I found this excerpt from "Restored Church of God " website, I hope it gives some insight to others that it has given me. The author is David C. Pack.
But What is Sin?
Nearly everyone has a different idea about what constitutes sin. Do you know? If sin brings the death penalty, then the Bible must tell us what it is. Should you not have an exact definition for what has brought such a terrible penalty upon you and all mankind? Do not settle for half-answers or the opinions of men. Do not concern yourself with what religious people and this world�s ministers say, but with what the Bible says.
God�s Word reveals the truth (John 17:17). Here is His definition�the true definition�of sin. I John 3:4 states, �Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.� GOD decides what sin is. He states that it is transgressing�breaking�His laws. Since sin is the transgression of the law, and the opposite would be obedience to the law, then exactly what law must we obey?
The answer is the Ten Commandments! Now let�s prove it.
John also wrote, �All unrighteousness is sin� (I John 5:17). The Psalms record, ��all Your [God�s] commandments are righteousness� (119:172). So then, unrighteousness�sin�is breaking God�s commandments.
The apostle James added, �For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend [sin] in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you commit no adultery, yet if you kill, you are become a transgressor of the law [a lawbreaker]� (Jms. 2:10-11). It is obvious that James was referring to the Ten Commandments.
Even though it is possible for people to go through life without physically committing murder, adultery, lying or stealing, all have sinned.
How can this be? Because even though one obeys the letter of the law, he can still break the spirit of the law�and this is also sin.
Christ magnified and expanded the letter of the law, revealing its spiritual intent. �You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart� (Matt. 5:27-28). This is why Paul stated that God�s law is �spiritual� (Rom. 7:14).
Paul wrote, �Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin� (Rom. 3:20). The entire purpose of the law is to point out right and wrong�what is righteous conduct and what is sin!
Paul continued, �What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid.� Some reason that the law is evil��sin��simply because it points out sin for what it is. This is ridiculous. It is like saying stop signs are bad because people drive through them without stopping. He finished, �No [the law is not evil], I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, you shall not covet [the Tenth Commandment]� (Rom. 7:7).
Paul recognized that he learned what sin was through proper knowledge of God�s laws. He cited the Tenth Commandment as proof. Lust is a form of coveting�and is therefore sin!
Romans 7 describes Paul�s struggle with sin. He fought his human nature, which he understood went directly contrary to the desire to obey God�s law�the Ten Commandments.
Understand something about human nature, including yours: �Because the carnal [natural] mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be� (Rom. 8:7).
Now read Jeremiah: �The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked� (17:9). This is a graphic description of the natural tendency of human nature�the carnal mind�at work within you. It wants to defy God�s instruction and then deceive itself into believing it did not.
This natural pull against God�s law, coupled with the great tendency toward self-deceit, is why all have sinned.
Paul continues in Romans 5:12, ��and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.� So that none would doubt what brought this most certain consequence in each person�s life, Paul adds, ��but sin is not imputed when there is no law� (vs. 13).
Grasp this! The law of God has to be in effect for sin to be imputed. There can be no penalty for breaking a law that does not exist.
Consider this point in one more way. Let�s leave no margin for error or misunderstanding: �Because the law works wrath [the death penalty]: for where no law is, there is no transgression� (Rom. 4:15).
If sin is the transgression of the law, guilt from sin is impossible if God�s law is not in effect. What could be plainer?
Almost every nation on earth has laws paralleling several of the Ten Commandments. There are laws against killing, stealing and bearing false witness under oath (perjury), etc. Some countries even outlaw adultery.
But could prosecutors in these countries bring lawbreakers to justice, for crimes committed, if they were not backed by laws that outline what crime is?
Could the death penalty for �capital offenses� (often the consequence for serious crimes) be applied to those convicted of such crimes if the law did not explain what act or conduct constitutes a capital offense? Of course not.
God is no different. The death penalty and His law are real. Where He charges one with�imputes�sin for breaking His law, He must have already established what constitutes His law. Violators of men�s laws are considered guilty of a �crime.� God simply calls these same violations sin! Sin is spiritual crime.
Let no deceiver tell you that God�s law is done away. It is not�it is in full force, carrying the greatest of all consequences for those who break it!
I pray it brings a little more clarity on how we should live to be righteous. The eyes of the world scrutinize those who profess to being Children of God, knowledge gives us the answers when questioned about our Christian faith.
1-2 God spoke all these words: I am God, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a life of slavery.
3 No other gods, only me.
4-6 No carved gods of any size, shape, or form of anything whatever, whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don't bow down to them and don't serve them because I am God, your God, and I'm a most jealous God, punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third, and yes, even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I'm unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won't put up with the irreverent use of his name.
8-11 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don't do any work�not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day; he set it apart as a holy day.
12 Honor your father and mother so that you'll live a long time in the land that God, your God, is giving you.
13 No murder.
14 No adultery.
15 No stealing.
16 No lies about your neighbor.
17 No lusting after your neighbor's house�or wife or servant or maid or ox or donkey. Don't set your heart on anything that is your neighbor's. (The Message)
Let's just take a couple and see how we sin.
"God spoke all these words: I am God, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of a life of slavery.
No other gods, only me."
Matt 6:24 Jesus states, "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." How many of us made ourselves slaves to money? Thinking "I need money instead" of "I need God"?
" No murder."
Matt 5:21 �You have heard that it was said to those of old, �You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.� 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, �Raca!� shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, �You fool!� shall be in danger of hell fire."
Not to mention coveting our neighbor's possesions (house, car, job, clothes, kids, spouse)
We at one time or another will sin, that is why it is important to be redeemed through Christ, to gain salvation. It is the only way we can be forgiven for our sins. There is not one out there who can keep God's commandments 24/7. If we are to judge ourselves, we are to judge ourselves in this way.
That is a wonderful explanation of it....I always just thought of it as "If you know to do good and choose not to do it , then it is sin." Your information was very informative. Thank you.
