Sin

Definition of sin

• sin is an offense against God
• sin is disobedience to God
  • from Catechism CCC 1871:

Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law (St. Augustine, Faust 22: PL 42, 418). It is an offense against God. It rises up against God in a disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ.

• sin is knowing it is wrong and doing it anyway
  • from Jas 4:17

"So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin."

Etymology

from OE synn for "moral wrongdoing, injury, mischief, enmity, feud, guilt, crime, offense against God, misdeed"

• from PIE *snt-ya-, forming *es-ont- for "becoming"
  • in Germanic language groups, took on meaning of "it is true". as in "the sin is real"

"The Morality of Human Acts"

The Catechism (CCC 1749) helps us to distinguish between moral and immoral, good and bad, sinful and not sinful.

A moral act depends upon

1. The object chosen
   1. what is the act?
   2. reason can distinguish between a good or bad act
2. The purpose or goal of the act ("the intention")
   1. what is the purpose of the act?
   2. the intention moves the act towards its goal
   3. note: the end does not justify the means, however an immoral or bad intention can lead to a good end (see CCC 1753)
3. The circumstances of the act
   1. what necessitated the act?
   2. sin requires free will
   3. thus a moral act is one with "will"

These are called the "constitutive elements" of a moral or immoral act. When the act is immoral, it is sinful.

Sin is separation from God

Jesus teaches (Mt. 12:30):

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

• "scatter" means separated from God
  • the word "devil" comes from , which means "to cast away, scatter" (see Glossary)
• therefore sin is separation from God
• and eternal separation from God is hell.

Scattering v. Gathering

Since the Fall of Man from Eden, across Salvation History, man has committed sins against God, even in violation of the Covenants that God, from his love, granted him via Abraham, Moses, and David. We can look upon this history as one of

See Salvation History

Slavery to sin

From CCC 1739:

By refusing God's plan of love, [man who freely sinned] deceived himself and became a slave to sin.

Scandal

The Catechism explains "scandal" as per , scandal is causing or tempting another into sin (CCC 2284)

Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

Jesus does not use the word "scandal" (it appears in Jdt 8:22, 12:2 and Rom 1:30), but he speaks to the concept directly in Lk 17:1:

He said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur."

and Mt 18:6-7:

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!”

Forgiveness of sin

• CCC 431:

"Because sin is always an offences against God, only he can forgive it"

The Sacrament of Reconciliation repairs our offences against God.

Jesus on avoidance of sin

Jesus tells us very specifically how to avoid sin.

The "occasion of sin"

The "occasion of sin" is the opportunity, place, inducement of the moment of sin. By avoiding the occasion, we can avoid the sin. In the Beatitudes, Jesus advises that we avoid sin by distancing ourselves from it. In what seems in the literal sense harsh, in Mt 5:29-30, he says,

"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.”

Interpreting through the "Senses of Scripture"

Literal (textual)	gouge your eye, cut off your hand
Allegorical (metaphorical)	cut off your source/s of sin
Moral (right v. wrong)	we are too weak to resist temptation, so we must avoid the temptation itself
Anagogical (where does it lead us?)	by avoiding sin, we will avoid "Gehenna" (hell)

Jesus tells us powerfully how to avoid sin: avoid its occasion.

Prayer

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus tells the sleeping Peter, John and James, Mk 14:38:

"Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

Turn to Scripture

When Satan tempted him, Jesus answered every temptation with Scripture:

He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. (Mt 4:4)

Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’" (Mt 4:7)

“Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’" (Mt 4:10)

The Holy Spirit

In the Last Supper Discourses, Jesus promised the Apostles that he would send a "helper" or "advocate" (Jn 14:15-17) who will support us when we are in a state of Grace (outside of sin):

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate* to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you."

and from Jn 15:26-27

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send* you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Repentance and Humility

From the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Lk 18:11-14), Jesus teaches us to pray in humility:

"The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’

But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’e14I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Sin committed deliberately with the pretense that one will repent it later or with the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is called a "sin of presumption."

Old Testament and Epistles on avoiding sin

Jesus suffered, too

In 1 Pt 4:1-2, the Apostle teaches us that if God can become a man and suffer in the flesh, so, too can we:

Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same attitude (for whoever suffers in the flesh has broken with sin), so as not to spend what remains of one’s life in the flesh on human desires, but on the will of God.

