Category:Sin

Sin, adv., prep., & conj.

Defn: old form of since. [obs. or prov.Eng. & scot.] Sin that his lord was twenty year of age. Chaucer.

Sin Sin, n. Etym: [oe. sinne, as. synn, syn; akin to d. zonde, os. Sundia, ohg. sunta, g. sünde, icel., Dan. & sw. synd, l. sons, Sontis, guilty, perhaps originally from the p. pr. of the verb Signifying, to be, and meaning, the one who it is. Cf. Authentic, Sooth.]

1. Transgression of the law of god; disobedience of the divine Command; any violation of god's will, either in purpose or conduct; Moral deficiency in the character; iniquity; as, sins of omission and Sins of commission. Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. John viii. 34. Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 john iii. 4. I think 't no sin. To cozen him that would unjustly win. Shak. Enthralled by sin to foul, exorbitant desires. Milton.

2. An offense, in general; a violation of propriety; a misdemeanor; As, a sin against good manners. I grant that poetry's a crying sin. Pope.

3. A sin offering; a sacrifice for sin. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. 2 cor. v. 21.

4. An embodiment of sin; a very wicked person. [r.] Thy ambition, thou scarlet sin, robbed this bewailing land of noble Buckingham. Shak.

Note: sin is used in the formation of some compound words of obvious Signification; as, sin-born; sin-bred, sin-oppressed, sin-polluted, And the like. Actual sin, canonical sins, original sin, venial sin. See under actual, canonical, etc. -- deadly, or mortal, sins (r. C. Ch.), willful and deliberate Transgressions, which take away divine grace; -- in distinction from Vental sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, Wrath, gluttony, envy, and sloth. -- sin eater, a man who (according to a former practice in england) For a small gratuity ate a piece of bread laid on the chest of a dead Person, whereby he was supposed to have taken the sins of the dead Person upon himself. -- sin offering, a sacrifice for sin; something offered as an Expiation for sin.

Syn. -- iniquity; wickedness; wrong. See crime.

Sin Sin, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sinned; p. pr. & vb. n. Sinning.] Etym: [oe. Sinnen, singen, sinegen, as. syngian. See sin, n.]

1. To depart voluntarily from the path of duty prescribed by god to Man; to violate the divine law in any particular, by actual Transgression or by the neglect or nonobservance of its injunctions; To violate any known rule of duty; -- often followed by against. Against thee, thee only, have i sinned. Ps. li. 4. All have sinned, and come short of the glory of god. Rom. iii. 23.

2. To violate human rights, law, or propriety; to commit an offense; To trespass; to transgress. I am a man more sinned against than sinning. Shak. Who but wishes to invert the laws of order, sins against the eternal Cause. Pope.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Sin - (1.) Is "any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God" (1 John 3:4; Romans 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by omission or commission (Romans 6:12; 7:5-24). It is "not a mere violation of the law of our constitution, nor of the system of things, but an offense against a personal lawgiver and moral governor who vindicates his law with penalties. The soul that sins is always conscious that his sin is (1.) intrinsically vile and polluting, and (2.) that it justly deserves punishment, and calls down the righteous wrath of God. Hence sin carries with it two inalienable characters, (1.) ill-desert, guilt ( reatus ); and (2.) pollution ( macula ).", Hodge's Outlines. The moral character of a man's actions is determined by the moral state of his heart. The disposition to sin, or the habit of the soul that leads to the sinful act, is itself also sin (Romans 6:12; Galatians 5:17; James 1:14, James 1:15). The origin of sin is a mystery, and must for ever remain such to us. It is plain that for some reason God has permitted sin to enter this world, and that is all we know. His permitting it, however, in no way makes God the author of sin. Adam's sin (Genesis 3:1) consisted in his yielding to the assaults of temptation and eating the forbidden fruit. It involved in it, (1.) the sin of unbelief, virtually making God a liar; and (2.) the guilt of disobedience to a positive command. By this sin he became an apostate from God, a rebel in arms against his Creator. He lost the favour of God and communion with him; his whole nature became depraved, and he incurred the penalty involved in the covenant of works. Original sin. "Our first parents being the root of all mankind, the guilt of their sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature were conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation." Adam was constituted by God the federal head and representative of all his posterity, as he was also their natural head, and therefore when he fell they fell with him (Romans 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22-45). His probation was their probation, and his fall their fall. Because of Adam's first sin all his posterity came into the world in a state of sin and condemnation, i.e., (1.) a state of moral corruption, and (2.) of guilt, as having judicially imputed to them the guilt of Adam's first sin. "Original sin" is frequently and properly used to denote only the moral corruption of their whole nature inherited by all men from Adam. This inherited moral corruption consists in, (1.) the loss of original righteousness; and (2.) the presence of a constant proneness to evil, which is the root and origin of all actual sin. It is called "sin" (Romans 6:12, Romans 6:14, Romans 6:17; Romans 7:5), the "flesh" (Galatians 5:17, Galatians 5:24), "lust" (James 1:14, James 1:15), the "body of sin" (Romans 6:6), "ignorance," "blindness of heart," "alienation from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:18, Ephesians 4:19). It influences and depraves the whole man, and its tendency is still downward to deeper and deeper corruption, there remaining no recuperative element in the soul. It is a total depravity, and it is also universally inherited by all the natural descendants of Adam (Romans 3:10; Romans 5:12; Romans 8:7). Pelagians deny original sin, and regard man as by nature morally and spiritually well; semi-Pelagians regard him as morally sick; Augustinians, or, as they are also called, Calvinists, regard man as described above, spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1; 1 John 3:14). The doctrine of original sin is proved, (1.) From the fact of the universal sinfulness of men. "There is no man that sinneth not" (1 Kings 8:46; Isaiah 53:6; Psalms 130:3; Romans 3:19, Romans 3:22, Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:22). (2.) From the total depravity of man. All men are declared to be destitute of any principle of spiritual life; man's apostasy from God is total and complete (Job 15:14; Genesis 6:5, Genesis 6:6). (3.) From its early manifestation (Psalms 58:3; Proverbs 22:15). (4.) It is proved also from the necessity, absolutely and universally, of regeneration (John 3:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17). (5.) From the universality of death (Romans 5:12). Various kinds of sin are mentioned, (1.) "Presumptuous sins," or as literally rendered, "sins with an uplifted hand", i.e., defiant acts of sin, in contrast with "errors" or "inadvertencies" (Psalms 19:13). (2.) "Secret", i.e., hidden sins (Psalms 19:12); sins which escape the notice of the soul. (3.) "Sin against the Holy Ghost" (q.v.), or a "sin unto death" (Matthew 12:31, Matthew 12:32; 1 John 5:16), which amounts to a willful rejection of grace. (2.) A city in Egypt, called by the Greeks Pelusium, which means, as does also the Hebrew name, " clayey " or "muddy," so called from the abundance of clay found there. It is called by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 30:15) "the strength of Egypt, "thus denoting its importance as a fortified city. It has been identified with the modern Tineh, "a miry place," where its ruins are to be found. Of its boasted magnificence only four red granite columns remain, and some few fragments of others.