Is Sin Genetic?

Did Adam Pass Sin Down to Us?

Is sin genetic; did Adam pass down sin to the human race? While unfortunately it is all too common for people to believe that sin is genetic; it's actually not. Some people seem to have the idea that anything destructive, harmful, out-of-alignment with God's plans and designs is sin. While many of those things are closely rated to sin, can accompany sin and are the result of sin, those things are not synonymous with sin.

The Bible gives us the definition of sin. Sin is the transgression of the moral law.

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law."

1 John 3:4

There are two main points summed up in the word 'transgression.' They are both found in the Bible verse in James 4:17. The first is that one must know what the right thing to do is, and intentionally choose to neglect that right thing, or do something that goes against that right thing in order to be sinning.

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."

James 4:17

There must be moral knowledge of right and wrong present. So someone with dementia who assaults their nephew because they don't recognize him, and they think a strange man has broken into their home and that they are in very real danger, has not sinned by the Bible's definition of what sin is. A mistake is also not a transgression. There are a number of categories of things "gone wrong" that are not "sin."

Agency is also encompassed in the word 'transgression.' Let's look again at James 4:17 "...and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them." This Bible verse describes a sin of omission, which is where you willfully neglect to do something you ought to do. Willful neglect involves agency. You could get up and do the action, but you are using your agency to neglect it. Sins of commission are sins we actively do. James 4:17 encompasses sins of commission too! The same principle that makes willful neglect of a known duty a sin, also makes the willful performance of a known immoral action a sin. Omitting important information is lying, just as much as interjecting false information purposefully is lying.

The same two principles are behind both actions: that of moral knowledge and agency.

When one has 'transgressed', it means they are the active agent in the immoral action or thought. Rape is a horrendous act, and when a rape occurs, ONLY the rapist is the transgressor, because he is the one who carried out the rape. So things happening to us and in us that we did not perform or do, do not fit the definition of a 'transgression', even if they are very violent or destructive in nature. One must be the active agent in the immoral action or thought for it to be a transgression.

Animals bite and kill one another, yet we do not consider this to be sin. Because animals while they are the active agent, they do not have brains that understand right and wrong and thus they only meet 1 of the principles involved for something to be a transgression, and they do not meet the second one. Hurricanes crash against villages and kill hundreds of people, but we don't call this sin...why? Because they have neither will and agency nor knowledge of right and wrong.

Destructive acts are not always sin. Sometimes these destructive acts involved mentally compromised people without moral judgment...or people with damage from strokes who may know right from wrong but have compulsions beyond their ability to control and act out aggressively...and sometimes they involve people living in ignorance, who do not have access to the scriptures and don't know things like polygamy is wrong, take multiple wives, bring on a state in their families of pain, fighting, jealousy, and do so innocently due to not having access to the Bible.

So...agency and knowledge are encompassed in the word 'transgression.'

Inclinations Passed Down, Not Actions

You can't pass down a transgression. It's a chosen act. What can be passed down is the tendency or inclination to perform such an act. A person can have a genetic predisposition to be an alcoholic, but the choice to drink their first alcoholic beverage is a willful act. A person can have a genetic predisposition to sleep around and find it hard to attach to just one person in marriage, but the choice to follow these natural inclinations is a willful act.

What Would it Mean if Sin Were Genetic?

Think about it...if sin could be passed down, what would the implications of that be? It takes both the bite and the guilt out of sin. It makes sin out to be morally neutral, like cancer or diabetes; it becomes a condition and not a chosen act. It takes away the dimension of guilt with sin, and makes it out to not be a personal act of evil towards God. It makes it impersonal.

In reality sin is the exact opposite of morally neutral. In fact the Bible specifically calls sin 'wrongdoing.' In the book of First John we read that “All wrongdoing is sin". (1 John 5:17)

Sin Record

There's an important concept that goes along with sin that can help make this concept of us not inheriting Adam's sin more clear; a record in heaven. The Bible is very clear that people are moral beings capable of agency and choice, and that when we choose to do holy acts or sinful ones, these actions are recorded in God's books in heaven. In the judgment...if we are followers of Christ, He paid the penalty for all our sins, granted us forgiveness and right-standing with God, and we will be rewarded for our good actions only, since the sins have been erased from the record. And for unbelievers in the judgment they will be rewarded with punishment corresponding with each of their sins.

