It is our heart which is the central and internal part of our structure, that

rebels against God. The basic reason for sin is that man wants to be the

master of himself. He wants to take his fate in his own hands and leave God

and he wants to be like God Himself knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5). He was

created for God and to be dependent on God. But he removes God from the

centre of his life and puts himself in the centre. Sin leads a person to

believe that God is holding back some good, which He is not willing to give

him. We must realize that sins such as pride, selfishness and haughtiness

are not natural characteristics of man but only something breathed into him

by Satan.

Man relies on himself in order to obtain power, wealth and knowledge and

places his faith on them. On the other side lies man's haughtiness. He

believes that more than God he knows what is good for him and acts in this

belief. His sin is the result of his disbelief, doubt and his yearning for

independence. Thus God is removed from the centre of his being. Man makes

himself the centre of his own life. In other words, he warps around himself.

From this sin, proceed all other sins.

Sin is falsehood, treachery:

The true life force of man is God. The aim of life is the spiritual

interaction leading to union between man and God. When someone leaves God

hoping for a prosperous life by selfishness and self glorification, he just

deceives himself. There is always an aspect of falsehood and treachery in

sin. Though sin is neither the root nor the basis of selfishness, sin

invariably accompanies it. Apostle Paul says that such self deception is the

result of ignorance though that ignorance is the consequence of sin. " For

although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as god nor gave thanks to

Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened"

(Rom. 1:21)(NIV).

Generally in Biblical exposition of sin, treachery and deceit are considered

special aspects of sin. Just as Eve was deceived by serpent's craftiness,

truly, sin distances the heart from the purity of truth and it always

corrupts the mind (Gen. 3:13; Rom. 7:11; 2 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 4:25; Heb 3:13).

Jesus calls the devil the father of lies (John 8:44; II Thes. 2:9). Since sin

carries an element of falsehood within itself, it always breathes falsehood

and treachery.

Sin is indulging in carnal pleasures:

As we saw earlier, sin involves indulging in carnal pleasures, disbelief in

God, disobedience, rebellion against God, replacing God with oneself as the

center of one's own life in order to distance himself from God. As man

distances himself from the true center of his life, immorality and disorder

pervade in his entire structure. This immorality affects not only his

spiritual life but also his body.

Treating carnal pleasures as the primary sin, the Greek philosophy considers

it to be the direct result of bodily life. If we were to leave this aspect

from the Christian theology, like the views expressed by St. Augustine,

St.Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Wesley and others, we find a convergence

of opinion that disbelief and disobedience are the primary sins and carnal

pleasures are only the consequence of these sins.

As man lost the true centre of his life, he has become powerless to hold on

to his self-will as the centre of himself. He lost power to control his

bodily desires and has fallen victim to gluttonness, drunkenness, indulgence,

immoral heterosexual relationship etc. Man gives himself up for the

fulfillment of such desires because of his selfishness and also because as an

effort to extricate himself from the confusion resulted from sin.

Sin is detrimental to fellowship:

Sin is a religious concept. That is, it is a confusion occurring in the

religious domain . It is against God. The psalmist says, "Against You, You

only have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight" (Psal. 51:4). Primarily

sin is disbelief in God resulting from selfishness and pride. It is rebellion

against God. Nevertheless there is a moral aspect to it that is inseparable

from sin. It is only when seen against this moral aspect that, as discussed

earlier sin is referred as selfishness, pride, treachery and indulgence in

carnal pleasures.

When the relationship between man and God is disturbed, that will certainly

lead to confusion in the domain of human interactions. When this fact is

realized well, the moral aspect of sin will be clearly evident. Since sin

comprises of selfishness and pride, it will certainly break even the true

relationship we have with other people. Since, due to sin, man keeps himself

at the center of his own life, he treats not only other objects but also

other people as things meant for gratification of his personal desires and

towards his selfish interests; and he does that almost habitually,

consciously or unconsciously.

Thus by definition, sin has an aspect of falsehood and deceit within itself.

If this aspect is activated and induced by selfishness, it is bound to affect

all the human relationships and defile them. As sin is primarily the

disbelief in God, it creates disbelief in course of human interactions also.