# Sin ## Intro *Sin* is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. People hear it and picture an angry church lady wagging a finger. The biblical idea is darker and also more honest than that. The Hebrew and Greek words for sin do not mean *naughty behavior*. The main Hebrew word, *chattat*, means *missing the mark*, like an arrow falling short of the target. Another word, *pesha*, means *willful rebellion*, the deliberate choice to cross a line. A third, *avon*, means *bentness* or *twistedness*, a shape that has gone wrong. The Greek word *hamartia* also means *missing the mark*. The Bible uses several words because sin has several layers. The Christian claim is not that humans are cartoon villains. It is that every one of us, by nature and by what we do, stands in a real rupture with the God who made us. Some of that rupture is visible: lies we tell, people we hurt, vows we break. Some of it is invisible: pride, envy, self-deception, the inner orientation that puts ourselves at the center. This matters because if you do not understand the diagnosis, you cannot understand the cure. The cross of Christ only makes sense as a response to something serious. If sin is small, then the cross is overkill. If sin is what the Bible says it is, then the cross is exactly what was needed. The codex page covers the biblical vocabulary, the three aspects of sin (the inherited condition called *original sin*, the things we ourselves do called *actual* or *personal sin*, and the way evil settles into structures called *social sin*), and the major traditions' positions: Catholic, Reformed, Wesleyan, Eastern Orthodox. ## In full **Sin** is the universal Christian doctrine that human beings, every one of us, by nature and by deed, stand in moral and relational rupture with the holy God who created us. This is the *diagnosis* the gospel addresses: without an accurate doctrine of sin, the cross becomes incomprehensible. Christianity does not say humans are *bad* (cartoonishly evil); it says humans are *broken* (image-bearing creatures alienated from our source), and the brokenness runs deeper than behaviour into the structure of the human heart and condition. The codex treats sin as a multi-aspect doctrine, biblical vocabulary, position spread across traditions, and three aspects (original, personal, social). ## Biblical vocabulary, what "sin" actually means The biblical languages use several distinct words, each highlighting a different facet: | Term | Language | Sense | |---|---|---| | ***ḥaṭṭāʾt*** | Hebrew | Missing the mark; failure to hit a target | | ***ʿāwōn*** | Hebrew | Iniquity, perverted bentness, twistedness | | ***pešaʿ*** | Hebrew | Transgression, willful rebellion | | ***hamartia*** (G266) | Greek | Missing the mark; the standard NT noun for sin | | ***adikia*** | Greek | Unrighteousness, injustice, wrongdoing | | ***parabasis*** | Greek | Transgression, crossing a known line | | ***anomia*** | Greek | Lawlessness, the disposition behind transgression (1 John 3:4) | | ***paraptōma*** | Greek | A falling beside / a trespass / lapse | The terms cluster around three pictures: **missing** (hamartia / ḥaṭṭāʾt), **twisting** (ʿāwōn / adikia), and **rebelling** (pešaʿ / parabasis / anomia). Sin is all three, failure, distortion, and rebellion, never reducible to one. See [G0266 - hamartia](/codex/g0266-hamartia/) for the lexicon entry. ## Three aspects of sin Sin operates at three levels, all biblically grounded: ### 1. Original / inherited sin The condition into which every human is born, fallen, alienated from God, with a will bent away from God prior to any individual choice. Adam's fall affects the entire race ([Romans 5.12](/codex/romans-5-12/), "*through one man sin entered into the world*", NASB95). All humans inherit some combination of corruption + guilt + alienation from Adam. See [Original Sin](/codex/original-sin/) and [Federal