How do you define sin?

There are different ideas. In the OT, sin was seen as a violation of purity rules, though the prophets had more of the OP's orientation.

In the Gospels, Jesus talks a lot about forgiveness of sins, but never accuses anyone of sin or really talks about it very concretely. He talks about judgement based on failure to make a different for people, or rejecting Jesus' message. He also never calls anyone either holy or pure, or sets that up as an ideal.

In the letters, e.g. Paul's, there's more emphasis on sin, particularly sexual sin. Paul also sees purity as an ideal.

Traditional Biblical exegesis doesn't acknowledge that there can be differences among Biblical writers, but just merges their messages. So Paul's emphasis on sin and purity is controlling, and the fact that Jesus doesn't talk about it doesn't matter. That's not an approach I agree with. Paul accomplished lots of things. We owe him a lot. But I recommend Jesus' view where doing the right thing is more important that violating purity laws.

I would say that the definition of sin is anything that falls short of the standards Jesus set us in Matthew 22:37-40.
‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

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Who Is A Sinner?

Luke 18 (WEB):

9 He also spoke this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others. 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed to himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

Click to expand...

1 John 3:4 KJV — Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Greek: ἀνομία
Transliteration: anomia
Pronunciation: an-om-ee'-ah
Definition: From G459; illegality that is violation of law or (generally) wickedness: - iniquity X transgress (-ion of) the law unrighteousness.

Sin is the violation of the law of God.

Romans 14:23 KJV — And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

1 John 5:17 KJV — All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

Click to expand...

Well, I think that you hit the nail on the head with your final statement, and as @Anthony2019 summarized - when an act is not derived from love, for either your neighbour or God, then it is a sin.
The Levitical Laws of the Old Testament, do not inherently define sin, for all 613 of them are not fundamentally iniquitous. Like, for example, dietary laws, or observance of days and seasons, attire, and mixing materials and foods. These were temporal and meant to be abrogated when something more perfect arrived - the Law of faith.
Obviously, transgressing any precept, or act that God prohibits, is a sin, but, I believe that your question is attempting to be more profound and fundamental than the obvious.
Where there is no love, then there is sin.

its missing the mark. Whoever rebels against the Lord’s commandment and disobeys His word shall be put to death. OT.

Sin - Definition: Missing the target of perfection our holy God requires.

Transgression of/breaking God’s law. Paul said knowledge of sin comes by the Law. We know what sin is because the Law tells us.

Beanieboy said:

Maybe I stated that incorrectly: Sin is not acting in love toward another.

But I have to disagree that we sin without conscious effort or automatically. It's not my nature to lie. I hate lying, I hate being lied to. I'm a terrible liar. However, on the day you call out at work and feign illness is something I might do, am conscious I'm doing it, know I shouldn't and hope not to be found out.

I can't think of any sin I do automatically.

We choose. We choose to speak demeaningly to a person when we get angry, for example, know it is wrong and do it anyway

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I was making an observation about people in general. How many depressed people answer "fine" when you ask how they are? How many people ask how you are and have zero interest in the reply? How many people take a pen home from work or inflate tax deductions? The reason there are laws is because people are not honest.

Christians have a new nature and we should indeed not sin automatically. But you do not have to train a toddler to rebel. It's inbuilt.

Beanieboy said:

Do others understand sin differently?

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Anything that goes against God's will is sin. You don't have to hurt someone else to sin. Even gluttony is a sin and often the only person being hurt is ourself. Even having continuing bad thoughts is sinful even if nobody but ourselves know about it.

Beanieboy said:

But one could argue:

Deuteronomy 22:5 (NRSA) A woman shall not wear a man's apparel, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whoever does such things is abhorrent to the Lord your God.

So, women wearing pants (men's garment) are sinning.
And abhorrent is a strong word.

Yet, it's a law no one follows.

But I have been to a church that insisted it be followed by members

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How does this refute what the definition of sin is?

Beanieboy said:

...
Do others understand sin differently?

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I have understood sin means that one rejects God, or lives without God and that is opposite of righteous. Righteous person is loyal to God and unrighteous is not.

He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother.
1 John 3:7-10

But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
Hebrews 10:38

If one rejects God then all wrong and bad actions come possible. Sinful and righteous tells about person state of mind. If person has sinful mind, he produces sinful works and if person is righteous, he produces righteous works. Works are only like fruits that doesn’t determine what the “tree” is, but they tell what kind of “tree” produced them.

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

Click to expand...

What you described is an important way in which people sin, because it harms others.

Along these same lines that you described, we harm others with sins that prevent us from being all God desires for us: To radiate God's love to others in many ways. These sins involve complacency and self-indulgence - being choked out by the cares of this world.

Unfortunately, people, including Christians, are naturally inclined toward recreational activities on our off time, or food (and other) addictions, and other activities that cater to our fleshly cares in this world. And if anything gets in the way of our planned self time, then we get upset.

Such a mindset of self-indulgence prevents us from being Spiritually sensitive to the needs of others all around us. Such an attitude prevents us from being available for God to work through.

We stifle God's desire to work through us to reach so many others who are hurting physically, spiritually, and mentally all around us. We are not sensitive to other's needs because we are so centered on satisfying our own pleasures in a number of ways.

I think most Christians do not recognize this as sin. This is a sin of presumption. We don't realize how serious this mindset is - a serious sin.

We must recognize such sin, and pray to become sensitive to such sin in our lives, and repent of it, asking God to free us from this sin of complacency and self-indulgence. Then, we must replace this repented sin with planing ways in which we can be available for God to work through.

