whether they are going to ABCD or not. Each person must turn away from consciously sinning (How Will the Tribulation Begin?).
- Sin interferes with our ability to respond to those things spiritual (Belief: The First Step in Salvation).
- Sinful nature wins — evil comes out. Spiritual nature wins — good comes out (The Battle between Flesh and Spirit).
- We are trying to win the battle over sin. That battle is waged through temptations. (Using Worship to Educate Our Thoughts).
- Being tempted is not a sin (What Does Temptation Mean?).
- When we act on the desires of the temptations, we sin. Once we sin, it is easier to sin again. Pretty soon, we are living for Satan, not God (What Does It Mean to Walk in the Spirit?).
- Temptation is merely a test. Are we going to break God’s laws and commandments for our pleasure, or are we going to remain true to Him? (What Does Temptation Mean?).
- We’ve got to squash the sin, not turn a blind eye. For some sins, though, there is no excess. There is just avoid (What Is Self-Discipline?).
- There is a freedom we enjoy when we are self-disciplined. We are more able to withstand Satan in his attempts to get us to sin. That gives us peace and joy (What Is Self-Discipline?).
- We can’t pick and choose what is a sin and what isn’t. Nobody died and made us god. We can’t say one sin isn’t “bad” enough to be a sin (How Can We Find Comfort in Troubling Times?).
- What God has said is a sin will stay a sin. We can’t negotiate so it will be taken off the sin list. There is no debate (Watch the Company We Keep).
- A sin was a sin back in Noah’s day. It still was in Jesus’ day. It still is now. It will be until Jesus comes back (How Are We to be Inclusive in Our Ministry?).
- We like to think there are good sins and bad sins. That way we can either say we aren’t totally bad or we are not as bad as Tom, Sally, or Elaine (Will Everyone Have a Judgment Day?).
- God is not going to condone sin (How Can We Find Comfort in Troubling Times?).
- We are disobeying God’s laws and commandments regardless if we are lying, stealing, or murdering someone (Will Everyone Have a Judgment Day?).
- Sin is made appealing by being sensuous and marvelous. Whatever the sin, the root is our sinful nature against our spiritual nature. That makes it unrighteous and destructive (What Happens to the Antichrist?).
- There are some that don’t think sin is oppressive. All they see is the pleasure and shiny. Sin is oppressive because it leads to spiritual death (Isn’t It Impossible to be Obedient?).
- While it might be pleasurable at first, sin definitely does not end up that way. The separation from God is heart-wrenching. Self-discipline helps us not go down that road (What Is Self-Discipline?).
- The only way this world will be truly healed is when it is replaced with a new Heaven and a new earth – one where sin will no longer reign (How Can We Heal This Land?).
- Sin infects the whole body. Just as the body has many parts, so too, sin has many aspects. The thing is that sin has to be completely conquered. Not compromised. Not improved (What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ?).
- Just because we have the results of sin doesn’t mean God isn’t in control. He allows the results to happen – we have to have consequences of wrong actions (Is God Really in Control Right Now?).
Why Do We Sin?
- We have to never forget that, yes, these were — and we are — God’s people. Yes, we can — and will — continue to sin (What Happens When We Repent?).
- That doesn’t mean there is something wrong with God. That means there is something wrong with mankind (What Happens When We Repent?).
- We can still sin because we are still in these sinful, physical bodies (What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ?).
- Our flesh is considered naturally corrupt because it pursues what is pleasing, not necessarily what God commands. It is the root of sin and evil (What Does It Mean to Walk in the Spirit?).
- We will not be able to totally suppress human nature. Disciples strive to not obey their nature over God’s commands, especially willfully (What Does It Mean to Walk in the Spirit?).
- We can’t believe that we can purposefully go ahead and keep sinning. We are supposed to strive for righteousness (How Do Disciples Crave Righteousness?).
- Since we are still in sinful bodies, we mess up. That means God has to chastise us (How Do Disciples Escape Persecution?).
- Satan sometimes works overtime to get us to sin. (Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity).
What Are the Results of Sin?
- We grow through these trials and temptations. So, we shouldn’t get totally discouraged when they pop up (What Does It Mean to Walk in the Spirit?).
- While we are expected to maintain the bodies God created for us, we don’t have to live our lives buried in debt to our human nature (How Are We Debtors to God?).
- Don’t we have a lot of rubble in our lives? We have baggage from past sins (Rebuilding Under Difficult Circumstances).
- We will still get sick and die. Those are the results of sin. We still have to endure the results even after we profess faith in Jesus (Rewards for Focusing on God).
God’s Reaction to Sin
- God loves us so much that He didn’t want to be separated from us for eternity. He didn’t want us to face the consequences of sin throughout eternity (The Scriptures Last Forever).