Headship](/codex/romans-5-12-21/) for the mechanism debate. ### 2. Personal / actual sin The sins one commits, thoughts, words, actions, and omissions that violate God's character and command ([Romans 3.23](/codex/romans-3-23/), "*all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God*", NASB95; [1 John 1.8](/codex/1-john-1-8/), "*if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves*"). Personal sin is the *expression* of the inherited condition; not just outward acts but the inward dispositions of heart ([Matt 5:21-30](/codex/matthew-5-21-30/), NASB95). ### 3. Social / structural sin Sin embedded in systems, institutions, and cultures, slavery, injustice, oppression. Recognized in OT prophets ([Amos 5:11-12](/codex/amos-5-11-12/); [Isa 1:17](/codex/isaiah-1-17/), NASB95) and NT ([James 5:1-6](/codex/james-5-1-6/), NASB95). Roman Catholic social teaching gives this aspect the most explicit theological development; Protestants increasingly engage it through "structural sin" / "principalities and powers" language ([Eph 6:12](/codex/ephesians-6-12/), NASB95). The three aspects interlock: personal sin emerges from inherited corruption, and personal sins aggregate into social structures, which in turn corrupt persons. ## Position spread on original sin | Position | Mechanism | Tradition | |---|---|---| | **Augustinian / Reformed, full original sin** | Adam's guilt + corruption imputed/transmitted to all descendants; "in Adam all die." | [Augustine](/codex/augustine/); [Anselm](/codex/anselm/); Calvin; Reformed orthodoxy; Westminster Confession; most evangelical Reformed | | **Roman Catholic (post-Trent)** | Loss of original righteousness + concupiscence; guilt removed at baptism; concupiscence remains as tinder for sin (not itself sin) | Trent; Aquinas (refined); CCC §§402-409, see [Concupiscence](/codex/concupiscence/) | | **Eastern Orthodox** | "Ancestral sin", Adam's death + corruption transmitted; **guilt is not** transmitted (each is responsible for one's own sins) | Eastern Fathers; [Athanasius](/codex/athanasius/); Maximus; modern Orthodox theologians | | **Wesleyan / Arminian** | Inherited corruption + prevenient grace counteracting; original guilt covered by Christ universally | John Wesley; Arminius; classical Methodism | | **Semi-Pelagian** | Wounded but not dead in sin; humans can take the first step toward God | Cassian; condemned at Orange 529 (formally), persists in popular religion | | **Pelagian** | No original sin; humans born morally neutral; sin is only imitation of Adam | Pelagius; condemned at Carthage 418, Ephesus 431, universally rejected as heresy | All historic-orthodox positions affirm *some* form of inherited human brokenness; only Pelagianism denies it outright. The contested terrain is whether what is inherited is *guilt*, *corruption*, *both*, or merely *consequences* (mortality + temptation). ## Effects of sin - **Alienation from God**, broken relationship, hidden face ([Isa 59:2](/codex/isaiah-59-2/), NASB95) - **Alienation from self**, the [Rom 7:15-25](/codex/romans-7-15-25/) dynamic ("*the good that I want, I do not do… the evil that I do not want, this I practice*", NASB95) - **Alienation from others**, the relational fallout ([Gen 3:12](/codex/genesis-3-12/), Adam blames Eve; [Gen 4:8](/codex/genesis-4-8/), Cain kills Abel, NASB95) - **Alienation from creation**, thorns, sweat, dominion-disordering ([Gen 3:17-19](/codex/genesis-3-17-19/), NASB95) - **Death**, physical ([Gen 2:17](/codex/genesis-2-17/), NASB95; [Romans 6.23](/codex/romans-6-23/)) and spiritual ([Eph 2:1-3](/codex/ephesians-2-1-3/), NASB95) ## Key passages - [Genesis 3](/codex/genesis-3/), the fall narrative - [Romans 3.10-18](/codex/romans-3-10-18/), the universal indictment ("*none righteous, not even one*") - [Romans 3.23](/codex/romans-3-23/), "*all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God*" - [Romans 