PURPOSE
- Understand what sin is and its consequences.
THE EFFECTS OF SIN
ISAIAH 59:1-2
Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
- Sin separates us from God
- Big and small sin alike
GENESIS 6:5-6
5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.
- The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
- God sees our sin. He sees the damage our sin does to ourselves, others, and our relationship with him.
- He regretted that he had made human beings on the earth – Our sin deeply troubles God and separates our relationship with him. God’s wrath and judgment is a direct result of our sin.
ROMANS 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- All have sinned, no exemptions
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR SINS
MARK 7:20-23
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
- What comes out of a person defiles him – We are responsible for our behaviour.
- Out of a person’s heart come – All of these sins described come from our heart.
- We cannot blame our surroundings or circumstances for our sin
JAMES 5:16
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
SIN DEFINED
GALATIANS 5:19-21
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
- The acts of the flesh are obvious – When we are living according to our sinful nature, the symptoms show in our lives as in this list of behaviours.
- Those who live like this will not inherit eternal life – We cannot go to heaven if we live according to our sinful nature.
- See a list of sin definitions in Appendix A if needed.
- There are additional lists of sins that may be very useful depending on background. (Ephesians 5:1-7)
Sin Definitions
GALATIANS 5:19-21
SEXUAL IMMORALITY (porneía) – To commit sexual intercourse or any sexual sin outside of marriage.
IMPURITY (akatharsía) – Uncleanness or filth in a natural or physical sense; moral uncleanness, lewdness, any unnatural pollution, whether acted out by oneself (masturbation), or with another (petting, oral sex).
DEBAUCHERY (asélgeia) – Lack of self-control which involves one’s behaviour (over-indulgence; food, sleep, etc.)
IDOLATRY (eidololatreía) – Worshipping anything other than God (career, school, pleasure, sports).
WITCHCRAFT (pharmakeía) – The occult, sorcery, witchcraft, illicit pharmaceuticals, trance, magical incantation with drugs.
HATRED (échthra) – Being hostile. Animosity towards others.
DISCORD (éris) – Rivalry or a lack of harmony between people.
JEALOUSY (zelos) – Grief and desire because you do not have what someone else has.
FITS OF RAGE (thumós) – A state of intense displeasure, anger, wrath, rage, indignation.
SELFISH AMBITION (eritheía) – Strife and rivalry because of selfish motives.
SELFISH AMBITION (eritheía) – Strife and rivalry because of selfish motives.
DISSENSION (dichostasía) – A separate faction; division between people.
FACTIONS (haíresis) – Creating a separation between people because of a different opinion.
ENVY (phthónos) – Pain and bitterness felt at the sight of another’s excellence or happiness.
DRUNKENNESS (méthe) – Excess intake of alcohol.
ORGIES (komos) – Living without restraint. Partying.
COLOSSIANS 3:5-10
GREED (pleonexía) – Excessive desire for what one does not have, especially wealth or possessions.
MALICE (kakía) – The desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another.
SLANDER (blasphemía) – Verbal abuse against someone. Wounding someone’s reputation.
FILTHY LANGUAGE (aischrología) – Speech of a kind that is generally considered in poor taste or swearing.
LYING (pseúdomai) – To speak falsely or deceitfully.
MARK 7:20-22
THEFT (klope) – The act of stealing.
MURDER (phónos) – Killing a human being.
ADULTERY (moicheía) – Sex where at least one person is married.
DECEIT (dólos) – Concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading others; fraud.
LEWDNESS (asélgeia) – Absence of restraint; obscene or indecent.
ARROGANCE (huperephanía) – An offensive display of self-importance.
FOLLY (aphrosúnee) – Lack of prudence or good judgment; foolishness; lack of sense.
EPHESIANS 5:1-7
OBSCENITY (aischrótes) – Behavior that is socially or morally inappropriate or indecent.
COARSE JOKING (eutrapelía) – Offensive or distasteful joking.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5
LOVERS OF YOURSELF (phílautos) – Loving oneself, selfish.
LOVERS OF MONEY (philárguros) – Fond of money, covetous.
BOASTFUL (alazon) – Bragging.
PRIDE (huperephanos) – See arrogance above in Mark 7:20-22. Same Greek word.
ABUSIVE (blásphemos) – Harsh or insulting language; mistreating, especially physically.
DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS (apeithes) – Unwillingness to follow your parents’ instruction.
UNGRATEFUL (acháristos) – Unthankful. Unappreciative. Not acknowleding or demonstrating gratitude.
UNHOLY (anósios) – Being in opposition to God or what is sacred.
WITHOUT LOVE (ástorgos) – Hard-hearted; unfeeling; without regard for others.
BRUTAL (anemeros) – Savage.
NOT LOVERS OF THE GOOD (aphilágathos) – Unfriendly, hostile. Showing no compassion.
TREACHEROUS (prodótes) – Traitor, betrayer.
RASH (propetes) – Reckless, thoughtless. Acting before thinking or getting advice and perspective.
CONCEITED (tuphóo) – To swell or inflate with pride. Puffed up.
LOVERS OF PLEASURE (philedonos) – Loving pleasure.
1 CORINTHIANS 6:7-10
CHEATING (adikéo) – To defraud, swindle; to take from others in a dishonest way.
HOMOSEXUALITY (arsenokoítes) – Intimate or sexual relation with the same gender.
STEALING (kléptes) – To take something that does not belong to you.
SWINDLING (hárpax) – To cheat a person or business out of money or other assets; to obtain by fraud or deceit.
REFERENCES
Definitions were derived from the following Greek word dictionaries:
Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary : New Testament, electronic ed. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).
William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000)
