The Bible says, “Sin is the transgression of the law.,”
(I John 3:4), meaning, “the transgression of the law of God”--not “the
transgression of man’s law.” Breaking man’s law is not necessarily a
sin.
The law of God is the Word of God. Sin is transgressing (breaking,
disobeying) the Word of God--either the written Word (logos), or the spoken Word
(rhema). (Logos is the Greek word for “the written Word.” Rhema is the Greek
word for “the spoken Word.”)
The written Word of God is the 31,173 verses
contained in the 66 books of the Bible. The spoken Word of God is whatever God
may speak to a person on an individual basis. The written Word of God applies to
every human being, and the transgressing of (breaking of, disobeying of) the
written Word of God is sin. The spoken Word of God applies only to the person to
whom God speaks it to. The transgressing of (breaking of, disobeying of) the
spoken Word of God is also sin.
A person cannot commit a sin “by
accident.” Sinning is a willful act. The Bible says, “Therefore, to him that
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) If a
person doesn’t know what they are doing is wrong, it is not a sin to them. A
person has to know the right (good) thing to do, and then choose not to do it,
in order to sin.
As a Christian grows, God will deal with that Christian
about things in their life. When God deals with a Christian about a certain
thing, the Christian must obey whatever God is telling them. If the Christian
disobeys, it then becomes sin in that Christian’s life. God does not deal with a
Christian about everything that is wrong with their life the day that they get
saved! It is a growing process. This explains why sometimes new Christians are
all excited about serving God, and they talk about how much God is blessing
them, and how all of their prayers are being answered, and then a few weeks, or
a few months later, they are unhappy because they are not being blessed like
they were, and their prayers are not being answered like they were. The new
Christian will often say something like, “But I’m doing all the same things that
I was doing the first few weeks after I got saved.” This is usually due to the
fact that God has been dealing with this new Christian about certain things in
their life, and they have not obeyed God and changed. A new Christian cannot
remain the same. (Neither can an old Christian remain the same!) They must grow,
and begin to learn, and do all the things that are in the Word of God. If a
Christian does not keep growing, they will fall into a state of disobedience,
which is sin. Sin separates a person from God so that the person’s faith will
not work and God cannot hear their prayers.
Sometimes Christians refer to
sins as “mistakes.” A sin is NOT a mistake. A mistake is NOT a sin. A mistake is
an error that is committed accidentally. A sin is a willful act of disobeying
God. A Christian should never refer to sins as “mistakes.”
Sometimes
Christians refer to sins as “faults.” A sin is NOT a fault. A fault is NOT a
sin. A sin is a willful act of disobeying God. A fault is a flaw or weakness. In
James Strong’s Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, a fault is defined as, “a
side-slip (lapse or deviation); an unintentional error.”
Part of the
reason for the confusion about faults and sins is the confusion over James 5:16
which says, “Confess your faults one to another...” The Bible says to confess
your faults one to another--NOT to confess your sins
one to another.
But the problem comes in because many
of the newer translations of the Bible on the market today translate James 5:16
as, “Confess your sins one to another...” These “Bibles,” and even many study
helps, claim that the correct translation of the word is “sins”, not “faults.”
Many of these “Bibles” are even translated from Greek manuscripts that have a
different Greek word than the manuscripts that were used in translating the
Authorized Version (the King James Bible).
“Faults” is the correct
translation. The Authorized Version of the Bible was correctly translated from
manuscripts that are the Word of God. These manuscripts are called “Textus
Receptus,” which means, “The Received Text.” Many, if not most, of the newer
translations on the market today, are translated from “corrupted” Hebrew and
Greek manuscripts that read differently than “Textus Receptus,” the Word of
God.