The Distinction Between “Sin” (Singular) and “Sins” (Plural)–Part 1

The Scriptures generally draw a qualitative distinction between "sin," in the singular, and "sins," in the plural. "Sin" is our inward attitude of rebellion against God. "Sins" are bad actions. This post gives a series of examples from Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians.

The next several posts will demonstrate that the scriptures often make a clear distinction between “sin,” in the singular, and “sins,” in the plural. Human “sin” is an attitude of the heart and a determined way of life–essentially disbelief of God and rebellion against him. Viewed in this way, “sin” is always a singular dynamic. Human “sin” is something qualitatively different from human “sins”–the aggregate of or distinct bad acts. While “sin” is manifested by our “sins,” it logically precedes them and is in no way caused by them. Thus, as these words are most frequently used in the Scriptures, “sin” is much more than merely the grammatical singular of our “sins,” and our discrete “sins” are much less than merely the grammatical plural of our “sin.” Outside of Christ, we are condemned for our “sin”–our state of rebellion–not our “sins.” In the next several posts, I will discuss a series of examples of this.

Sin (Singular)–Life Principle or Attitude of the Heart–References–Part 1-Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians

Romans 14:23:

This verse contains the most basic statement of the singular principle of sin as our mindset toward God: “whatever is not from faith is sin.”

Here, “sin” is hamartia, the most common noun translated “sin” in the New Testament, a fairly broad word which often (especially in the plural) means “a missing of the mark,” hence “a fault, a failure,” or “a bad act, evil deed.” However, in the singular, hamartia can also mean, following Thayer, “an error of the understanding” or, following Louw & Nida (definition #88.118) “a state of evil as an integral part of someone’s nature–’sinfulness, being evil.'” (See the longer discussion in “Sin” Words: Lexical Definitions). Obviously, when used in this last sense, the state of evil as an integral part of a single person’s nature will always be grammatically singular usage.

The context, Romans 14:13-23, in which the issue immediately addressed was whether believers should observe the Jewish rules about clean and unclean foods because of the presence in the church of “weaker” brothers–whose consciences are defiled by eating “unclean” foods, Paul wrote:

Therefore let’s not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this: not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s or sister’s way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to the one who thinks something is unclean, to that person it is unclean. For if because of food your brother or sister is hurt, you are no longer walking in accordance with love. Do not destroy with your choice of food that person for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For the one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by other people. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the person who eats and causes offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother or sister stumbles.  The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.

Romans 14:13-23 (NASB).

In this passage, the usage of the word “sin” (singular) is ambivalent–it may refer either to a discrete wrong act or omission, or to the underlying state of the person’s heart–and most likely refers to both. On any specific occasion, eating something I consider doubtful under the circumstances–or doing anything I consider questionable under the circumstances–because I am aware of the possibility that my act may cause offense and division, performing that act is certainly a sin–a discrete wrong act. But it also shows that I am motivated by inward sin–an inward attitude of rebellion–because I am “no longer walking in accordance with love” and am not pursuing “the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” In this sense, “faith,” which always walks in accordance with love, is the opposite of “sin.”

Romans 3:9-20:

Verse 9 declares that Jews are not “better” than Gentiles, because all people, both Jews and Greeks, are “under sin” (hyph’ hamartian, singular). That is, we are all “under,” in the sense of being “under the authority of” (hypo) this authority called “sin” (singular). This reference is clearly to “sin,” the inward motivation, not “sins,” discrete wrong acts. Being under the authority of sin then leads to the parade of horribles–deceit, bloodshed and misery–enumerated in verses 10 through 18, which also reiterate the principle of sin: “there is no one who seeks out God, they have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt, there is no one who does good… and they have not known the way of peace. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” For this reason, the Law, by showing us the wrongness of the discrete acts that we are doing under the authority of sin, cannot show us the way to escape the authority of sin, but can only show us that our wrong acts arise from the sin (singular) in our hearts: “through the law comes the knowledge of sin [singular]” (v. 20).