5.12](/codex/romans-5-12/), sin entered through one man - [Romans 5.12-15](/codex/romans-5-12-15/), Adam-Christ structure - [Romans 5.18-19](/codex/romans-5-18-19/), Adam's disobedience, Christ's obedience - [Romans 6.23](/codex/romans-6-23/), the wages of sin - [Romans 7.14-25](/codex/romans-7-14-25/), the divided self - [Romans 7](/codex/romans-7/), the chapter hub - [Eph 2:1-3](/codex/ephesians-2-1-3/), dead in trespasses (NASB95) - [Ephesians 2.3](/codex/ephesians-2-3/), children of wrath by nature - [1 John 1.8](/codex/1-john-1-8/), denial of sin is self-deception - [1 John 3:4](/codex/1-john-3-4/), sin is lawlessness (NASB95) - [James 4:17](/codex/james-4-17/), sin of omission (NASB95) ## Related - [Original Sin](/codex/original-sin/), the inherited-condition doctrine in depth - [Concupiscence](/codex/concupiscence/), Catholic-Protestant terminological distinction - [Federal Headship](/codex/romans-5-12-21/), Adam-Christ representational structure - [Repentance](/codex/g3341-metanoia/), the response sin requires - [Sanctification](/codex/sanctification/), progressive overcoming of remaining sin - [Soteriology (Salvation)](/codex/soteriology-salvation/), the broader frame - [Penal Substitutionary Atonement](/codex/penal-substitutionary-atonement/), sin's solution at the cross - [Calvinism vs Arminianism vs Molinism vs Open Theism](/codex/calvinism-vs-arminianism-vs-molinism-vs-open-theism/), different views on how grace and inherited sin interact ## See also - [G0266 - hamartia](/codex/g0266-hamartia/), lexicon entry on the standard NT word for sin - [Imago Dei](/codex/genesis-1-27/), what sin defaces but cannot destroy - [Resurrection](/codex/g0386-anastasis/), Christ's resurrection as vindication of the sin-bearing work - [Universalism](/codex/universalism/), alternative reading of sin's final scope - [Hell and Eternal Punishment](/codex/hell-and-eternal-punishment/), sin's eschatological consequence absent the gospel - [Anthropology and Ethics](/codex/anthropology-and-ethics/), broader hub - [Gospel](/codex/g2098-euangelion/), the announcement that addresses sin - [Bible Verses](/codex/bible-verses/), master scripture index
## Common questions this page answers **Q: What is sin according to the Bible?** Sin is the real rupture with God that every human stands in by nature and by act. The Hebrew vocabulary covers *chattat* (missing the mark), *pesha* (willful rebellion), and *avon* (bentness). The Greek *hamartia* means missing the mark. Sin is multi-layered, not just "naughty behavior." **Q: What are the three aspects of sin?** [Original Sin](/codex/original-sin/) (the inherited condition we are born into), actual or personal sin (what we ourselves do, in thought, word, and deed), and social sin (the way evil settles into structures, systems, and cultures). The cross addresses all three. **Q: Are people basically good or basically sinful?** The Bible teaches that humans are made in the image of God ([Genesis 1:27](/codex/genesis-1-27/)), so we have real dignity and capacity for good. But the image is *marred* by the fall. We are not as bad as we could be, but every part of us is affected by sin. See [Imago Dei](/codex/genesis-1-27/) and [Original Sin](/codex/original-sin/). **Q: What is the difference between sin and sins?** *Sin* (singular) is the condition, orientation, and power. *Sins* (plural) are the acts that flow from it. The cross deals with both: Christ bore our sins ([1 Peter 2:24](/codex/1-peter-2-24/)) and broke the power of sin ([Romans 6:6](/codex/romans-6-6/)). **Q: Why does the Bible say the wages of sin is death?** [Romans 6:23](/codex/romans-6-23/) says "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Sin's consequence is real separation from the God who is life itself. The death is physical, spiritual, and (apart from Christ) eternal. The gospel is the announcement that Christ paid the wages so we receive the gift.