- We need redeemed because Adam and Eve chose not to obey God (What Is Election?).
- We can do nothing to save ourselves. If we do not have Jesus in our lives, we are dead in our sins (Are Disciples to be Docile?).
- God looked for payment for the penalty of sin. That payment had to be made with blood. But not just any blood. It had to be the blood of the Perfect sacrifice (The Scriptures Last Forever).
- We are only saved because Jesus provided salvation from our sins (How Are We Made New Creations?).
- Jesus’ payment for our sins reconciles us to God and restored our relationships with Him (Who Is Jesus as God?).
- Both the Old Testament and New Testament have the same theme – Jesus is the Messiah and Savior sent to save us of our sins. Occurrences point back to things prophesied (Who Wrote the Scriptures?).
- Sin had to be destroyed, and Jesus said He was the Man for the job (What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ?).
- Jesus loves us. He will love us as we are. He will love us through our sins — as long as we fear Him. Fear of the Lord means love and revere Him (Who Is Jesus?).
- Sometimes, Jesus has to be the Judge. He has to correct us when we sin (Who Is Jesus as God?).
- God’s call for us to accept Jesus in our lives eliminates the separation that occurred as a consequence of the original sin. As much as we may wonder how He can pardon us from our sins and restore our relationships with Him, He can and does — He wants to do just that (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Wisdom).
- Just knowing about God isn’t enough. We have to admit our sins, believe on Jesus as Redeemer, confess God as Sovereign Lord, and demonstrate that commitment by following our job description (Who Is God?).
- God designed the Plan of Salvation to restore us even before we were created and committed the first sin (Walking the Ways of Righteousness through Wisdom).
See Also
Addressing Sin
- God is quick to point out steps in which we can correct our sins. It isn’t because He wants to point out all of our screw ups. He wants us to deal with them so He can forgive us (What Happens When We Repent?).
- Our relationships with God are damaged when sins are present in our lives. That is why God designed the Plan of Salvation. He wants us restored to Him (What Happens When We Repent?).
- It is difficult, but not impossible, to break the habits of sinning. God calls us to fix what is wrong. In fixing it, we are to change our character to be more like His (What Happens When We Repent?).
Results of Salvation
- When God has forgiven us of our sins and made us spiritually alive again, our rewards are huge. The wealth of this world is dwarfed (Are Disciples to be Docile?).
- We don’t get a free pass on sin just because we are disciples. We have to actively be trying to withstand Satan’s temptations and live in obedience to God (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
- We are all captives to sin. We can also be captive to circumstances (Fulfilling Scriptures).
- We may still be struggling with sin, but God doesn’t expect perfection — here (Characteristics of Disciples’ Lives).
- Are we going to be 100% perfect? No, we are still in these sinful bodies. We make a choice to be faithful, to be virtuous (Faith as a Virtue).
See Also
Our Response to Sin
- Instead of being complacent with sin, we have to cry out (mourn) when we consider we our sins, be genuinely deeply sorry for committing them, and are burdened because we know we will continue to sin while we are here on this earth (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
- God doesn’t want us to feel like such failures that we give up. There is only one sin that He can’t forgive — and that is unbelief (How Do Disciples Crave Righteousness?).
- We see ourselves as broken. We see our flaws and sins. We see where we fall short — and don’t think that will ever change. We don’t see ourselves as God does — perfected (How Does Boldness Help Consistency?).
- We should approach God in humility. We have to realize we are sinners — even sinners saved by grace (What Is Piety?).
- Repentance is giving up that sin because, even though it may be pleasurable to us, it is against God’s Will (What Is Piety?).
- Reading God’s Word helps pinpoint the sin we have in our lives. It tells us how to avoid it. When we diligently read the Scriptures, we leave less of an opening for sin to take hold (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
- Part of the issue with sin is that we want it to stay hidden. God works to bring that sin out into the light so we can work to eliminate it. There is no compromise there (The Battle between Flesh and Spirit).
- God doesn’t want us to flirt on the edge on sin. He doesn’t want us to figure out how close we can get without falling (Focus on Love, not Evil).
- Paul knew that, as soon as we start justifying the sin and quantifying it, we are on the downhill slide to full out committing the sin (Focus on Love, not Evil).
- We can’t see salvation as a license to sin. “Well, I mostly get it right, so God is going to ignore this sin.” Doesn’t work that way (What Is Obedience?).
- If we choose not to believe — or make the choice by not making the choice — we will pay the consequences of our sins (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
- How do we know what sin is? We read God’s Word. It helps pinpoint the sin we have in our lives. It tells us how to avoid it (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
- Because we continue to sin, we have to pray every day for forgiveness. Since we have to choose every day to obey God, we have the opportunity to sin daily. While the initial forgives of our sins changes us from spiritually dead to spiritually alive, it isn’t a once and done for subsequent sins (What Is the Relationship Between Righteousness and Obedience?).