No person can escape crafting a record in this life, except for those who are born with brain damage or mental illness severe enough to render them incapable of understanding right and wrong. Such people would be innocent by the Bible's definition of sin (remember the two components that must be present for a person to have sinned: moral knowledge and agency). But for everyone else, we will have a record in heaven if we have lived any length of time in this world.

Ask yourself this question "When Adam sinned, was the record of his specific sins transferred to me?" Under my name in the books of heaven is "eating from the forbidden fruit" registered there? If the answer is no, then it is also true that Adam did not pass down sin to us. The action of sin and the record in heaven of those specific sins go together. You cannot have sinned without also having a record in heaven.

So What Did Adam Pass Down to Us Then?
From this question it becomes clear that Adam didn't pass down sins to us. He passed down something else. What was it that got passed down to all people? The malfunctioning nature; the predisposition and inclinations towards sinful things. The malfunction the animals and all of creation experience that made the world a "fallen world", is actually the same condition people find themselves in. Before the fall animals were harmonious and harmless; after the fall they were oriented towards harm and violence. The same thing happened in the nature of human beings. Our brain, desires, and biochemistry are now oriented wrongly. An orientation that is out of alignment with God's original design is not sin...It is only if that orientation is acted upon with moral knowledge and agency that it becomes sin.

Same Sex Attraction
Same-sex attraction is a good example of this. In the past it was all too common that Christians with same sex attraction who tried to pray away these attractions, and yet woke up every morning with the same attractions, would conclude that they had sinned and were corrupt in character just for having the attractions.

This is a good example of what having the wrong definition about sin can do to someone, and how dangerous it can be. They can conclude they are rebellious and cut off from God for having a physical condition that is a result of the Fall and which carries no guilt with it. Some have committed suicide believing this lie, concluding there was no hope of eternal life for them, or peace in this world with God, because of their inclinations.

Thankfully, this lie is no longer so common and pastors and church members have done a much better job of explaining your brain and body can malfunction, creating wrong attractions, and this is not sin unless you act on the attractions (again, remember that sin is a transgression.) This has brought much peace to people who suffer - yes suffer is the right word - from same sex attraction and do not want to act on it and want to live their lives in harmony with God's will.

Only a person can act on a wrong inclination with agency and moral knowledge, the animals cannot, thus animals even though possessing a fallen nature, cannot sin. But human beings with a fallen nature can choose whether to act on the inclination - with knowledge and agency.

Sin is Inevitable
Sometimes when I explain that sin is a willful transgression people take it to mean that I don't believe sin is inevitable for every person, and that someone could potentially choose not to sin in this life and go through life a spotless, unstained individual. Such a belief would go directly contrary to the gospel and to Jesus being the only spotless one and has blasphemous implications. I am not saying this at all! Sin is absolutely inevitable for fallen people. The Bible says "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Everyone with a fallen nature will sin. But this doesn't mean that sin and a fallen nature are the same thing; they are distinctly different concepts. And it's important we differentiate between the two, or tragedies like Christians with same sex attraction committing suicide can occur, as well as a whole host of other things. A right understanding of sin is foundational to what Christianity is, and differentiates it from false religions. We cannot even repent and be converted without knowing what sin is and that we've sinned and are in need of a Savior, thus a wrong definition of sin will interfere with living a life of holiness.

The Bible explains how when and how we all became sinners. While our world was a fallen - or malfunctioning - world due to Adam's sin which altered our inclinations, we were not under God's wrath merely by being conceived in a fallen world.

The explains the process this way "...sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—"

Romans 5:12

Notice it doesn't say "death came to all men because we inherited sin." Or..."death came to all men because we had Adam's fallen DNA"...or "Death came to all men because we were all born of sinful parents." No! It says death came to all men because "all sinned".

While it was possible for an unfallen Adam to choose of his own will to not eat the forbidden fruit and sin, since we are born with a fallen nature inclined towards sin, we all go the natural way of our inclinations.

