What Are The Seven Deadly Sins In The Bible
by ORBC Family | Oct 15, 2021 | Christian Living |
Most Christians have heard of the seven deadly sins from the Bible, but what does that phrase mean? What are the seven deadly sins, and what does the Bible say about these cardinal sins? Is there a sin that is unforgivable according to the Bible, or is the grace of God extended to all people?
List Of Sins In The Bible
List Of Sins In The Bible
Isaiah writes your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Sin is any action, feeling, or thought that goes against Gods standards. It includes breaking Gods laws by doing what is wrong, or unrighteous, in Gods sight. The Bible also describes sins of omissionthat is, failing to do what is right.James 4:17. The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. . We will be sharing with you the lists of sin in the Bible.
God Hates A Heart That Devises Wicked Plans
Zechariah 8:17And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.
Also: Mark 7:21-23
Those who devise evil plans are sinners and the enemies of God and His People.
God absolutely hates those who seek to destroy others for their own benefit. Further, we should never give a false oath which even means providing a false witness against someone.
We certainly should never make promises we cannot keep. When we break our word, that is a reflection of us as individuals and Christians.
Micah 2:1-2 tells us,
Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! Truly wicked people lay awake at night plotting how to destroy others in order to enhance their own life.
They covet fields, and take them by violence and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. These are not only individuals, but governments and corporations who seek excessive gain at the expense of others.
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What Are The 7 Deadly Sins History And Overview
First, we need to establish a list of the seven deadly sins, and then dissect each one and what it means and looks like.
The most famous faces of sin are the Seven Deadly Sins. They are: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. The list is centuries old, found as frequently in literature and pop culture as in manuals of theology and devotion. Dante surveyed these sins in his tours through hell and purgatory in The Divine Comedy, Chaucer moralized about them in The Parsons Tale, and Brad Pitt investigated a series of grisly murders based on the list in Se7en.
The first person to give us a list was a monk in the Eastern tradition named Evagrius of Pontus. In his treatise On the Eight Thoughts, Evagrius listed eight evil thoughts or demons that hound and harass the desert hermit. Evagriuss work is basically a catalog of problems and temptations faced by the monk, each followed by a lengthy list of biblical passages to use in resistance. Brian Hedges
Sinners Must Trust The Finished Work Of Jesus Christ To Save Their Soul
The Roman Catholic Church falsely teaches that salvation is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ, baptism, and the keeping of the sacraments. What are the sacraments? Examine this excerpt.
Sacraments
Main article: Sacraments of the Catholic Church
There are seven sacraments of the Church, of which the source and summit is the Eucharist. According to the Catechism, the sacraments were instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. They are vehicles through which Gods grace flows into the person who receives them with the proper disposition. In order to obtain the proper disposition, people are encouraged, and in some cases required, to undergo sufficient preparation before being permitted to receive certain sacraments. And in receiving the sacraments, the Catechism advises: To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition. Participation in the sacraments, offered to them through the Church, is a way Catholics obtain grace, forgiveness of sins and formally ask for the Holy Spirit. These sacraments are: Baptism, Confirmation , the Eucharist, Penance and Reconciliation, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.
Although Catholic apologists use terminology that mimics born again believers, they add many works to faith in Christ.
The process described above is not even close to Gods plan for true salvation!
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What Famous Works Incorporate The Seven Deadly Sins
St. Thomas Aquinass Summa Theologica and Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy are perhaps the best-known examples of medieval Italian thought on the seven deadly sins. In medieval England, Geoffrey Chaucer ended The Canterbury Tales with a discussion of the sins. Since the Middle Ages the concept has inspired countless works of literature, art, music, and film.
seven deadly sins, also called seven capital sins or seven cardinal sins, in Roman Catholictheology, the seven vices that spur other sins and further immoral behaviour. First enumerated by Pope Gregory I in the 6th century and elaborated in the 13th century by St. Thomas Aquinas, they are vainglory, or pride, greed, or covetousness, lust, or inordinate or illicit sexual desire, envy, gluttony, which is usually understood to include drunkenness, wrath, or anger, and sloth. Each of these can be overcome with the seven corresponding virtues of humility, charity, chastity, gratitude, temperance, patience, and diligence.