- Then we have to turn away from the sin. We can’t keep giving in to temptation. Being a child of God does not give us license to go on willfully sinning (How Can We Heal This Land?).
- We are righteous because we are free from sin by following God’s moral laws (How Is Wisdom Righteous?).
- We are still going to sin. But repentance changes our character and lifestyle. We are trying not to sin (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
- Denying that we sin is not repentance. Asking God for salvation without changing our character and lifestyle is not repentance. Picking and choosing which of God’s laws and commandments we are going to obey — and which we are going to continue to break — is not repentance (A Sincere Acceptance of Salvation).
- We have to change our character so that we live our lives according to how He calls us. We are to turn away from our sinful nature and be transformed into a spiritual nature, so we can be like God (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Holiness).
- Being sanctified means we don’t have to feel guilty about previous sins. God has forgiven us and set us on a new path (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Sanctification).
- Disciples must remain alert to keep on guard, so we don’t sin. We are to watch for Jesus’ return, not knowing when that will be (Are Disciples to be Proactive or Reactive?).
- If we avoid sinners, we can’t witness to them (The Way of Wisdom).
- We should regret that we have offended God. He is Creator and is all powerful. We should be listening to Him, not doing the opposite. This sadness, pain, grief, and regret should cause us to repent of the sins we have committed (How Do Disciples Mourn?).
God’s Provision for Sin
- We can boldly approach God because Jesus paid the price for our sins. We can only approach Him through Jesus (How Does Boldness Help Consistency?).
- Jesus shed His blood so that our sins could be forgiven. He deserves the glory and honor (The Promises of Jesus’ Return).
- Jesus’ blood was the atonement for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sins because we couldn’t. Only through this substitution can our sins be forgiven (What is the Tribulation?).
- Jesus was always going to be our Savior because sin was always going to enter the world (What Happens in the Middle of the Tribulation?).
- Jesus was given the opportunity to sin — but He didn’t (Why Jesus Became a Man).
- Jesus earned His kingdom by being God’s Son and by being the Sacrifice for our sins (Conversations with a King).
- Jesus’ whole ministry spoke to accomplishing this work in a holy and righteous way. He never deviated from what He said and how He acted. He came to deliver us from the consequences of our sins (Fulfilling Scriptures).
- If we look at it another way, we were all born into bondage. We were all born into the bondage of sin. The gospel frees us. Jesus has redeemed us and freed us from the consequences of sin (An Unjust World).
- If we had been good boys and girls and always been obedient, Christ would not have had to pay the penalty for our sins. We weren’t — He did (What Is the Relationship Between Righteousness and Obedience?).
Satan’s Response to Sin
- Can’t we as disciples see others today falling into sin’s trap because it is a mystery, unseen, and unknown? That is Satan at his best — subtly manipulating us to turn away from God and sin (What Happens to the Antichrist?).
- The Antichrist will be the champion of all sin. He is going to commit and endorse all forms and types of sin (Who Is the Antichrist?).
- Satan and the Antichrist will be defeated. Sin will be abolished. God will be victorious in the end (What Happens to the Antichrist?).
- Part of the problem is that sin is never going to raise the white flag. Satan is never going to admit defeat. He is never going to give up (The Battle between Flesh and Spirit).
- Satan is always going to try to convince us that sin isn’t sin. He is going to do everything in his power to get us to not follow God (The Lenient Judgment of Others).
- Once sin has been forgiven by God, it manifests itself through justice and love in our lives.
- Sometimes, we think that, if we are living for God, we won’t have to worry about struggling with sin. Oh, no. That is when Satan is going to have us in the bull’s eye.
- We are born sinners because we are descendants of Adam. We must ABCD to become a saint.
- We forget God is a wrathful God. Even though we can’t see Him, we know when He is angry at our sinfulness (How Should We Handle God’s Discipline?).
- God’s wrath comes out of His nature. It comes from the need to maintain order. If His laws and commandments are broken, consequences must occur (Can We Really Identify God’s Wrath?).
- But God’s wrath is always tied up in our propensity to sin. (What Is the Rapture?).
- God’s anger is used to help get us back on His track. He uses it to correct us and as a warning to other sinners. Its purpose is to mold us into being more like Him (Can We Really Identify God’s Wrath?).
- Worldview people argue that, if God is love, there would be no consequences. Seriously? We really think we would want to submit to a God Who didn’t care what we did? That is just a smokescreen (Can We Really Identify God’s Wrath?).
