The Question was is sin a noun or a verb?

If it is a act, then what acts are sins. And Why?

In the time of Jesus Sins were much more in two areas. The sins of the immoral and the sins of the over religious. The sins of a murders, prostitutes and robbers which had the overt acts of sin. Then there were the Pharisees and sadduees .The religious leaders who did everything right in the worlds eyes. They
did the right things, prayed the right prayers , the observed the right religious ceremonies. They re pride was in the good behavior and correct moral conduct.

When I ask the class for examples of acts that were sins. They said first adultery. Then I said I knew of a situation in WW2 in Russia were a SS officer offered to let people live if a Russian woman would have sex with him. The woman did and the people lived. Did the woman sin against God. I do not think so. I think that what the woman did answered a greater law of god that she was looking out for other people instead of herself. Then if it is the act – what about rape. The act of sex forced on someone else. Back in early
Rome and Greek history this was a customary way of finding a wife. It was not uncommon at all for a husband take a wife by kidnapping.

It is not a act that is sin, it is the motive behind that act that either makes it a sin or dismisses it as not being a sin.

In the Life of Jesus, We saw several acts that one might have looked at with a different motive and called it a sin. There was the time that he was suppose to be on a caravan heading back to his home. He family was really upset when the caravan was heading home and they could not find Jesus.

This act of disobedience might have been sin, yet to him it was not. He motive was the teaching of gods
word in the temple. His act was wrong, but his motive was right and brought him closer to god.

There was the Temple, The holy of holies in Jerusalem. The temples acted as banks back in these times.
The Jews would allow the Romans to sacrifice in the temple but first the normal Roman currency, the Denarii had to be changed into Jewish money. The Jews make at profit on this money lending.

This act by Jesus, was one like a man going into a large bank in new York city and destroying the office.
He would surely be arrested and charged with numerous charges. But Jesus did not sin.
His motive was one of anger that the Jews were making money on the practice and worship to God.
Jesus us upset and did not sin. He had a righteous anger that brought him closer to God.

Murder—What of a man defending his family. Or a soldier fighting for his country. Or the executioner that pulls the trigger on a convicted murder. What about God’s commandment to go into the land of Cannan and destroy all the people. God said that they worshipped the wrong God and did not like the child sacrifices that the people did to their God’s , the God’s of Baal.


It is not the act that makes it a sin- it is the motive. Why. This also means that acts that society considers good can be a sin if the motive is not right. The act of titling, the act of prayer, the act of attending church. All if they are done for the wrong reasons can be a sin.

If a man is only trying to impress the man next to him in the pew and writes a check to the church to show how much money and important he is it could be a sin.


No act in and of itself is a sin. Sin is a verb. It is a description of the movement towards god or away from god. In a 24 hour day. Ask yourself the question have you moved closer to god or farther away. If you answer that you have moved neither closer of farther away, then you have probably moved farther away.

For one does not stay in the same place each day. The law of nature has an almost gravitational pull towards sin. If one tried to stay in the same place one would be pulled down lower, or farther away from god. This law is the effect of the sins of omission. The things that we should be doing but we don’t. Every day we know there are things that we should do but we do not do them. This things that we do not do are the things we should have done. The lack of faith in these things cause us to sin.


An example of this, David ( book of Samuel) on the wall. David should have been with his troops besieging a city, yet he was on the wall of the palace. He first sin was the act of not being where he should have been. An act of omission, not helping someone that you know needs your help. Not stepping forward to defend a friend in a conversion. Yet, in each of these there was not act that caused a person to sin.

It was during the middle ages that the idea of modern day sin came into existence. The church established a list of wrongs that the amount of penalty that had to be paid because of the sin. The acts of sin were rates and values assigned to them. The problem with this is that today many people still think in these terms of sins. They are the acts that people do instead of the thoughts that people think. It is the thought that drives man to act not the acts the drive man to think.

The difference between these two sins are the acts themselves can have good and bad consequences. The immoral acts bring a quicker consequence of there acts and are more apparent. The good acts that are done for the wrong reasons can have the opposite effect and have some good consequences.


In Christian terms, we can find it easier to judge the works of man, not the heart or the thoughts of man.