If we take this path of repentance of such sin, and then making ourselves available to God to reach other, then not only will many others be blessed, but the person who follows this advice will place himself/herself in a proper relationship with God, and great personal/spiritual/emotional/physical benefits will follow.

Let us put aside worldly pleasures, which are temporary and have no eternal value. Instead, let us ask God to put us where He wants us to be in our communities, stores, places we walk, at the gym, etc, and ask us to be sensitive to the needs of others on a level that most people would not usually pick up on. And then, radiate the love and power of God to such people through the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Blessings

Beanieboy said:

How do you define sin?

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Sin is an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law. It is an offense against God. It rises up against God in a disobedience contrary to the obedience of Christ. Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it.

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

Click to expand...

Sin is always in some sense an act opposed to love of God and/or neighbor, and as such is always an act opposed to the will of God. It can be more or less grave/serious depending on the nature of the act. Sin is also known as "moral evil", resulting from bad choices motivated by, yes, selfishness, pride, self-righteousness, greed, jealousy, covetousness, etc. And always an abuse of our free will.

To paint very broadly from the New Covenant perspective, to the extent that we are far from God we are more likely to sin; to the extent that we've drawn near to Him we are less likely. Man was made for communion with God and he exists in a state of injustice or disorder to the degree that he is apart from Him. "Apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Sin is missing the mark.

Dkh587 said:

Transgression of/breaking God’s law. Paul said knowledge of sin comes by the Law. We know what sin is because the Law tells us.

Click to expand...

I agree. I just looked at all uses of "sin" in Paul and the Pauline letters. He speaks of being a slave to sin, free from sin, forgiveness of sins, and the connection of sin to the Law, but almost never calls anything specific a sin.

In a couple of passages he seems to refer to sexual sin. However normally Paul seems to talk about sin as human opposition to God in general, rather than specific acts.

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

Click to expand...

Yes others do definitely understand sin differently. Sin might be neglecting to do something that is selfless ( a much higher standard than you have applied) . It might be considered disobedience to God's commands. It might be considered by some to be disobedience to some of God's commands but not to others. Another definition is to say that sin is anything that is imperfect or that sin is missing the mark. Some contend that sin is opposing God or God's will i.e. to intentionally do things that one knows God has proscribed, others believe that one can sin unintentionally. Personally, I think sin is all those things( perhaps even more things I haven't thought of) and I ask forgiveness for each just so I do not start to think I am someone that is good and that there are others that are the sinners. If I accept that I am a sinner and therefore do not consider it possible that I have no sin, then I can more easily understand what unbelievable amount of love God bestows upon all of us by being willing to forgive even me and all like me. Additionally, I have no cause to withhold my forgiveness from anyone as I hold no superior position over anyone due to my own righteousness, as I am not righteous to begin with, nor do I expect others to be so.

As a few others said, sin is missing the mark. It also is the literal definition of the Greek word meaning a sin (amartia).

The question becomes: What does it mean to miss the mark spiritually? It means anything less than perfect communion with God. Sin is more than just transgression against God, though that certainly is a form of sin. Sin is a disease of the soul - the alienation and separation from God. You can see this concept in Jesus’ words: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” (Mt 9:12). Just as an illness progresses, sin can beget more sin. It can continue to separate us further from God, should we not repent and ask God for healing of the soul and for the remission of sin, both voluntary and involuntary, in knowledge and in ignorance.

Beanieboy said:

Sin is often talked about in Christianity, but I wonder if we understand what sin is differently.

My understanding of sin is doing something that is selfish, which in turn, brings harm to another.

For example, a married man sees a woman he is attracted to and acts on it. He will need to lie to his wife, breaking their trust, and feeling betrayed. She will feel angry, jealous and mistrustful of her husband sleeping with another, and hurt. When the husband made this choice, he acted selfishly, rather than loving his wife.

Lying breeds mistrust. Killing breeds fear, need for revenge, etc.
All laws are there for logical reasons.

One cannot text and drive just "because it's a rule," but to prevent accidents, injury and death.

And as Christ said, all laws are fulfilled when loving your neighbor as yourself.

Do others understand sin differently?

Click to expand...

I think you are on the right track, but I want to expound a bit. Please don't take anything that might sound negative as if it is what I hear you saying.

This is the best definition I've seen, from biblestudytools.com:

Greek: Hamartano (verb form of Hamartia)

1. to be without a share in
2. to miss the mark
3. to err, be mistaken
4. to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour, to do or go wrong
5. to wander from the law of God, violate God's law, sin

The idea of breaking a divine law, should not be understood as a list of things God arbitrarily decides to make "sins" because of His personal preference and that He can't bear to look at us because we are so vile. It is more like we have gone against the law of nature, natural consequences, cause/effect. It goes against the nature with which God created us and against what God intends for us- to not just be 'like' Christ, but to actually become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4)... to enjoy communion with Him forever. We are sick and suffering and He looks upon us with deep compassion and desire to heal, if we will allow Him.

It is a grievous thing to miss the mark, not because somehow God is bound by His own laws to be eternally angry at us for our failure to be perfect, but because of the importance of what is at stake. The fact that Christ took on our humanity means that every sin is a sin against Christ and against everyone joined to Him. What we do affects the whole Church, whether we realize it or not. There is no such thing as a "personal sin that doesn't hurt anyone but yourself."

When we sin, we don't have to wait to have certain feelings or to be punished enough. Just trust that God loves us, immediately stand up, recommit, and try again. This is a normal, healthy Christian life. Now, if one is making the same mistake over and over again, it doesn't necessarily mean they are not sorry enough or don't love God enough. It just means they've got to come up with a different plan. They need to seek counsel and wisdom from those more experienced or who have been there before.
Peace.