Contrast this with Christ who was born with a fallen nature, but because He was divine could resist that fallen nature and not sin. We cannot do that. We are not gods. Thus we go the natural way of our fallen nature and commit our first sin.

It is at our first sin that we became sinners (I know this probably sounds redundant but a lot of people believe that one can become a sinner before having actually sinned!), that we fall under the power of death, that we incur guilt before God, and that we now have a record of wrongdoing before God that only a Savior can forgive and erase.

Are There Multiple Definitions of Sin, or Just One?

Let's pause for a minute and really take this in. Sin is wrongdoing. Wrongdoing is synonymous with evildoing. Someone who is a sinner is an evildoer. Now doesn't it make sense that a person cannot be an evildoer unless they have done evil? Let's say a child is born to two parents who are living a life of crime. They swindle people out of money, deal drugs, gamble, and steal cars at gunpoint. They have tendencies towards all these things in their genetics, and they passed on these inclinations to their child. Would we call the child an evildoer simply for having the genetic predispositions of its parents? If the parents went to jail for their crimes, would the child go with them? No! We can all see that that would be very unjust. The inclinations towards evil things do not make the child an evildoer. The child becomes an evildoer only if he goes the way of his parents and starts living a life of crime.

No One is Born a Thief!

A good way to think about this is...someone is not born an adulterer or a thief. You can see how there is no other way to become a thief except by stealing. Until a person steals, they may have a predisposition towards stealing, but they are not a thief.

And when they steal - and only if they steal - do they incur guilt before the law, and a record. The same is true of each of us. We inherited a fallen nature from Adam, which is the same thing as a predisposition or tendency or bent towards sin, but we do not incur guilt and a record of sin before God until we perform our first sin.

At this point someone may be asking "But I thought the definition of sin was the 'transgression of the moral law.?'" Yes, that is the definition of sin, and the Bible never contradicts itself. "Wrongdoing" and "transgression of the moral law" are the same thing. Think about it...we talked about how 'transgression' means to willfully do evil or willfully neglect to do the good things that are our personal responsibility...the "doing" in wrongdoing is a reference to the same thing; a transgression. And the "wrong" in wrongdoing corresponds with violating the moral law. That's what wrong is...wrong is breaking the moral law. If you break a law that is morally good and right, you've done wrong.

Sin Nature vs. Fallen Nature
I think much of this confusion of thinking we are automatically sinners just due to our nature. is perpetuated by a misunderstanding of the term 'sin nature' or 'sinful nature', which by its name seems to mean that it is our nature itself that is sinful, thus since we possess a human nature right from conception as we are human beings at that time, people conclude we must be sinners from the point where our nature comes into existence.

Sinful nature is in the Bible in several passages. Let's look at them.
“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature... For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
Romans 7:18

I looked into the original Greek language for this verse, and it actually just says “in my flesh” there dwells no good thing. It doesn't say “sinful nature”.
And similarly the other verses that in English is translated “sinful nature” is also “flesh” in the Greek.

I could not find the term “sinful nature” or “sin nature” in the Bible.

So this a term that Christians have adopted to convey Bible concepts; it's not directly in the Bible. There's nothing wrong with this of course. Our use of the term Trinity, while not in the Bible certainly makes it easier to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together without needing to be lengthy and mention them all by name each time we refer to them.

While the term 'Trinity' is not in the Bible, the doctrine of the trinity – or three eternal united divine persons – certainly is!
But the doctrine of the 'sin nature' – meaning a nature that is sinful before we are old enough to commit our first sin, a nature that is inherently sinful by virtue of our faulty DNA – this is not a biblical concept.

After we sin our first sin, the term 'sin nature' becomes accurate. But before we sin that first sin we have a 'fallen' nature, but not a 'sinful' one.

It is really much more correct to refer to our nature as a fallen nature – meaning the same way Adam's caused the whole world to malfunction and caused the animals to have propensities to kill one another, it gives people wrong inclinations too at the genetic level, but it doesn't make our nature sinful. We become sinful in nature when we give in to those fallen inclinations and start thinking our first selfish thoughts. Now we have sinned, we are a sinner, we are sinful as a person in character, and our nature is a sinful nature.
An embryo in the womb has a fallen nature, not a sinful nature.

