What Is Sin?

The main Greek word for sin is ἁμαρτία (hamartia). This is a word that is also used in the context of archery, and originally meant "to miss the mark". In ancient Greek, this word could describe the action of an archer who failed to hit their target. When applied in a religious context, it can refer to a specific act of sin, the general concept of sin, or a state of sinfulness.

Why is this relevant? Because as humans, when we sin, we miss the mark of what we were meant/created for.

In the Orthodox understanding, sin is not just an action arbitrarily deemed as “bad”. We also do not treat sin in a legalistic sense, where a sinful action can be undone or pardoned by an equal and opposite good deed. In the Orthodox church, however, sin is any state of mind, behaviour, or action that causes one to become oriented away from God, stray from God, or does not align with God’s moral standard or law, and in this way causes one to “miss the mark”.

We also understand that sin is akin to an illness - meaning that it is not the natural way that we were designed to function, just as how illness is a deviation from a natural state of health. In orienting away from God, sin causes us to deviate away from our natural state - which is to be in harmony with Him and all of creation. Therefore, sin reduces us to less than what God created or called us to be.

We will use our metaphor to describe sin as an illness: for example, pneumonia causes the lungs to miss the mark of what it was meant to do/function. When a virus or bacteria enters into the lungs, the lungs no longer function properly in the way they are supposed to or originally designed. If left untreated, pneumonia can lead to death, and in this way, sin, if left unrepented, leads to our eternal death as it separates us from God who is the source of life. God is therefore the medicine, and Christ administers the medicine of life to us in His body and blood to undo the effects of sin. Because of the miracle of the resurrection, sin is no longer a death sentence, but an illness that can be treated through repentance and the life of Christ.

Sin is not only separation from God but also a distortion of the divine image in which we were created at the very beginning.

How is this possible? It is because sin is first introduced to the world through man’s free will to disobey the commandments of God. This is represented in the Fall of Adam and Eve as first introduced in Genesis. Indeed, this truth is reflected in the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church: “When we disobeyed Your commandment by the guile of the serpent, we fell from eternal life, and were exiled from the Paradise of Joy.” (Divine Liturgy according to St. Basil)