San Beda College Alabang DELOS SANTOS, WILFRED

Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

Lesson 7

SIN

BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE OF SIN

➢ The renewal of moral theology and its return to its scriptural roots have facilitated a
retrieval of a biblical sense of sin.

➢ Two important biblical metaphors in the Old Testament that enable us to understand
sin in its proper context: Covenant and Heart.

COVENANT

➢ Covenant expresses our personal relationship with God. The primary claim of the
covenant is that God loves us without our having to earn God's love. God's covenant
is a bond of completely gratuitous love. It is pure undeserved grace.

➢ God's offer of love awaits our acceptance. Once we accept God's offer of love, we
commit ourselves to living out a faithful personal relationship with God, as the
covenant requires.

➢ Sin, understood within the context of a covenant relationship between us and God, is
thus not simply about breaking moral rules. It is primarily a breaking of our personal
bond with God. The covenant context lifts the idea of sin from a legalistic framework
and puts in a context of a relational setting. Sin in the Bible is not merely breaking
law. Sin is breaking or weakening the bond of love we have with God.

➢ Our response to God's gift of unconditional love can be expressed in a threefold

manner:

❖ To respect the worth of ourselves and others as constituted by God's love

o We recognize our worth and security remain grounded in God and not
in ourselves or in things.
o Sins that violate the worth of persons are attitudes and actions that
create and maintain false idols (e.g. wealth, power, prestige, personal
attributes, etc.) on which we base our worth and the worth of others.

❖ To live in solidarity with creation and with one another as covenantal

partners.
o God calls us to be social and to be responsible for one another.

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Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

o Covenantal solidarity also requires us to be concerned and responsible

for the whole social order; we need to ensure that our social structures
and institutions, economic systems, political structures, would
promote of the true worth of every member of the community.
o Sins that violate solidarity are those attitudes and actions that promote
indifference, jealousy, envy, contempt, domination, prejudice and
possessiveness. If we ignore situations of need that require from us a
response of mercy, justice, and love, we also diminish our solidarity as
persons loved in communion by God.
o To betray a social commitment demanded by justice is to betray God's
love and to perpetuate social sin.

❖ To develop the virtue of fidelity as the proper characteristic of every

covenantal relationship.
o Fidelity requires us to be faithful and trustworthy in our relationship
with God and others. We entrust ourselves to God and others.
o Sin violates fidelity through attitudes and actions that induce us not to
trust God and others. We also sin by abusing something that another
has entrusted to us such as a personal secret, health, property, bodies,
and personal welfare. This is sin as infidelity and as an abuse of power.

HEART

➢ The biblical metaphor of heart expresses what the divine love of the covenant seeks.
➢ Divine love is either rejected or embraced by the heart.
➢ The heart, in biblical anthropology, is where vital decisions are made; it is the center
of feeling and reason, intention and consciousness, decision and action.
➢ The heart is the locale for virtue or sin. The moral vision of the bible sees good and
evil not just in deeds but in the heart which promotes good and evil actions.
➢ The heart that is properly ordered to God will have a certain instinct about what is
good in relation to God. A properly directed heart yields a life of virtue. A
misdirected heart produces sin.

SIN AS A RELIGIOUS REALITY

➢ We can only understand sin in the context of our faith. Sin makes no sense apart
from our awareness of our relationship to God.

➢ The primary understanding of sin is that it is a violation of our covenantal relationship

with God and others. Sin in the context of our covenant relationship has a
transcendent dimension and an immanent dimension.

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Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

o The transcendent dimension expresses a break in our relationship with God. It

is our NO to the invitation to live with God in love. But this dimension is never
separated from the immanent dimension.
o The immanent dimension of sin is the NO that we answer to the invitation to
love and be loved by our neighbors. Whenever a life-giving relationship is
weakened or destroyed, sin in some form is present.

➢ Sin is thus a form of selfishness that begins in the heart which then is manifested in
actions. We become sinful to the extent we turn inward and refuse to respond to the
invitation to love and be loved. This is to “harden one’s heart” in the biblical sense.

➢ Another way to understand the reality of sin in the context of covenantal love is to
see sin as an arrogance of power. The covenant says that we already have worth
because we are loved by God. But the heart refuses to trust in the gratuitous love of
God as the basis of one’s worth. The heart seeks to seek its worth through its
strivings. The arrogance of power is the “I” living as if it must make itself great.