Personally, I've actually used the term 'sinful nature' synonymously with 'fallen nature' for many years because to me it just meant the same thing. The same way we might say cancer and hurricanes exist in this world because we live in a sinful or fallen world – and we don't see the world as being the sinner when we call it 'sinful'...this is how I used the term sinful nature when referring to babies in the womb who were not old enough to understand right from wrong.

But since starting my online ministry and coming in contact with many, many Christians who really do believe we are sinners at conception, I'm changing my terminology so as not to be confusing, and to be as clear as possible, and I now refer to babies in the early stages of development as possessing a fallen nature, not a sinful nature.

But Didn't David Say He Was Sinful Since His Mother Conceived Him?

At this point in the article some of my reader's may be thinking "But isn't there that verse in the scriptures where David says he was sinful since his mother conceived him?"

Let's take a look at that verse...

Psalm 51:5

Strong's Hebrew English Morphology

2005 [e] הֵן־

hên- Behold Interjection

5771 [e] בְּעָו֥וֹן

bə-‘ā-wō-wn in iniquity Prep-b | N-cs

2342 [e] חוֹלָ֑לְתִּי

ḥō-w-lā-lə-tî; I was brought forth V-Pual-Perf-1cs

2399 [e] וּ֝בְחֵ֗טְא

ū-ḇə-ḥêṭ, and in sin Conj-w, Prep-b | N-ms

3179 [e] יֶֽחֱמַ֥תְנִי

ye-ḥĕ-maṯ-nî conceived me V-Piel-Perf-3fs | 1cs

517 [e] אִמִּֽי׃

’im-mî. my mother

In the original Hebrew language the wording is that he was "brought forth" in iniquity, and "in sin my mother conceived me". Nowhere in the text does it say David was sinful as an embryo that had just formed when his father's sperm met his mother's egg. The subject of who is sinful is his mother, not him. It says his mother was sinful and he was conceived "in sin". This makes sense. It's a reference to being born into a world where everyone sins and no one is righteous. Every act we do in this world is stained by our sinfulness. We don't think any perfectly pure thought, we don't engage in any actions done perfectly or with perfect motives. So even the act that produced his conception - even though it was between a married couple and it wasn't fornication - was not a perfectly sinless one, neither was his mother a perfect being, but she was a sinner.

But since sin is a transgression, David could not have sinned as an embryo, before his brain had developed enough to have will and agency, before conscious thought emerged.

A Verse That Does Show Babies Sin, But Not at Conception, Some Time After That

A better verse to use to show that babies can sin is Psalm 51:5, which is the original Hebrews clearly states that:

"Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies."

If you look into the original Hebrew language, birth is specifically mentioned. Unlike Psalm 51:5 which mentions sin at conception but links it to the mother and not the embryo, this verse in Psalm 58:3 links the "going astray" and the "spreading lies" with the baby in the womb and at birth.

This tells us that it is by the age of birth - or perhaps a short time before that - that people sin their first sin and "go astray".

This lines up with what is known in neuroscience about the brain of babies at each stage of development in the womb. At conception there is no brain activity, but at 9 months old or at birth, the baby is thinking conscious thoughts, and responding to its mothers voice, kicking and making conscious movements. They have a very basic, rudimentary knowledge of right and wrong at this age.

And so the Bible is telling us here that as soon as a basic knowledge of right and wrong is present, people give in to their predisposition to do sinful acts, brought about by their fallen nature and their disconnect from Christ, and they sin their first sin. It's then that a person becomes a sinner, not before this.

We see John the Baptist express a personality and show agency as a 6 month old in the womb. He leaps for joy when in the Presence of the Messiah...

"For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy."

Luke 1:44

And the Bible tells us he was filled with the Holy Spirit since before his birth

"...for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall never take wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb." - Luke 1:15

Notice that it doesn't say John would be filled with the Holy Spirit at conception. It says it would happen sometime when he was in his mother's womb. At conception an embryo doesn't have consciousness to respond to the Holy Spirit, but at 6 months old - the time when baby John clearly responded favorably to the Holy Spirit's conviction that he was in the presence of the Messiah - neuroscience does back up the idea that a baby in the womb is conscious and has a personality and a will. Babies born prematurely at this age can even survive outside of the womb.

