Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Luke 10:18
Jesus Saw the evil one Fall Like Lightning from Heaven
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
1 Peter 2:22
Jesus Did Not Sin
22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
Matthew 6:14-15
Forgive Others in Relation to Sinning
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Jesus tells us that loving God and loving our neighbor sums up the Bible, or at least the law books and the prophets writings in the Bible...Are there any words in these two Great Commandments that tell us what sin is?...Is the answer to what is sin, told in the Great Two Commandments?...
Man sins...But what does that mean?...Sin and the definition of sin is complex...Sin started on earth when Eve and Adam were disobedient to God in the Garden of Eden...So being disobedient to God is sinning...Or we might say to sin is to break the rules of God...But sin probably started before Adam and Eve...The evil one had fallen out of heaven like lightning, and that maybe the origin of the very first sin...Their sin was disobedience to God...So this is a definition of sin...
I have looked for the definition of sin in the Bible, but really cannot find a verse on verses that come out and give us the definition of sin...As an interesting part of the LORD's Prayer and this maybe a side note to what is sin, but Jesus did teach us to forgive other people when they sin against us, so our heavenly Father will also forgive us...But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins...So we must learn to forgive others so God will forgive us of our sins...So forgiveness is linked to sinning, and we must be able to forgive others...So mercy and forgiveness toward others is a part of the equation of what is sin...And therefore, when I read that Jesus tells us to love God and to love neighbor, I believe that is a part we need to learn to help us in understanding what is sin...
The Great Saint, St. Augustine of Hippo wrote sin is "a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God."...And this definition seems to be a very good answer to what is sin...
God gave us the Ten Commandments and when we break them or are opposed to them, we have sinned...
Pastor John Piper wrote about What is Sin and he wrote this:
“What is sin?...
It is the glory of God not honored...
The holiness of God not reverenced...
The greatness of God not admired...
The power of God not praised...
The truth of God not sought...
The wisdom of God not esteemed...
The beauty of God not treasured...
The goodness of God not savored...
The faithfulness of God not trusted...
The commandments of God not obeyed...
The justice of God not respected...
The wrath of God not feared...
The grace of God not cherished...
The presence of God not prized...
The person of God not loved...
That is sin.”...
So one can see the complexity in looking for the definition of sin...We might look at sin this way...The Way Jesus lived His life was a sin free life...So to live a life that is not like the Way Jesus lived His life is a sin...He LOVED God and He LOVED His neighbors, all of them...