What is sin? 2024

This information is discussing the concept of sin and how it is defined. Various definitions of sin are explored, including those from religious sources like the Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology and ThoughtQuestions.org, as well as secular sources like Merriam-Webster. The importance of understanding sin through scripture is emphasized, with references to the story of Adam and Eve and the commandments given to them. Sin is ultimately defined as the breaking of God's commands or instructions, also known as the Torah. It is highlighted that while all humans have sinned, Jesus is the exception as he lived a sinless life. The purpose of the Torah is also mentioned, as it serves as a guide for righteousness and highlights the consequences of sin, which is death, but also offers the gift of eternal life through Jesus. So, this draws is going to be all about what is sin, how do you define it, what happens when you decide not to sin anymore, all that good stuff. But first things first, we have to know exactly what sin is, that's the main question after all, correct? Well, we can look at some modern definitions that some people have tried to define sin as. For instance, if we look at the Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, big long title. But anyways, they define sin as sin is a riddle, a mystery, a reality that eludes definition and comprehension. Now, as we go throughout tonight's Draws and Teachings, try to keep this in mind and see if this is really so. Because we're going to be getting into a lot of scripture and there's going to be a lot that we did not get into. But like always, if you'll go down below, whether you're watching on a video platform or listening on an audio podcasting platform, down below in the description is a link to the article post for this Draws and if you click on that, you can get the on-demand video, you can get the slides that you see here on your screen that you can go through at your own pace. You can also get the notes that we took for this subject and a transcript as well. But in those notes, there'll be so much more that we did not include in tonight's Draws Just for the sake of brevity, so go check it out today. You can also find that by going to GodHonestTruth.com and clicking on the link or the post for this Draws. So Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology says that sin is a riddle, a mystery, a reality that eludes definition and comprehension. So that's one thought about sin. ThoughtQuestions.org, in the beginning of their article, they actually do define sin correctly, but later on down, they try to divide it up into three different types of sin, inherited sin, imputed sin, and personal sin. So this is how a particular website is defining sin. Billy Graham says about sin that a sin is any thought or action that falls short of God's will. God is perfect and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin. So that sounds pretty good. It probably agrees with a lot of what we know already, but it's extremely vague. It's not really a concise, specific definition of sin. Now of course, if we want something more specific, we can always look in some of the more secular defining authorities, if you will, such as Merriam-Webster. We look in the definition for sin in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. It defines sin as an offense against religious or moral law, an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible, an often serious shortcoming, a transgression of the law of God, a vitiated state of human nature in which the self is estranged from God. So they have various nuances here, but it does get more specific than what really Billy Graham had stated earlier. But for us and the way we believe and how we determine doctrine all comes from the word of Yahweh. It all comes from Scripture. So let's look at Scripture to get a better idea of what sin is. Now if we go back to the very beginning, at the story of creation, do you remember what the first command was? That first command comes to us from Genesis 1, verse 28. And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creeping creatures on the earth. A lot of you might have been thinking, well, the first command was don't eat of the fruit. But no, the first command was to be fruitful and increase. And I'm using this word command intentionally because it was a command, and commands are going to be very instrumental in tonight's drosh and understanding what sin is. We're actually given the command for Adam and Eve to not eat of the fruit in Genesis chapter 2, verses 16 through 17. And Elohim commanded the man, saying, Eat of every tree of the garden, but do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For in that day that you eat of it, you shall certainly die. So here, Adam and Eve already got a couple of commands. This is even way before Mount Sinai, way before what most people would consider to be the Torah. So they've already got commands here at the beginning of creation. They're told to be fruitful and multiply, and they're told not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. That's also a mouthful, but we made it. Then we see in Genesis chapter 3, verse 6. And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. So something to take into account here real quick to keep in mind as you go throughout the rest of scripture, both in tonight's drash and in your own reading. Here in Genesis chapter 3, verse 6, we're first told that Eve took of the fruit and ate. Stop there. What does it say happened when Eve took of the fruit and ate? Now we don't know exactly how much time passed between Eve eating of the fruit and then Adam eating of the fruit. But we're not told that anything at all happened when Eve took of the