➢ In striving to earn its own worth apart from God’s love, the heart misdirects and
disorders its relationship with God and others. Sin arises out of our striving to
protect the self we have made in order to guarantee we are loveable and loved.

➢ We can only break the power of sin as selfishness and arrogance of power through
an acceptance of God’s unconditional love for us as the only true foundation of our
worth and loveableness. Only divine love can satisfy our hearts longing to be truly
loved.

➢ Thus the sacrament of reconciliation becomes the concrete sign of that God's love is
offered to us and that it cannot be defeated by sin. Through reconciliation with God
and the community, the dynamic of receiving and giving love is restored and the life-
giving relationship we have with God and others is strengthened.

[n.b. Penances are thanksgiving to the love of God; Sin is against a relationship; Sin is a
mystery]

KINDS OF SIN

➢ Original Sin
o Exists prior to our free personal acts, it differs in kind to our personal sins.
o It is the human condition of living in a world where we are influenced by more
evil than we do ourselves.
o Our whole being and our environment are infected by this condition of evil
and brokenness.
o We feel its effects in our lack of freedom and our inability to love as we want.

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Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

o This condition alienates us from our true selves, from others, and from God.
We need redemption and healing.
o The doctrine of original sin tells us that we are not completely broken by sin.
We have the possibility of becoming the persons we are made to be. This is
because the power of original sin is in tension with the greater power of God's
grace which enables us to grow in wholeness in our relationship with
ourselves, with others, and God. Our daily moral struggle involves opening
ourselves to the power of God's grace and to fight against the effects of
original sin.
o God’s redemptive love enables us to resist the negative pull of original sin.
This gift of God's love is mediated to us in and through our human community.
Baptism initiates us into a life-giving and supportive community.
o We believe that grace, redemption, and divine love will always have the last
word.

➢ Personal sins — mortal and venial sins

o The terms mortal and venial sins came into use as a result of efforts to be
precise about the distinctions in the degrees of sin. When yearly confession
became a requirement after the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), the distinction
between mortal and venial attained a juridical significance. Since the council
required that all mortal sins must be confessed in kind and number, it became
important to be able to distinguish which sins are mortal for the penitent to
know what sins to confess. Moralists began to use quantitative and objective
measurement to distinguish mortal from venial sins. A minimalist and legalistic
kind of attitude toward morality began to emerge: How far can I go before
committing a mortal sin? The renewal of moral theology after Vatican II
retrieved the biblical view of sin as a turning away from our relationship with
God.
o Sin in its true sense is mortal sin. Venial sin derives its meaning as sin only by
analogy to mortal sin.

➢ Mortal Sin
o Moralists have settled on three conditions that must be present for there to
be a mortal sin:
▪ Sufficient reflection—when there is evaluative knowledge on the part
of the person who committed the sin. The person understands the
meaning and consequences of his or her action and is personally
committed to the action. (knows and believes it’s wrong)
▪ Full consent of will — freedom of self-determination is present and
being exercised in a particular choice of action. The person wills freely
that his or her action would shape or direct the fundamental direction
of his or her life.
▪ Serious matter — Involves the gravity of the objective harm that the
action causes and how deeply invested is the person in the action.

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Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

o Mortal sin is a conscious decision to act in way that leads to a turning away
from relating to God, to others, and the world in a positive and life giving way.

➢ Venial sin
o It is called a sin only analogously. It wounds our relationship with God, others,
and the world but it does not radically break this relationship.
o It is acting inconsistently with our basic commitment to be for life and love
but it does not spring from our deepest level of our knowledge and freedom
so us to change the direction of our relationship with God, others, and the
world.
o Still, venial sins if practiced often enough and allowed to become an ingrained
part of the person can gradually affect the character of the person and
undermine the person’s relationships to the point that it has the effect of a
mortal sin. (carelessness = be careful of patterns of V.S.)

