What is sin?

Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude or nature.
We all know that sin is harmful to our lives and that it brings pain and destructive consequences to others and us.
However, it much more serious than what it does to others because it is a direct contradiction, violation and rebellion to the very holiness of God.

1 John 3:4 - Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

James 4:17 - Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 14:23 - “…and whatever is not from faith is sin.

What does the Bible say about the sinful condition of mankind?
Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV): "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.”

Romans 3:10-11: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

Romans 8:7-9: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him."

Ephesians 2:3b: "[We] were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."


1 Corinthians 2:14: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

Genesis 8:21 - The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done

1 Kings 8:46 - “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near

Psalms 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?

Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not

1 John 1:8- If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Summary Points:
Man is not basically good - Man is bad, evil, wicked and corrupt

Even though we learn in Genesis 1:27 we were created in His image something went terribly and tragically wrong in Genesis 3 when Adam sinned.

From that time until now - man is not a sinner because he sins, rather man sins because he is a sinner!