Romans 4:5-8:

This passage contains both the singular and plural concepts. Our justification, God counting us righteous, involves both forgiveness of discrete “sins”–“lawless deeds”–and disregard of the rotten heart (“sin”) from which it springs. Verse 7 speaks of the blessedness of those whose “sins” (plural)–in context, clearly wrong acts–God has forgiven. Verse 8 then speaks of the blessedness of the person whose “sin” (singular)–in context, just as clearly the rotten heart that motivates the outward “sins” of verse 7– will not take into account, the person God will not charge with (logízomai) having a rotten, rebellious heart.

Romans 5:12-21:

This passage contains both the singular and the plural concept of sin. One “offense”–that of Adam–brought “sin” (singular) into the world, and so “sin” spread to all people. Verse 14 clarifies that “sin”–the rotten heart–was transmitted even to people who do not sin in the same way Adam did. The presence of “sin” in the world caused death to become universal. The Law, added later, only caused sin to be counted against us, because we now know we are doing wrong. Under the Law, “sin” (singular) has abounded. By contrast, the complete obedience of one man–Jesus–brought justification of many and the “gift of righteousness” (the antidote for “sin”) to those who believe.

Detailed explanation of the use of “sin” words in this passage: verse 12: through one man “the sin” (hē hamartia), singular, with a definite article–not just any sin, or “sins” (plural), a particular “sin”–entered the world, and “through the sin” (dia tēs hamartias) “the death,” both “sin” and “death” being in the singular with a definite article–a particular sin and a particular death, for all sinned (hēmarton), aorist, in the past, but we all still have the sin and the death. Verse 13: until the Law (came), “sin” (singular, but no article) was in the world, but “sin” (singular, but no article) is not entered on the books without any Law–transition from “sin” as a motivating principle in the first half to “sin” as something potentially entered on account books (and, therefore, of which discrete instances may be counted) in the second half. Verse 14: Although instances of sin were not counted, “the death” ruled before the Law, even over those who had not sinned (hamartēsantas) by stepping over a legal line (parabaseōs) the way Adam did. Verse 15: The gift of God is not like the human weakness (to paraptōma)–singular, with a definite article–the weakness which led to the sin–because in the same way the many died because of the weakness of the one (tō tou henos paraptōmati ), the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus, abounded. Verse 16: “Sinned” (hamartēsantos ) is a verb form, an aorist participle: judgment arose out of the one (Adam) having missed the mark; by contrast, God’s grace arises from weaknesses (paraptōmatōn), plural, of many–which God recognizes, and provides justification. Verse 17: Speaks again of “the one weakness” (tō tou henos paraptōmati) as the cause of the death. Verse 18: Contrasts “one weakness” (henos paraptōmatos) that brought condemnation to “one righteousness” (henos dikaiōmatos) that brings justification of life. Verse 19: Contrasts the disobedience (parakoēs) of one man to the obedience (hypakoēs) of the other man. Verses 20 and 21: The Law entered so that the weakness (to paraptōma) might become full (pleonasē), have its full effect, but where this caused the sin (hē hamartia) to be full, grace grew even more exceedingly (hypereperisseusen), so that in just the same way as the sin (hē hamartia) ruled in the death, grace might reign through righteousness bringing eternal life.

Romans 6:1-23:

This passage contains Paul’s main exposition of “sin” (singular) and its remedy, and will be explained at length in a near future post. For present purposes, it is sufficient to note that the slavery which is broken by our death and resurrection with Christ is consistently identified as slavery to “sin” (singular), and usually “the sin,” singular. the heart principle, not slavery to our discrete “sins.” The slavery with which God is primarily concerned is not our slavery to addictions, bad habits, or harmful or evil behaviors, but our slavery to our rejection of him–our inward idolatry of self, which leads to bondage to other idols. (See, Adam and Eve–Idolatry in the Fall and IDOLS = Gods we can Manipulate (Do ut des.)) Dying to ourselves, and accepting the life of Christ within, is the only remedy for this bondage.

Romans 7:

This passage is a long explanation of the relationship between “sin,” again most often “the sin,” within us, the Law, our bondage to “sin,” and discrete “sins.” According to verse 5, “while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions… were at work in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death.” “Sin” (singular), represented by the sinful passions that ruled humans, was present in humanity before the Law was given. What the law did was to make us aware of the “sin” (singular) inside us, by giving us known commandments against which the “sin” within us could consciously rebel. It is in this way that our “sin” (singular) uses the Law to “deceive” us into committing “sins” (plural). But, even without the Law, we were “sold” into bondage to “the sin” (singular, with the definite article) (verse 14).

