Christian views on sin

In Christianity, sin is an immoral act and transgression of divine law. The doctrine of sin is central to the Christian faith, since its basic message is about redemption in Christ.

Hamartiology, a branch of Christian theology which is the study of sin, describes sin as an act of offence against God by despising his persons and Christian biblical law, and by injuring others. Christian hamartiology is closely related to concepts of natural law, moral theology and Christian ethics.

Among some scholars, sin is understood mostly as legal infraction or contract violation of non-binding philosophical frameworks and perspectives of Christian ethics, and so salvation tends to be viewed in legal terms. Other Christian scholars understand sin to be fundamentally relational—a loss of love for the Christian God and an elevation of self-love ("concupiscence", in this sense), as was later propounded by Augustine in his debate with the Pelagians. As with the legal definition of sin, this definition also affects the Christian understanding of grace and salvation, which are thus viewed in relational terms.

Hamartiology (from Greek: ἁμαρτία, hamartia, "a departure fr. either human or divine standards of uprightness" and -λογια, -logia, "study")

The first use of sin as a noun in the Christian Greek Old Testament is in Genesis chapter 4, verse seven "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it" waiting to be mastered by Cain, a form of literary theriomorphism.

The Book of Isaiah announced the consequences of sin: "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things" — a separation between God and man, and unrequited worshipping.

Original sin is the Christian doctrine that humans inherit a tainted nature and a proclivity to sin through the fact of birth. Theologians have characterized this condition in many ways, seeing it as ranging from something as insignificant as a slight deficiency, or a tendency toward sin yet without collective guilt, referred to as a "sin nature", to total depravity or automatic guilt of all humans through collective guilt.

Christians believe the doctrine of humanity's state of sin resulted from the fall of man, stemming from Adam's rebellion in Eden, namely the sin of disobedience in consuming from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.