➢ Serious Sins
o Because the line where repeated venial sins become mortal sins is hard to
draw and there is sometimes doubt about the gravity of a particular sin, the
category of serious sins is used in moral theology and canon law to cover
those sins which should be a cause of concern for a person. Canon requires
that every catholic should confess all serious sins (venial sins that may be
forming into a had habit and individual mortal sins) in kind and number at
least once a year. When one is in doubt about the seriousness of a sin, it
would be safer to mention it in confession and let the confessor make an
evaluation about its gravity in the context of the person's behavior and
character.
SOCIAL SIN

➢ Through our use of our freedom and knowledge we create social structures that
embody and promote our values. These structures in turn affect us through the
process of socialization. By participating in these structures we sustain them and help
produce their effects. Social sin is found in situations when social structures create
situations where people suffer from oppression and exploitation.

➢ Since social structures are created and maintained by personal actions, there is an
inseparable relationship between personal sin and social sin.

➢ Since we share in the creation of society and social structures, we also share in the
responsibility for causing social sin wherever it is present in our society. Hut being
responsible does not necessary being personally culpable. Culpability demands
knowledge and freedom.

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Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

➢ Once we become aware of how we are affected by sinful social structures and how
we participate in them, we should be more careful in the decisions we make. We
should take actions that would help dismantle these sinful structures and replace
them with structures that affirm and protect human dignity and promote authentic
human development.

➢ We should also be ready to make reparations for any harm done caused by
oppressive and exploitative social structures in proportion to our culpability in
creating those structures.

Common "sins" confessed that are not really sins

1. Negative emotions
2. Spontaneous “bad” thoughts
3. Difficulty with family members
4. Hurting another’s feelings/Unmet expectations
5. Inability to forgive
6. Lapses in prayer
7. Questioning God/Doubting one’s faith

1. Negative emotions (lack of freedom)

❖ I felt annoyed or irritated at the behavior of another.
❖ I felt impatience at the slowness or inefficiency of another.
❖ I felt anger at the unjust words or action of another.
❖ I felt depressed in the face of many problems.
❖ I felt envious at the good fortune of others
❖ I felt hurt because of unfair treatment
❖ I feel distrust toward someone who betrayed me
❖ I do not feel any love or affection anymore for somebody who had hurt me

➢ Negative emotions are normal reactions to negative situations or people. These

emotions are usually spontaneous and cannot be anticipated.
➢ Since we lack the freedom to control how we feel, they are not matters of sin. What
is open to moral evaluation is what we do with these negative feelings.
➢ Negative emotions
➢ If we acted deliberately on these feelings and chose to hurt other people then these
acts can be matters of sin.
➢ Example: I felt impatience at the inefficiency of a waiter. If I chose to keep silent or
speak to the waiter civilly, then there is no sin. If I chose to lit my impatience control
me and I speak rudely then it can be a matter of sin (though in this case, venial).

2. Spontaneous thoughts (lack of freedom)

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San Beda College Alabang DELOS SANTOS, WILFRED
Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

❖ I had spontaneous thoughts of revenge

❖ I had spontaneous thoughts of envy
❖ I had spontaneous sexual thoughts
❖ I remembered a sinful situation I had previously confessed
❖ I had negative thoughts toward a person who had hurt me

➢ Spontaneous thoughts are not within our control and so their occurrence is not a
matter of sin.
➢ However if one fosters and encourages these thoughts and even puts them into
actions then these can become sins.
➢ Example: I had a spontaneous sexual thought in while watching a TV show. If I just
ignore the thought, then there is no sin. If I encourage the sexual thoughts and
deliberately act on them improperly, then they can be matter for sin.
➢ Remember, a temptation is still not yet a sin, it becomes a sin when we act on the
temptation.

3. Difficulty with family members

❖ I had an argument with my father.
❖ I feel guilty about being resentful that I am left to take care of my mother who
has Alzheimer's disease while my sibling do not help out.
❖ I still feel angry at my brother who treated me unfairly.

➢ We have such a strong desire for smooth relationships with our family members that
we sometimes feel guilty over strained relationships.
➢ The commandment “Honor Your Father and your Mother” does not mean that you
should never disappoint or make your parents unhappy. It just means that you treat
them with respect whatever happens to your relationship.
➢ It is ok to disagree with your parents if you believe in your conscience that what you
are doing is right.
➢ A strained relationship that is beyond one’s control to resolve is not a matter for
confession but rather a matter for dialogue, prayer and counseling.
➢ Negative emotions arising from the burdens of caring for parents is better dealt with
in counseling rather than in confession.
➢ Family disputes can evoke strong negative emotions. These emotions are not matters
for confession. What can be matters for confession are unjust words or actions in the
dispute.

