The nature of sin

The scriptures use many terms to describe sin. The word that is most frequently used has as its root meaning ‘to miss the mark’, to ‘fail’ (in Greek hamartia). To sin, therefore, is to act in a way that implies failure to do the morally right thing.

The most basic ‘right thing’ that human beings are called to do is the one thing that is essential to the very purpose of their existence, namely to be part of a community centred on God's own communal life. That one essential thing is love, since all community – both divine and human – is built on love. As Jesus pointed out in Matthew 22:37–40, the two most important commandments are love of God and love of neighbour. Moreover, these two loves are inseparable (see 1 John 4:20), since the community formed by them is a single community, even if its divine members will always be the transcendent source of its created members.

Sin, then, is a failure to love God and neighbour. However, ‘failure’ is too weak a word to describe the awful power that sin can have. Sin is not simply a matter of forgetfulness or omission. Embedded in it is some degree of choice against love, some sort of refusal to love or to love as much as one should. This is why the Scriptures do not simply describe sin as a ‘failure’ but go on to use stronger terms for it: for example rebellion against God (Hosea 8:1), disobedience (Nehemiah 9:26), unfaithfulness (Jeremiah 22:9), breaking the Covenant (Deuteronomy 32:20). Hence sin is seen as being pride, the desire to be independent of God, to be one's own judge of what is good and evil (cf Genesis 2:17).

All of these references make it clear that sin is seen as ultimately offending God. The immediate target of a sinful action may indeed be one's neighbour. But since that neighbour is loved by God and since God is demanding that we love that neighbour as ourselves, sin is ultimately an offence not only against neighbour but also against God. As noted above, the two are inseparable.