1st September 2026 Question box

Tonight’s question from the box:

Is sin about a:
– Behaviour
– Personality
– Thoughts
– Feelings
– Expression
– Outcome
– Situation, etc?
If sin is used to describe behaviour, then how do we explain “sin living in me” and “the law of sin.”

OK, sin can describe number of those things listed: There are sinful behaviours, there are sinful thoughts, there are sinful feelings. They are thoughts, behaviours and desires which are not in line with loving and trusting God. (As for personality, expressions, outcomes, situations – not sure about those; it might depend what you mean by them.)

Here’s something we info in the letter of James: “…each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-14) Notice how something can start internally as an evil desire, and it can flow into a sinful action?

Now, when the questioner asked about “sin living in me,” That’s a reference to Romans chapter 7, which ends with these words: “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Its talking about how as a Christian we can have conflicting desires, On one hand we do want to obey God, and yet while we live in these bodies we still have sinful desires and inclinations…

The meaning of the word “sin” carries the idea of an error, a failure to hit the target, a failure to reflect God’s character and obey his law. Sin includes behaviour, but goes much deeper than that. And so what we need is so much more than simply a change of external behaviour. first that the penalty of our sins be paid, And secondly that the power of sin be displaced through a deep renovation of our hearts. The penalty of sin is dealt with by Christ on the cross. And the power of sin is broken by work of the Holy Spirit bringing new life into our hearts. And we’ll think about a bit more about this in tonight’s sermon.

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This question was originally answered by Andrew Vines in our evening service on 14 June 2026. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.