4. Hurting anothers feelings/Unmet expectations

❖ An employee is angry at me because I evaluated him negatively due to his
poor performance.
❖ My brother is not talking to me because I gave him feedback about his
irresponsible behavior.

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San Beda College Alabang DELOS SANTOS, WILFRED
Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

❖ I disappointed my parents because I chose to be a musician rather than a

doctor.
❖ A co-worker is upset at me because I did not give her a loan.

➢ Just because another person is not happy with you does not necessarily mean
that you have sinned against that person.
➢ Other people’s expectations and reactions are beyond your control. You can do
the best that you could and you will still not satisfy everybody.
➢ If you did not intend to hurt a person's feelings vid were only doing what you
think is right. then you should not think that you have sinned against this person
just because that person is angry or disappointed at you.
➢ Say sorry to the person for hurting his/her feeling but you don’t need to confess it
as a sin.

5. Inability to Forgive
❖ I still cannot bring myself to forgive my father who had abandoned our family
❖ I cannot bring myself to forgive my spouse who had betrayed me.

➢ Forgiveness is not something we can force if the ability to grant it is not yet present.
➢ If we are still too wounded to forgive, it is not a sin. Forgiveness is a gift from God
and God chooses the right time to give this gift.
➢ If we are not yet ready to forgive, we can at least pray that we can make ourselves
ready eventually to receive the ability to forgive.
➢ We just need to be careful that our reason for not yet forgiving is not pride or spite
but a woundedness that still' needs to be healed before forgiveness can take place.

6. Lapses in Prayer
❖ I fall asleep or get distracted at mass
❖ I forgot to do my daily prayers
❖ I don’t pray as often as I used to
❖ I can't concentrate at mass because I am angry at the priest
❖ I was late at mass

➢ One does not sin if one misses personal prayers and devotions. Even if one made a
private commitment to maintain a certain regularity of prayer, lapses in regularity are
not sins.
➢ Our prayer life adjusts to our rhythm of life; if our life becomes more busy our prayer
life; if our life becomes more busy our prayer life adjusts.
➢ Missing mass because of valid reason is not a sin — e.g., illness, bad weather, need to
attend to an emergency, delay in travel, care for-the sick.
➢ Lapses in Prayer
➢ Falling asleep or getting distracted at mass are not sins — these are often beyond
our control and can be caused by extraneous circumstances (a boring homily,

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San Beda College Alabang DELOS SANTOS, WILFRED
Religious Education Dept. CHRISTIAN MORALITY

uninspiring liturgy, hot weather, tiredness, a noisy church, an early hour, personal
reactions against the presider)
➢ Lateness at mass is not a sin if the cause is beyond a person’s control. Even if it were
a of negligence or laziness, it would be at most a venial sin.

7. Questioning God/Doubting one’s faith

➢ I have doubts about God's love for me because my illness has gotten worse despite
my prayers.
➢ I am resentful that God allowed a loved one to die.
➢ My faith is weak because I worry too much rather than trust that God will take care of
me.
➢ To feel angry or disappointed at God is a common reaction to unanswered prayers or
personal tragedy. It is not a matter of sin but rather a human reaction to a bad
situation. It is part of our way of wrestling with the mystery of God and the mystery
of being human.
➢ It is better to be honest with God about what we feel and tell him whatever we want
to say and then allow God to simply respond in his own way, like an honest dialogue
between close friends.
➢ To ask God “Why?” in the face of tragedy is not a sign of a weak or doubting faith but
it can actually be an opening to dialogue with God.
➢ Being worried about many things in life is not necessarily a sign of doubt about God’s
providence. One might just be overwhelmed with many problems. What is important
that deep down we still know that God is with us as we take care of many
responsibilities.

That in all things God may be glorified.

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Sources / References:

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1846-1876.

2. Catechism for Filipino Catholics 760-775.
3. Richard Gula, “A Sense of Sin,” in Reason Informed by Faith, ch 7, pp.89-105.
4. Richard Gula, “Kinds of Sin,” in Reason Informed by Faith, ch 8, pp. 106-121.
5. Bruce Vawter, “Missing the Mark,” in Introduction to Christian Ethics, eds. Ronald Hamel
and Kenneth Himes (New York: Paulist Press, 1989) 199-205.