Pray with "vehement cries"

From Heb 5:7-8 on Jesus suffering and praying to the Father:

In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;

See:

• 7 ways to overcome sin as Jesus overcame - Revelation 3:21 (activechristianity.org)
• 28 Bible Verses about Avoiding Sin

Sin in our hearts

Jesus explains where sin originates (Mt 15:19):

"Do you not realize that everything that enters the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

We can live in a fallen world, but we must not "take it to heart"

Three-fold sins

• lust of the flesh
  • disordered desire, especially sexual, but also for things
  • indulgence, in self, in a substance, in wants
• lust of the eyes
  • wanting what is not yours
• pride of life
  • putting oneself or worldly things above God
  • idolatry

The three-fold sins are recurring markers for the sins of men and nations across the Old Testament and in the History of Salvation.

Classifications and types of sin

St. Paul on sins or "works of the flesh":

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions (Gal 5:19-20)

From CCC 1853:

Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act; or according to the virtues they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to the commandments they violate. They can also be classed according to whether they concern God, neighbor, or oneself; they can be divided into spiritual and carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. The root of sin is in the heart of man, in his free will, according to the teaching of the Lord: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man." But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works, which sin wounds.

which we can organize as

Classification	Types
distinguish sins	by their objects by the virtues they oppose by the Commandments they violate
sins as	against God against neighbor against oneself
types of	spiritual carnal
location of	in thought in word deeded omissions

Venial sin

"venial" is from Latin venia for "forgiveness" or venialis for "pardonable"

• "venal" means "susceptible" or "motivated by bribery"
• "venial sin" is sin that does not destroy the divine life (CCC 1855)
• i.e., not "grave matter"
  • or if in grave matter, not in full knowledge or consent of the sin
• venial sin causes us to deviate from God's will and weakens our own spiritual health
• the crucial difference between venial and mortal sin is that mortal sin may not be pardoned through prayer
  • see 1 Jn 5:15-18

And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours.
If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him.

proliferation of sin

the danger of venial sin, while not mortal, it tends to lead to worser sins

• per CCC 1865:

Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts. This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil. Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root.

• we can think of venial sin as a "gateway" to mortal sin
  • ex.:
    • ongoing resentment and anger can lead to hate, which violates Jesus' direct command to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mk 12:31)
    • casual and habitual cursing can lead to denigration of God and thus violation of the Second Commandment to "keep holy God's name"

vice

• vice is habitual sin or habits that lead to sin
• per CCC 1866: "Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose"
• "the vices" are "pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia" (CCC 1866)
  • pride = elevated sense of "self"; making oneself more important than God
  • avarice = disordered desire for more of something than is necessary of sufficient; i.e., wanting more
  • envy = disordered desire for what another has, is or owns, especially with jealousy
  • wrath = anger
  • lust = desire, especially but not only physical desire
  • gluttony = over-indulgence, especially in eating and drinking, but also for experiences and behaviors
  • sloth = desire to not do something that should be done; may also regard belief, attitude, or outlook
    • acedia = "a form of depression due to lax ascetical practice, decreasing vigilance, carelessness of heart" (CCC 2733)
      • i,e. not just weak faith, but deliberately or carelessly weak or weakened ("lax") faith and prayer
      • sometimes called "going through motions" as in doing something lackadaisically or without focus

Capital sin

• "capital sin" or "capital vice" (CCC 1866)
• also called the "cardinal sin"
  • cardinal = chief, principal, pivotal
• capital sins are grouped into the "Seven Deadly Sins"
  • pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth
    • acedia is often used instead of "sloth", as it more specifically refers to slothfulness in the spirit, not just physical laziness

Seven Deadly Sins

Sin	Definition	Leads to mortal sin...	Ten Commandments	Notes
1. Pride	self-love, absence of humility	Jesus taught that mortal sin starts in the heart, thus pride may lead to all other sins and to the worst degree	First, Second	One of the Three-fold sins
2. Covetousness	disordered desire for what one does not have or need	theft, fraud, adultery,	Ninth, Tenth	note that "desire" is not inherently bad; we desire food when hungry; but desiring what is not needed, what is not one's own is sinful (see CCC
3. Lust
4. Anger
5. Gluttony
6. Envy	"sadness at the sight of another's goods" and "immoderate desire" for them (CCC 2539)	theft, murder	Tenth	envy "wishes grave harm" upon a neighbor (CCC 2539) envy also seeds to joy in another's misfortune (from St. Augustine, CCC 2439)
7. Sloth

• "capital" because these are the "head" of other sins (i.e., lead to them)
• "deadly" because they lead to death and damnation

Mortal sin

• "mortal" because it separates us from God
• 1 Jn 5:16:

If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray.

• mortal sin may only be removed through the Sacrament of Reconciliation

the "Unforgiveable sin"

From Mt 12:30

Therefore, I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

• per USCCB Bible footnote Mt 12:31: "Blasphemy against the Spirit: the sin of attributing to Satan (Mt 12:24) what is the work of the Spirit of God (Mt 12:28).

Mt 12:31:

And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.