The seven deadly sins can be thought of as dispositions toward sin and separation from God. Lust, for example, could result in adultery, which is a mortal sin, or could lead to somewhat less intentional immoral thoughts that would be classified as venial sins. The deadly sins were a popular theme in the morality plays, literature, and art of the Middle Ages in Europe.
How To Deal With Guilt Of Sin
In reading over the sin descriptions, we realize we are guilty of committing all of these at one time or another. All sin, according to Romans 6:23, results in death. Paul perfectly captures the human condition in Romans 7:21-25 :
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in Gods law but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Jesus shows, tells, and empowers us to raise our standards from fleshly to spiritual. He commands us to love others as we love ourselves and love God with our heart, mind, body, and soul . When we fix our eyes on Jesus and choose to look more like him, we will be more aware of our own areas of weakness.
We can choose to adjust our thinking and actions by replacing our thoughts with things that are good and honorable with prayer while looking to Jesus as our teacher and savior. The Lord accepts us as we are, yet he doesnt leave us there. He wants us to resemble Him, our Heavenly Father. To combat our sinful nature, prayer is our weapon. We can pray what I call a replacement prayer.
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Deadly Sins: Their Meanings And What The Bible Says
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law .
1. Pride. Definition: the quality or state of being proud: such as inordinate self-esteem, conceit
Counterpart: Humility, meekness, love God, love others, appropriate self-worth
2. Envy. Definition: painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage
Counterpart: love, joy, thankfulness, compassion, satisfaction
3. Wrath. Definition: strong vengeful anger or indignation
Counterpart: peace, gentleness, self-control
4. Gluttony. Definition: excessive indulgence
Counterpart: self-control, contentment, patience, discernment
5. Lust. Definition: intense or unbridled desire, lasciviousness
Counterpart: love, unselfishness
6. Sloth. Definition: disinclination to action or labor, spiritual apathy, and inactivity
Counterpart: perseverance, diligence, servanthood
7. Greed. Definition: a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed
Counterpart: Generosity, kindness
Where Did The List Of Seven Deadly Sins Come From
The seven deadly sins were originally based on a list of eight principal vices. The list was developed in the fourth century C.E. by the mystic Evagrius Ponticus, whose work inspired the writings of monk and ascetic John Cassian. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory I changed Cassians list of eight vices into the list of seven deadly, or cardinal, sins of Roman Catholic theology: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth. Gregory viewed these as capital, or principal, sins in that many other sins came from them.
^ The list of 15 examples of serious sins found at Galatians 5:19-21 is not meant to be exhaustive, for after listing them, the Bible adds the words and things like these. The reader is thus encouraged to use his discernment to identify things that may not be listed but that are like these.
^Proverbs 6:16 contains an example of a Hebrew idiom that emphasizes the second number by contrasting it with the first one. This form of expression appears often in the Scriptures.Job 5:19 Proverbs 30:15, 18, 21.
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Origin Of The Currently Recognized Seven Deadly Sins
The modern concept of the seven deadly sins is linked to the works of the fourth-century monkEvagrius Ponticus, who listed eight evil thoughts in Greek as follows:
These “evil thoughts” can be categorized into three types:
- lustful appetite
- irascibility
- corruption of the mind
In AD 590 Pope Gregory I revised this list to form the more common list. Gregory combined tristitia with acedia, and vanagloria with superbia, and added envy, in Latin, invidia. Gregory’s list became the standard list of sins. Thomas Aquinas uses and defends Gregory’s list in his Summa Theologica although he calls them the “capital sins” because they are the head and form of all the others. The Anglican Communion,Lutheran Church, and Methodist Church, among other Christian denominations, still retain this list. Modern evangelists such as Billy Graham have explicated the seven deadly sins.
Final Thoughts On The 7 Deadly Sins That God Hates
The seven deadly sins in the Bible are sins that God emphasizes for a reason and He hates them, these are as follow: a proud look, lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift to run to mischief, a false witness that speaketh, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
These seven sins are also known as capital vices or cardinal sins which the Lord detests, and hopefully you too.
If these scriptures on the 7 deadly sins have been a blessing to you, I encourage you to share them with your family, friends, and those in your close circle. Be blessed, and thank you for reading to the end.
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Christians Must Strive To Live Holy Lives To Please The Lord But Human Righteousness Will Not Save The Soul
Some religions use false doctrine to control members. By pronouncing some sins as so bad that they make salvation impossible, false religions use fear to command the masses.