When John reached the age when he could understand basic right and wrong, he clearly chose the right! However, of course he was still a sinner and it was at this point that he sinned his first sin.

So we don't know the exact age babies in the womb are when they can think their first sinful thought and have their first sinful desires, but we know it is by 6 months old, and as soon as they are able to think we all sin our first sin.

It is then we have a record of guilt before God, that we all fall under the power of death, and that we then have a sinful character.

What Does it Mean to Have a Sinful Character?

A fallen nature means we have a predisposition or tendency to be attracted towards sin. It doesn't mean we're yet guilty. An embryo at conception has a fallen nature, before they have consciousness and agency. But after that baby commits its first sin, it no longer just has sinful inclinations, it is now a sinner, and it has a sinful character.

To have a sinful character means the person is sinful. When there were only inclinations towards sinful actions the person's character was pure, but once they commit their first sin they now are impure as a person. Sin is now within the person.

We know what sin is, but what is being sinful, and how is this different from sin. Sin – a moral transgression – is a noun and a verb. But being sinful is an adjective. They are related concepts but they are not exactly the same thing.

The only way to be sinful is to have sinned. We are not sinful at conception, because we have not yet sinned. We become sinful after we commit our first sin, and it is the act of committing that first sin that makes us sinful.

As we go through life and sin more and more, these sinful acts harden our hearts and change our character so that we become more sinful.
'Sinful' is a state of being. While no one has sinned by simply being and existing...yet if they sit there long enough they will eventually sin in their thoughts...simply existing is not sinning.

However, once one has sinned, they are now sinful even while sitting there. Sin is now in the character and they are it. They are sinful as a person. And it is a very personal problem, which is why it brings so much misery to a person.

Many believe that sinfulness can be passed down from Adam, but this is not true. To become sinful, or to possess sinfulness, one must have sinned. So before we commit our first sin we cannot be sinful, as we are not yet sinners at that point.

An Example of This

Satan sinned in heaven! If sin were genetic, Satan had no parents to genetically pass it down to him, so he would not have been able to become a sinner. Furthermore, Satan caused holy angels to sin by tempting them. He did not pass down genetics to them to make them sinners. With perfect genes and no propensity towards sin, he made angels sin, using temptations and lies.

This Bible account of the fall of Lucifer and the angels, fits in with the Bible's definition of sin being an immoral action. Satan could tempt angels to commit immoral actions; he couldn't influence their DNA.

Furthermore, if sin were in the nature at conception, Jesus would have been a sinner at conception, because He had a fully human nature. The Bible says He was made like His brethren in every way (Hebrews 2:17) Some people think Jesus had an unfallen human nature, but it's really important to think this through. There is a lot that goes into having an unfallen nature! It would actually be very easy to tell if Jesus had a fallen or unfallen one by a few key points.

I'll give some important points below.

1. Jesus would not have grown tired or weary or needed sleep if He had an unfallen nature. How do we know this is the case? The curse on people's bodies due to the Fall involved growing tired and weary from work. An unfallen person like Adam was before the Fall, does not grow tired and weary.

"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:19

The Bible describes Jesus as being weary from His journey and sitting down at Jacob's well when He engaged the Samaritan women in conversation, showing a fallen nature subject to weariness, in John 4:6.

2. Jesus would not have been able to be wounded, or to die if He had an unfallen nature. Unfallen natures do not break down and decay. The earth - and human bodies - before Adam's sin, did not bruise and could not be wounded and did not die.

"For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."
Romans 8:20-21

People Are Under Physical Law, God is Not
I think people often forget that we are under physical law, and that when the laws of physics in the creation malfunctioned due to sin, bringing on decay and death, our own nature is directly linked to this. We tend to think of human nature as being separate from the fallen nature of the world for some reason. God's nature is divine and is outside of and beyond physical laws. Thus if they malfunction due to Adam's sin it will not affect Him. But Jesus had both a divine nature and a human one, thus His human nature, born into the world after the Fall, would be subject to the malfunction of the physical world. He would have a fallen body and nature, not an unfallen one.

