I don’t know about you but all the English grammar that I learned in elementary school has leaked out of my brain. The English language is so complex. Some words in English can be verbs and nouns. Take for instance the word sleep. You can sleep the night away and someone can ask you if you have had a good sleep. It can be a verb, a word describing an action; or a noun, a word describing a person, place, thing, or idea. Another instance of a verb and a noun is the word study. You can study for a test and you can do it in the library or in your own personal study. One of the most important words in the Bible that functions as a verb and a noun is sin. Sin is both a verb and a noun; an action as well as a condition.
The verb sin means to turn away from God because of distrust in his goodness. It is an attempt to get what is good outside of God, whether that is security, love, food, life, relationship, status, or reputation. The list goes on and on. Often recited are the seven deadly sins, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride – all results of looking outside of God for things. Sin is the action of turning away from God – from what is good. This causes us to break the laws that reveal his nature and character. In short, sin is everything that moves us away from a relationship with God.
The noun sin is a condition of the human race. It is the reason why no matter how shiny and morally good we seem, there is always a dark side. It is this innate dark side that causes us to turn away from God and seek happiness outside of him. Sin as a condition is a crack in our souls that continually leaks out evil and causes people to be separated from God and separated from each other. Christ died to redeem us from this condition of sin that marks us as humans, and it is only through God’s help that we can hope to overcome the acts of sin that we commit in our everyday lives. –Ramon Mayo
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