- Worldview people want disciples to believe that we can’t point out that their actions are sins. They tell us we should not judge (Mt. 7: 1) — which is true. However, how we do or do not approach the non-believer does not change the fact that God has determined what is sin and what isn’t. God will judge them on His timetable (What Is Expected of Disciples?).
- Some worldview people like to think that God is not judging us now and won’t until the end times — if then. Do not take that to mean God will not judge. He will — if not today, He will in the end (Can We Really Identify God’s Wrath?).
- Not judging doesn’t mean tolerance for sin (The Ministry of Reconciliation).
- God wants us to confess and repent of our sins – and will judge us for any unconfessed sin (But the Man after God’s Own Heart Was a Warrior).
- It doesn’t matter what sins we have committed. We could be a liar. We could be a murderer. God will forgive us — if we ask and submit to Him (What Happens When We Repent?).
- We could commit one sin a week. We could commit one hundred sins an hour. God will forgive us — if we ask and submit to Him (What Happens When We Repent?).
- There is only one sin that God will not forgive. I believe that is unbelief. He will not forgive us for not ABCDing (What Happens When We Repent?).
- God wants us to cut out the old sin and replace it with His love and grace. He doesn’t want it to just be a ritual or symbolic. God wants the change to be real, personal, and genuine (How Are Disciples Humble?).
- Only God can remove our sins — when we ask and repent of our sins. He wants to restore our balance (How Are Disciples Pure in Heart?).
- God does not like divisiveness that leads to acts of sin (Rebuilding Under Difficult Circumstances).
- God instituted laws and commandments to reveal His character to us as well as establish boundaries under which we are to live. When we do sin, we need to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness (What Is Piety?).
- Because we love God and want to obey Him, we are accountable to Him. That means we obey all the laws and commandments. We don’t compromise with the world. We don’t keep our pet sin (The Correlation between Fear of the Lord, Wisdom, and Obedience).
- God’s priority is our spiritual life, not our physical life. To put our spiritual life as a priority, we need to hate sin (Focus on Love, not Evil).
- God is really good at showing our sins to us. He wants us to see them as He sees them so that we can eradicate them (Isn’t It Impossible to be Obedient?).
- God forgives all of our sins — when we admit that He is Sovereign God (What Is the Relationship Between Righteousness and Obedience?).
- God has no problem forgiving us when we genuinely ask for forgiveness. But we have to ask and be active in turning away from the sin (What Is the Relationship Between Righteousness and Obedience?).
- Before God does anything else, He has to forgive the sin that brought the judgment in the first place. It would be useless to allow the sin to go on unforgiven. We wouldn’t gain anything (How Can We Heal This Land?).
- The purpose of the gift of grace is to restore God’s relationships with man and eliminate sin (How Does Predestination Fit In?).
- We sin when we willfully do something when we have been told not to do it or don’t do something we have been told to do (What Is Sin?).
- God has specific do’s and don’ts interspersed in His Word. They aren’t hidden from us (What Is Sin?).
- We can’t change a sin from being a sin to not being a sin (What Is Sin?).
- God still considers a sin a sin (What Is Sin?).
- God isn’t, some day in the future, going to just say, “I change my mind. I am not angry at sin anymore.” What was a sin will always be a sin (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
- Neither does God allow us to choose what is a sin and what isn’t. We can’t change God’s mind as to what should and shouldn’t be a sin (Will There Be a Judgment Day?).
- Christians still sin after they become Christians. We aren’t going to be totally perfect until heaven. But we have to practice now — you know, practice makes perfect (What Is Sin?).
- Sin can increase because, once we commit the sin, it is easier for us to commit it again, even if we intend only one instance (What Is Sin?).
One of the worst things about sin is it is contagious. Someone sees someone else doing something, and they begin to think it is okay (What Is Sin?). - We would not consider all sin totally, totally evil (like a lie). But all sin comes from the evil one – Satan (What Is Sin?).
- God always allows us free will to choose between Him and Satan (Saved by a Donkey).
- Growing in knowledge of God helps us to bring the sin to light so that we can get rid of it (What Is Sin?).
- Sin has consequences (What Is Sin?).
- Sometimes when we sin, we can’t have a do-over. Once we start down the path of sin, we have to face the consequences, even if we have repented (When Sin Thinks It’s Won).
- Still, God will use any and every means to turn us off our sinful path (What Is Sin?).
- All sin, really, is sin against God. Sin was not in this world until Adam and Eve chose to disobey God’s command (Sins Against God).
- Temptation is that period of time between conception and execution of doing what is sinful (What Does Temptation Mean?).
- We aren’t “too bad” that He can’t save us (How Are We Made New Creations?).
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To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.