The Bible describes Jesus as being weary from His journey and sitting down at Jacob's well when He engaged the Samaritan women in conversation, showing a fallen nature subject to weariness, in John 4:6.

3. Jesus would have had the beauty Adam had before the fall, if He had an unfallen nature. An unfallen brain and body are always very attractive. He would have been perfect in symmetry, but the Bible tells us Jesus had "no beauty or comeliness to attract us to Him" Isaiah 53:2. This verse presents Jesus as being at least average looking, or perhaps less than average.

4. The Bible gives us Jesus' lineage, and it shows us Mary was His biological mother according to His human nature. We know from the scriptures that when Adam fell, he could only pass down a fallen nature to his offspring. A person with a fallen nature can only pass down a fallen nature. Since Mary was Jesus' biological mother in His human nature, she could only pass down a fallen nature to Jesus, not an unfallen one.

Jesus was born with a fallen nature but without sin. This shows us nature and sin are not the same thing.

How Does God Tell Us What Sin Is?
I know many people who essentially believe that there are multiple definitions for sin in the Bible. I also know many people who say sin can't be defined. That the Bible lists various sins and we are to stay away from them but that everything that is sin is not defined in the Bible and there could be more things which are sin that the Bible doesn't include. When asked how we can know if we are sinning then they reply by saying that the Holy Spirit will tell us what sin is, personally by convicting us in our hearts. They say that at conversion we are under the 'Law of Christ' - and no longer the Ten Commandment law - which operates via an "inner knowing", as the Holy Spirit personally convicts us. What this looks like is if you aren't sure about whether something is the right thing to do, you pray to God and He tells you right then and there in the moment by His Holy Spirit whether to go forward and do it or whether to refrain. They believe that by living in this manner they are keeping the Law of Christ.

This method of knowing right and wrong divorces the Word from the Spirit in the Godhead, and makes the Spirit operate separately, which is not how Christianity works. You will end up with a pagan version of Christianity if you look to the Spirit as your authority, rather than looking to the Word as your authority, with the Spirit in the role of teaching you from the Word and opening the eyes of your understanding so you can understand the concepts and principles in the Word.

I once read an article about a woman who lived this way, and she was under great stress in her life with a pregnancy she wasn't prepared for. She didn't think she could give the child a good life, and the child would suffer if she brought it into the world. She prayed and asked God if she could have an abortion. She felt a sense of inner peace surrounding the abortion question, and a prodding to go forward with the abortion. She also heard a sort of inner voice which told her God is a compassionate God and He would understand if she had an abortion. He's not a judgmental God who would hold it against her if she aborted her baby.

She went forward with the abortion and claims the act was within God's will and that her relationship with God has even grown stronger through that whole experience!

There are countless examples of people living out this kind of pagan Christianity where they access God the same way a medium claims to access dead loved ones or angels for guidance (which we know are really demons masquerading as dead loved ones and holy angels according to the Bible). And what kinds of actions do people who follow this belief system do? Abortion, living with a boyfriend you aren't married to, lying, stealing, all kinds of immoral actions which the voice they listen to justifies in various ways, claiming that to ask you to live a moral life would be judgmental and mean-spirited on God's part. Giving the person a false definition of love and goodness, and a false definition of sin and wickedness.

An inner voice that leads you claiming its own authority as the only real authority you need in your life to make practical day-to-day decisions, is not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's voice will always speak through the Word and convict you to use the Word as your sole authority. For instance, let's say you heard sermons when you were a kid but you haven't studied the Bible in a very long time...the true Holy Spirit will convict you of your need for the Word of God, remind you of those sermons you heard as a child and of how no other religion of belief system can give you the Bread of Life to quench your hunger, except for Christianity because only Jesus is the Bread of Life. And that you eat His flesh and come into communion with Him through His Word, thus you need to be in the Word daily and applying it to your life in practical ways, in order to be in connection with Christ.

The Spirit will always point back to the Word, magnify the Word, and honor it. And the Word contains the principles found in God's own nature, and the doctrines that form from a God who has those attributes, and sets up a government around right principles. The Bible cannot be separated from Christ Himself. It is His character transcribed, His will, His principles, His ways, His laws.