Gods children dont reject sin to earn their salvation. We renounce sin to please our Heavenly Father.
1 Peter 1:1416
14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy.
Born again believers are called to live a holy life. Holiness is BEING right on the inside. Righteousness is DOING right on the outside. We are called to live a life .
Christians dont serve God to obtain forgiveness of sins, rather we serve Him because we have been forgiven.
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Envy is any desire to have something that another has. This envy usually comes from a materialistic item, a job opportunity, or a significant other.
How to avoid the sin of envy: Instead of longing for what another has, be thankful for the gifts you have been given. Being a kind and genuine person will allow you to put envy aside and praise the life you have been blessed with.
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What Are The Seven Deadly Sins Mentioned In The Bible
Listed in order, the seven deadly sins are:
- Lust
- Envy
- Pride
For Christians, these seven sins are transgressions that come with severe repercussions, as committing one or more is said to be detrimental to your personal relationship with God.
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A sin is an act that is committed by someone when they are behaving in an immoral, disrespectful, and self-gratifying way. Sins are what keep humans in check in the eyes of the Lord. With that being said, let’s walk through each of the seven deadly sins and break down their meanings, as well as how to avoid each.
The Seven Deadly Sins
Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht‘s The Seven Deadly Sins satirized capitalism and its painful abuses as its central character, the victim of a split personality, travels to seven different cities in search of money for her family. In each city she encounters one of the seven deadly sins, but those sins ironically reverse one’s expectations. When the character goes to Los Angeles, for example, she is outraged by injustice, but is told that wrath against capitalism is a sin that she must avoid.
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What Is Meant By The Expression Deadly Sin
Some translations use this rendering at 1 John 5:16. For example, The New American Bible reads: There is such a thing as deadly sin. The expression rendered deadly sin can also be translated as sin that incurs death. What is the difference between sin that incurs death and sin that does not incur death?1 John 5:16.
The Bible makes clear that all sin leads to death. However, we can be saved from sin and death through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Thus, a sin that incurs death is one that is not covered by Christs ransom. A person who commits this type of sin is so set on following a sinful course that he will never change his attitude or conduct. The Bible also refers to such a sin as one that will not be forgiven.Matthew 12:31 Luke 12:10.
What Are The Seven Deadly Sins
The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness , lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.
Pride: a sense of one’s self-worth that is out of proportion to reality. Pride is normally counted as the first of the deadly sins, because it can and often does lead to the commission of other sins in order to feed one’s pride. Taken to the extreme, pride even results in rebellion against God, through the belief that one owes all that he has accomplished to his own efforts and not at all to God’s grace. Lucifer’s fall from Heaven was the result of his pride and Adam and Eve committed their sin in the Garden of Eden after Lucifer appealed to their pride.
Covetousness: the strong desire for possessions, especially for possessions that belong to another, as in the Ninth Commandment and the Tenth Commandment . While greed and avarice are sometime used as synonyms, they both normally refer to an overwhelming desire for things that one could legitimately possess.
Lust: a desire for sexual pleasure that is out of proportion to the good of sexual union or is directed at someone with whom one has no right to sexual unionthat is, someone other than one’s spouse. It is possible even to have lust toward one’s spouse if one’s desire for him or her is selfish rather than aimed at the deepening of the marital union.
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Are The 7 Deadly Sins Unforgivable
Christians can often place the seven deadly sins on a pedestal and claim they are worse than the other sins. Historically, the Roman Catholic church came up with the list after the canonicity of the Bible closed. Dr. Roger Barrier covers the historical implications of the seven deadly sins in Are These 7 Sins Really Deadly?
The idea of the seven deadly sins isnt new. The seven deadly sins have been around since early Christianity. The Roman Catholic Church came up with the list and declared that every possible sin was spawned from these seven. Personally, I would narrow it down and say that pride is the root of all sins.
These seven are often tied to Proverbs 6:16-19 where we find a list of the six things that God hates.
The only sin which cannot be forgiven is the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This occurs when the Holy Spirit tells an individual that he/she needs to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. When that person says, No, I dont need him to forgive my sins, he/she has called the Holy Spirit a liar which is the meaning of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. This is the unforgivable sin. God can forgive every sin except saying no to Jesus and his forgiveness of sin. Dr. Roger Barrier