fruit and ate. However, something did happen once Adam took of the fruit and ate. Next verse, Genesis chapter 3, verse 7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves. So it wasn't until Adam ate that their eyes were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they were ashamed. So take that into account how Adam was responsible for this disobedience to what Yahweh had commanded them. This is repeated and stated the same way in the Brit Hadashah in Romans chapter 5, verse 12. For this reason, even as through one man, sin did enter the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. So it's through one man that sin entered the world. So what was Adam's sin? What is sin? How did he sin? Well, remember that Yahweh commanded them, do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He broke that command. His eyes were opened, and that's when sin entered the world, through a man. Adam was responsible. This goes way back to the patriarchy lesson that we did a few weeks ago, and that's the Hadashah in and of itself. But it was Adam that was responsible for bringing sin into the world, even though he was not the first one to eat of the fruit. He was not the first one to break the command. And that's very important to understand that he broke the command. So what is sin? We've seen some non-scriptural examples of what sin is. We saw it from the Theological Dictionary. We saw it from GotQuestions. We saw it from Merriam-Webster. We saw it from Billy Graham. How does Scripture define sin? First John chapter 3, verse 4, everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. Therefore, the scriptural definition of sin is disobeying the Torah. I know it defines as law a lot of times, but Torah is better understood as instructions or commands. Sin is breaking of the Torah. Way down in the complete Jewish Bible, it actually uses the word Torah. Anyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah. Indeed, sin is violation of Torah. So when Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he broke the command, he broke the instruction of Yahweh to not eat of it. That breaking of the command was the sin, and it's a beautiful illustration of exactly what sin is. Scripture tells us that sin is the breaking of the Torah, the breaking of the commands, the breaking of the instructions, the breaking of the law. Yahweh commanded him not to eat. Adam ate of the fruit. Therefore, Adam sinned, and because he sinned and broke what Yahweh commanded him, sin entered into the world through Adam, through a man. However, we know that one can, or we know of one who was completely sinless, without sin. That's our Master and Messiah, Yeshua. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 15, for we do not have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who was tried or tempted in all respects, as we are, apart from sin. Yeshua was completely sinless, and that's how he could be the Passover lamb, the sacrificial lamb, as it were, without blemish, because he was without sin. He did not sin all the days of his life. He did not break the Torah or the commandments of Yahweh all the days of his life. He kept them perfectly. There's a lot more that can get into the aspect of Torah, and we're going to get into that in just a moment. But we have other droshes on just the Torah. This is a teaching about sin, but we know that sin entered the world through Adam because Adam sinned. Adam broke what he was commanded not to do. Yeshua was sinless. He completely followed and obeyed. He was obedient to the word of Yahweh, to the Torah. So what is the purpose of the Torah anyways? We see in Romans chapter 10, verses 4 through 5, where Messiah is the goal of the Torah and to righteousness, to everyone who believes. Where Moshe writes about the righteousness, which is of the Torah, the man who does these shall live by them. So we know, here we can see that the man who does these, the man who does the Torah shall live by them. So does that mean that when we stop doing wrong and start following the Torah that we'll live forever? No. We'll get into that in just a moment. Romans chapter 3, verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the esteem of Elohim. For all have broken the Torah. Now, of course, we know it goes without saying the exception is Yeshua. But all of us, everyone else, have sinned. We have broken the Torah, even if it's just one. We have broken the Torah. And as a result, Romans 6, verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the favorable gift of Elohim is everlasting life in Messiah Yeshua, our Master. So here, we see that since we have sinned, and we know that all have sinned, the wages of this sin is death. Even though we can't turn from our breaking of the Torah into obedience to the Torah and live forever, since we have sinned, we will die. Since we have sinned, we will die. So what is the purpose of the Torah? Why would we obey the Torah? Because disobedience of the Torah is sin. If we want to turn from sin, that logically tells us that turning from sin, turning from the breaking of the Torah, turning from the disobedience of the Torah, would instead be obedience to the Torah. In Proverbs chapter 3, verse 1-2, my son, do not forget my Torah, and let your heart watch over my commands, for length of days and long life and peace they add to you. So yeah, in a sense, you can add years to your life, you can add wellness, you can add blessings and prosperity to your life by being obedient to the Torah, the opposite of sin. Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 15-18, See, I have set before you today life and good and death and evil, in that I am commanding you today to love Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in his ways and to guard his commands and his laws and his right rulings, and you shall live and increase, and Yahweh your Elohim shall bless you in the land in which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not obey, and shall be drawn away and shall bow down to other mighty ones and serve them, I have declared to you today that you shall certainly perish, you shall not prolong your days in the land which you are passing over the Yarden to enter and possess. So again, we've got this idea we're told here in Deuteronomy, that obedience to the Torah is life. You shall live and increase if you guard his commands and his laws and his right rulings. Deuteronomy chapter 11, verses 26-28, See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, when you obey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim, which I command you today. The curse, if you do not obey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other mighty ones which you have not known. Now we're told in the Brit Hanashah that the wages of sin is death, sin is breaking of the Torah. The wages of breaking the Torah, the wages of disobeying the Torah is death. We're told very much the same thing here in Deuteronomy, that if we do not obey, if we are disobedient to the Torah, there's curses. Now if you go throughout this section, especially the first five books of the Torah, there are sections where it lists out a whole bunch of curses and a whole bunch of blessings if you obey. So you've got two options according to Scripture. You can disobey, which is sinning, or you can obey, which is life. When you obey, there are blessings. When you disobey, there are curses. And that is the purpose of the Torah, to bless you, to guide you. For the Torah is perfect, as the psalmist says. So Torah is life, so let me rephrase that. Obedience to the Torah is life, and disobedience to the Torah is death. For the wages of sin, breaking the Torah, is death. And contrary to popular opinion, what some people might say, they think that the Torah is the quote-unquote 613 commandments. No one can remember 613 commandments. No one can do all that. It's just way too hard. It's too difficult. Is that scriptural? Deuteronomy chapter 30, verses 11 through 14. For this command, which I am commanding you today, it is not too hard for you, nor is it far off. It is not in the heavens to say, Who shall ascend into the heavens for us and bring it to us and cause us to hear it, so that we do it. Nor is it beyond the sea to say, Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it to us and cause us to hear it, so that we do it. For the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it. So here we have one witness saying that it's not too hard. It's not far away that you've got to go get it. It is not too difficult. But by the mouth of two or three witnesses, let a matter be established. So we go to 1 John chapter 5, verses 2 through 3. By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard His commands. For this is a love for Elohim, that we guard His commands, and His commands are not heavy. They're not burdensome, as some translations put it. So even in the Brit Hadashah, it's telling us that His commands, His Torah, His instructions are not too heavy. We can do that. And those of you out there who have been in this messianic way of thinking for a while, who are striving your best to obey the Torah, learning more and more each day, you know for yourself, it's not too hard. It's not too hard to cut out pork and shellfish. At first it may be a little strange because you're just used to it, it's a habit, but it's not too hard. It's not too hard to take off on Shabbat and lay around, spend time with family, take a nap, spend time with a congregation, read the Word, get into deep study and fellowship and discussion with brothers and sisters in the faith about a topic or a passage. That's not too hard. So no, His Torah is not too hard. And once again, get into this whole 613 commandments thing. That's a discussion for the Torah drash, but no one was ever required to obey 613 commands. Not even Yeshua. Go check out that teaching for more information or write to us and we could probably explain more to you. But you might say, doing the Torah is a work, right? And works are of no use. But are there really some benefits to works? Are we to completely do no works whatsoever? Well, yes and no, depending on why you do it. Let's back up real quick. First John 5, 2-3, we see here He is telling us that the love for Elohim is in the guarding of His commands, the doing and obeying of His Torah. So obviously there's some benefit to works. Number one is that we show that we love Yahweh because we're obeying Him. We're submitting to His will. We are putting our faith and trust in Him and how He has told us to go through this life and live on this earth because He's way smarter than any of us are. I don't know about you, but yeah, definitely way smarter than I am. However, we know that our works are not what bring us to salvation. We are not declared righteous by our works. Romans 3, verse 28, where we reckon that a man is declared right by belief without works of Torah. So if we don't need works to get salvation, if we don't need works to be declared righteous, then do we just do away with works? We do away with the Torah, as some people even claim? Romans chapter 3, verse 31, do we then nullify the Torah through the belief? Let it not be. On the contrary, we establish the Torah. I love the way the King James puts it here. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law. So just because works don't bring us to salvation, just because works is not a way to gain salvation, it doesn't mean that we do away with works and that we do away with the Torah because works still have their importance. Number one, like we've already went across or went over, is that it shows our love for Elohim. That this is a love for Elohim, that we guard His commands, that we do His Torah, that we obey His instructions. That's the love for Elohim. So that's one benefit to doing works. Another benefit to doing works, James chapter 2, verse 18. But someone might say, you have belief and I have works. Show me your belief without your works and I shall show you my belief by my works. This is beautiful because this tells you that you can determine who someone is, if they're a believer or not, by their works. You can determine their faith by their works. Are they Christ-like? Are they loving? Are they obeying the Torah? And sometimes you can even tell, if you want to put it this way, what degree they are. How high up and how advanced and mature they are in the faith by how much they obey and walk in the Torah. By their works. Their faith is illustrated by their works. And in fact, James even goes on to tell us in James chapter 2, verse 26, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief is dead without the works. So can you have belief without works? According to James, you can't. Without works, your belief is dead. And what works do we do? Do we do the works that we decide to come up with? That would be blind leading the blind. Do we do the works that our local church, whatever church we go to, comes up with? Well, no, because they're fallible just like we are. But what is infallible is the word of Yahweh. What is infallible is the instructions that Yahweh has given us. The Torah. He's put it out in his scriptures. All we have to do is be obedient and submit to his will. And his will is his Torah. So again, works, guarding the commands of Yahweh, obeying the Torah, shows our love for Elohim. It illustrates our faith. It shows that we actually have belief and that our belief is alive. And it goes back to that, to what Yeshua taught, by their fruit they shall be known. That you shall know them by their fruit. Are they producing the fruit of Torah or are they producing the fruit of worldliness? Are they producing the fruit of whatever denomination they're a part of? We should be producing the fruit of Torah. That's what we're told in scripture. It's a way of serving Yahweh. We're told that's how we show our love for Elohim, that we keep his commands. And we cannot serve two different masters. We cannot serve Yahweh and his commands and the world and the world's commands. We cannot serve Yahweh and his commands and the church and its commands. It just does not mix. Even Yeshua tells us this, Luke chapter 16 verse 13. No servant is able to serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cling to the one and despise the other. You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon. Now in this verse he's saying you cannot serve Elohim and money or wealth. But the principle applies to just about everything. So he says you cannot serve two masters. Regardless of who the other master is, you cannot serve Elohim and another master. They're incompatible. Either you're doing the instructions of someone else, or you're doing the instructions of Yahweh. But as we're told in Joshua, as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh. So in summary, sin is defined as the breaking or the disobedience of the Torah of Yahweh. We're told that all have sinned, all have broken the Torah, all have been disobedient to the Torah. And the wages of sin is death. The wages of breaking the Torah, the wages of being disobedient to the Torah, is death. However, we also see that the Torah is life. Remember those verses we went over that when you obey the Torah, there will be blessings, and when you disobey, there will be curses? So again, disobeying the Torah leads to death. Sinning leads to death. Obedience to the Torah is life. We're declared right without works of the Torah. But as we saw, even though works do not give us our salvation, works are still important because works show that we love Yahweh, and works illustrate our belief that it's alive and not dead. Obedience to the Torah brings blessings, but disobedience to the Torah or sin brings curses. Our faith, once again, is illustrated by our works. And just like Yeshua said, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve Yahweh and Yahweh's will and Yahweh's instructions while also trying to serve someone else. And their instructions and their will. Choose Yahweh or choose the world. Choose Yahweh or choose your denomination. Choose Yahweh or choose your own selfish desires, even. But which will you choose? Choosing Yahweh, obeying the Torah, that is blessings and life. Choosing someone else, choosing someone else's instructions, disobeying the Torah, that leads to death. That is sin. Because sin is breaking of the Torah. And that is just the God honest truth. Nice and short for this teaching. However, hopefully you got something out of it and that you were blessed and educated. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, make sure to leave those down in the comments below. Also, once again, down below is the link for the article post for this Drash. If you click on it, whether it's a video podcasting platform that you're watching on or an audio podcasting platform that you're listening on, click in the description down below and that will take you directly to the post on Godhonesttruth.com. And there you can have the on-demand video, the Drash slides that you saw on your screen tonight, as well as the notes that we took for this. And there's so much more that we didn't include in this Drash. And you'll also have the transcript down there for you as well. So, go check it out or even go to Godhonesttruth.com and click on the post for yourself. 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