It is the very office of the Holy Spirit to teach us from God's Word and open the eyes of our understanding so we can know what it means, and seek Christ through His Word for forgiveness of sin and a living relationship with God.

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you."

John 16:13-14

There's a verse in 1 Peter that I love for its ability to explain this dynamic of the Holy Spirit living within us and yet how we need the Word of God as our sole authority even though we are Spirit-filled, and how the Holy Spirit convicts us and moves upon our hearts to study the Word and find our answers in the Word.

"Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,

trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things."
1 Peter 1:10-12

Notice how it was "the Spirit of Christ within them" - a reference to the Holy Spirit - that moved them to ask questions and search the scriptures for their answers. In this case they were searching the scriptures to know about the Bible's time prophecies, especially concerning when the Messiah would come, and they came to the accurate conclusion - from the Bible - that these prophecies were for people in the future.

God wanted them to know when the Messiah would come and in what manner He would come, for their own sakes, but especially for the people in the future who would need to watch for His appearing to recognize Him and accept Him when He came.

Notice the role of the Holy Spirit. God wanted to give them this specific knowledge. So through His Holy Spirit He stirred up questionings and desires to know about the Messiah and the time and manner of His coming. He moved upon their hearts to search the scriptures, magnifying the Word and putting it in its proper place as the sole authority in the life of the Christian. Then the Spirit explained these prophecies to them as they searched the scriptures and enlightened the eyes of their understanding so they could arrive at the accurate conclusions.

This is the proper way the Holy Spirit works, and His proper role alongside the Word. He does not answer all of our questions Himself from an inner voice. He moves upon us to search the scriptures and puts a hunger in our hearts for the Word of God, as well as a profound appreciation and reverence for the Word. He gives us a love for the Bible, something people living apart from God do not naturally have. The Bible is boring to those who desire to serve self and who are still operating in the carnal nature. But to the converted Christian the Bible is living and active through the Spirit and it meets the needs of the human heart for guidance and direction and to be established in the faith.

Notice all the soul-changing work the Word working through the Spirit accomplishes.

Forgiveness is actually given through the Word, along with cleansing from sin and sanctification.

"Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Ephesians 5:25-27

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

2 Peter 1:4

If forgiveness for our sins, and the new heart is given to us through the promises found in God's Word, then in order to have this living relationship with Christ, we must read, study, believe, and apply the Word to our lives on a regular basis, otherwise we cannot have the Holy Spirit living within us if we are not partaking of Christ's Word.

Applying the Word to our lives is called "receiving the engrafted"- or "implanted" Word in our hearts.

"Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."

James 1:21 ESV

Jesus differentiates His people from the unbelievers and Pharisees by explaining that His people received His Word, and thus Him through His Word, and the Pharisees rejected that Word and thus rejected Christ along with His Word.

Referencing those who accepted Him He says: "For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them"
John 17:8

Referencing those who rejected Him He says: "Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
John 8:47

It's really important that we see sin for what it is, because if we define it differently than the Bible does, we may find ourselves unable to live a Christian life, because without a right understanding of sin, Christianity breaks down at its most fundamental level and becomes essentially a pagan religion, a religion that operates under false premises and false principles, rather than the truth in God's Word.

The Bible's Definition

Since Christianity is a religion that makes the Word the supreme authority, we must define sin by the Bible's definition in order to be living a Christian life and following Christ. We know the Bible defines sin as 'transgression of the moral law'. Thus to know whether a specific action we're considering doing, or a thought we're tempted to think would be sinful to go ahead and do, we need to go back to the law in the scriptures - not a law that derives its authority from our hearts or an inner voice - and compare the thought or action with the law to see how it measures up against it.

Sin is synonymous with evil, and evil is too important of a concept and a reality to be up for debate, or to remain ambiguous. God does not leave ambiguous in His Word. He defines it as the opposite of His law.

Unfortunately modern Christianity has had a rocky relationship with the law, seeing it only as the agent that is to lead us to Christ, and after that once converted, seeing it as an enemy to the Christian.