Romans 8:1-10:

Continues the theme of chapters 6 and 7. The word “sin” occurs five times in this text, once in verse 2, three times in verse 3, and once in verse 10, all of them in the singular. Verse 2 contrasts two “laws” or governing life principles–the “law of the Spirit of Life” and the “law of the sin and the death” (v. 2). The law of the Spirit sets us free from the law of the sin and the death.

Romans 8:3:

This verse can be summarized by the statement that God did something for us in order to set us free that we could not do in our weakness, bound to the Mosaic Law. The description of what God did for us uses the word “sin” (hamartia) three times, in each instance in the singular. In the first instance, God sent his Son “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (NASB), literally “in likeness of flesh of sin” (en homoiōmati sarkos hamartias). Jesus, the Son, came as something which was made like something else–like our flesh which is “of” sin, both characterized by and containing sin. He was like us in having flesh which is subject to our weakness, able to sin, but he did not sin. So he had flesh like–similar to–ours but without sin as an inborn motivation, though capable of choosing it. By coming in this way, the second instance of the word “sin” declares, he came peri sin. The preposition peri here is usually translated “for,” or even, as in the NASB, interpreted by adding concepts from other scriptures: “as an offering for sin.” (NASB). But a simpler translation, which does not require importing ideas from other passages, reads peri as “concerning,” “in response to” or “against” sin–all legitimate translations of the preposition that are used in translating it in other contexts. Then the third instance of the word “sin” in verse 3 declares that, by sending His Son, God condemned “the sin in the flesh” (tēn hamartian en tē sarki)–as noted in bold, there is a definite article before “sin” in all major texts of the Greek New Testament that is, oddly, omitted from most English translations. “The sin” here does not refer to sin in general, conceived of as an aggregate of discrete sinful acts, or even as generic “sinfulness,” but to “the” sin which motivates the flesh, rebellion against God. Putting all of this together, verse 3 tells us that, because he recognized the weakness of or flesh, trapped in its rebellion, God sent His Son in flesh similar to ours but without sin motivating it, in response and opposition to the sin in which we were trapped, and in that way condemned the sin–the inward rebellion–in our flesh. The result of this, verses 4 and 5, is that we now have the choice to live in accord with God’s Spirit within us and so escape the trap. This is consistent with everything that has previously been said about Chapters 5 through 7 of Romans.

Romans 8:10:

This verse follows the preceding passage, and indicates that, even in the lives of those who live by the Spirit, the body is dead because of “sin”–not because of any specific sinful act, but because of the same “law of sin” referenced in verses 2 and 3–but spirits are alive because of the righteousness God gives. Thus, all of the usages of “sin,” singular, in Romans 8:1-10 are consistent with the word referring to our inward rebellion rather than any discrete outward act(s).

1 Corinthians 15:56:

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.” Literally, “the sting of the death”–the death, this death we will all die, unless Jesus comes first, as perishable flesh and blood (vv. 50-52)–“[is] the sin,” once again “sin” singular with a definite article, “and the power of the sin,” the dynamic (dynamis) that makes the sin effective against us, “[is] the Law.” How this works is best explained in Romans 7, discussed above–the Law works against us by giving our rebellion–the sin in us– definite boundaries to defy. But in Jesus we have hope: “But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” The sting of the death is the sin, and the power of the sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthians 5:21:

In the NASB: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In the literal Greek word order: “The [One who] not having known sin (singular), in place of (hyper) us sin (singular) He made…” Jesus never knew any rebellion against his Father. But the Father put our rebellion on him, and he died for it–and, more importantly, to it–on the Cross, so that we might join Him both in that death to sin and in his resurrection to righteousness, as both this passage and Romans 6 declare:

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in the sin so that grace may increase? Far from it! How shall we who died to the sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of the sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to the sin;  for the one who has died is freed from the sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,  knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to the sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to the sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:1-11 (NASB, with bold articles added to match Greek text)

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings (paraptōmata, plural) against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

Next: Distinction Between “Sin” (Singular) and “Sins” (Plural) — Part 2