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Bible Dictionaries
Sin
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
or 1. Any thought, word, desire, action, or omission of action, contrary to the law of God, or defective when compared with it.
The origin of sin is a subject which baffles all investigation; and our inquiries are much better directed when we seek through Christ a release from its penalty and power, for ourselves and the world. Its entrance into the world, and infection of the whole human race, its nature, forms, and effects, and its fatal possession of every unregenerate soul, are fully described in the Bible, Genesis 6:5 Psalm 51:5 Matthew 15:19 Romans 5:12 James 1:14,15 .
As contrary to the nature, worship, love, and service to God, sin is called ungodliness; as a violation of the law of God and of the claims of man, it is a transgression or trespass; as a deviation from eternal rectitude, it is called iniquity or unrighteousness; as the evil and bitter root of all actual transgression, the depravity transmitted from our first parents to all their seed, it is called "original sin," or in the Bible," the flesh," "the law of sin and death," etc., Romans 8:1,2 1 John 3:4 5:17 . The just penalty or "wages of sin is death;" this was threatened against the first sin, Genesis 2:17 and all subsequent sins: "the soul that sinneth it shall die." A single sin, unrepented of the unforgiven, destroys the soul, as a single break renders a whole ocean cable worthless. Its guilt and evil are to be measured by the holiness, justice, and goodness of the law it violates, the eternity of the misery it causes, and the greatness of the Sacrifice necessary to expiate it.
"Sin" is also sometimes put for the sacrifice of expiation, the sin offering, described in Leviticus 4:3,25,29 also, Romans 8:3 and in 2 Corinthians 5:21 , Paul says that God was pleased that Jesus, who knew no sin, should be our victim of expiation: "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
For the sin against the Holy Ghost, see BLASPHEMY .
2. A desert of Arabia Petraea, near Egypt, and on the western arm of the Red Sea, Exodus 16:1 17:1 Numbers 33:12 . To be distinguished from the desert of Zin. See ZIN .
3. An ancient fortified city, called "the strength of Egypt," Ezekiel 30:15,16 . Its name means mire, and in this it agrees with Pelusium and Tineh, the Greek and modern names of the same place. It defended the northeast frontier of Egypt, and lay near the Mediterranean, of the eastern arm of the Nile. Its site, near the village of Tineh, is surrounded with morasses; and is now accessible by boat only during a high inundation, or by land in the driest part or summer. A few mounds and columns alone remain.
These files are public domain and are a derivative of the topics are from American Tract Society Bible Dictionary published in 1859.
Rand, W. W. Entry for 'Sin'. American Tract Society Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ats/s/sin.html. 1859.
