Is There A Difference Between Sin And Sins

The Question

The Bible seems to use sin and it plural very deliberately – at least in the English. Is there a reason for this distinction? That is there a difference between sin and sins?

Interpreting the question

The author of this question has been a careful reader of the Scripture and has noticed that in some cases it appears the singular word ‘sin’ is used, when clearly it means more than one misdemeanour or act of unrighteousness, i.e. sins, and in other cases the plural ‘sins’ is used.

For example, the Apostle Paul writes on how sin entered the world:

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin [noun, genitive, singular] might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. [noun, dative singular]
(Romans 6:6)

And Paul writes, how Christ became sin for our sake:

For our sake he made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin [noun, accusative singular] who knew no sin [noun, accusative singular], so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

And, yet when Jesus speaks, in this example to the paralytic, he says:

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins [noun, nominative plural] are forgiven." (Mark 2:5)

In another example Paul writes:

… Christ died for our sins [noun, genitive, plural] in accordance with the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3)

Yet John writes of Christ:

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all [every] sin [noun, genitive, singular]. (1 John 1:7)

Of course, the word sin can be either a noun or a verb, so we need care in deciphering what the word means in each context.

In the first example, one expects the word sins to be used, because more than one sin entered the world, didn’t it, and yet Scripture uses “sin”, singular. And in the second, one could ask, did Jesus die for all our sins, or just one special one? And yet Jesus when he heals the paralytic, he deliberately forgives all the man’s sins, plural.

Simple Answer

We need to start with our nature because the answer relates to the nature of humans. We are born flesh, and sin, singular, refers to the sin nature of this flesh. The consequence of that nature are sins – if you like, sins are the fruit of our sinful nature (Ephesians 4:22; Romans 6:6, 8:5; Galatians 5:19-12).

Importantly, Scripture uses the term flesh for our corrupted nature which is sometimes called the sin nature, corrupted due to the sin of Adam.[1] Since we are all descendants of Adam, all humans inherit this corrupted & polluted nature; which puts all humans at war (enmity) with God (Ephesians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 10:3; Romans 5:12; Romans 8:8).  The Apostle Paul tells that Colossians that such people are sons of disobedience (Colossians 3:6).

The second nature is that of a believer that has been born again; it is the spiritual nature that comprises the true believer and that which him or her alive. John writes of believers:

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

In the case of the first, such a person is a sinner from conception[2], and that person can do nothing but sin.[3] In the case of the second, who is a believer, it is the grace God that redeemed that person and given him or her a new (second nature) that is spiritual.

Generally speaking, the following observations answers the question (and noting carefully that you need to carefully consider the context and also note also that translating Greek or Hebrew into English is not a one-to-one correspondence – some meaning of the grammar can be lost):

• In the New Testament, unless obviously a single sin is being spoken about, the noun refers to the whole tainted nature of a human, tainted from birth – the flesh; tainted by the fall of Adam; called the sin nature. This aspect of a human cannot be forgiven; the only way to deal with the sinful, tainted flesh is to do away with it by:

1. being born again, which gives such a believer a new spiritual nature, and by
2. being spiritually made alive (quickened in the KJV), because all unbelievers are considered dead, since they are separated from God due to their sin (Ephesians 2:1).

• Where the plural “sins” is used as a noun, in particular in the New Testament, it refers to sin every person commits.

1. These sins are forgivable for a born-again believer, by appealing to God.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

1. For all others, will be punished by death and everlasting separation from God.

Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience (Colossians 3:6)

… Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thessalonians 1:7b-9)

• To be saved the unbeliever, must first put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

He who has the Son [Jesus Christ] has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:12)

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1)

Details

To truly answer the question the reader must understand the nature of humans and the nature of God. Humans are born with a sin-nature and God is holy. A good definition of the sin nature is: “The sin nature is the capacity to do all things, either good or bad, that in no way commend a person to God.” This means that every person enters the human race as a sinner and commits acts of sin because he is a sinner. Adam and Eve are the only two people who ever became sinners by sinning. All their descendants sin because these two were sinners.[4]

God cannot look upon sin because He is holy, thus He cannot simply ignore it.[5] Many muddle grace at this point – God is not ignoring sin by showing grace. Indeed, the oppose is true. He shows grace because He wants each sinner’s sin dealt with, but His grace cost Him dearly and was exceedingly great. That is, His grace came at a great cost, the cost of the death of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"
Galatians 3:13.

Why is this so?

Sin cannot be forgiven; it can only be done away with

We are all descendants of Adam, who sinned and the result Scripture tells us, is the fact that all his descendants are tainted by sin. Paul writes:

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned
(Romans 5:12).

There is nothing one can do about this. You are Vietnamese or Chinese or Australian because you were born in that particular country – you cannot change this. In the same way, we are descendants of Adam – we cannot change this. This is the nature of every human.

Scripture talks about sins in the plural, being those things we do. It also talks about sin in the singular; this is what we are by nature (being careful of the context of each use). And it's very important to distinguish between the two, because God can forgive sins, and He does forgive sins, but he cannot forgive sin – the sin nature of a human because God cannot forgive a nature. Instead, what God does is He does away with the sin-nature completely, putting it out of His sight. Paul summaries this act thus:

Knowing this, that our old man [fleshly, sinful nature] was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed [literally to abolish, annul], that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Romans 6:6)

So, as I've already mentioned, the flesh or sin-nature comes as a result of being born into Adam's race.

Paul says in Romans 5:12 that by one man, Adam sin, not sins, but sin entered into this world and as a result so did death. And this is the reason we all die. Put another way, since sin contaminates all humans, death inevitably follows. The Apostle Paul put is very succinctly:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Thus death passed onto all people for that all have sinned, and all therefore commit sins, based on the fact we are born with Adam’s nature – the fleshly sinful nature.

Another point is that fact we are not only born with the same sin-nature of Adam, we are have the same position before God as Adam – banished from the Garden of Eden, destined to die. Humans also use the same excuse for their sin. God asked Adam what he had done, to which Adam responded in a manner to minimise the sin – look God, I haven’t done anything too bad! He will also justify himself by saying someone else did something worse – in Adam’s case he says to God, it was Eve’s fault, she gave me the fruit (Genesis 3:12). The problem here is, sin corrupts, however limiting you make it.

Why doesn’t God made the sin nature new?

The question of why God does not use our corrupted fleshly nature to ‘build’ a new person is answered by Jesus in three of the gospels (Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38). Quoting just the first reference:

Jesus said to them: … “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." (Matthew 9:16-17)

Essentially we are so dilapidated, there is no way our fleshly sinful nature can be made new.  The verse quoted may seem to be out of context for this answer, because Jesus makes these remarks after being asked about why his disciples do not fast. But Jesus is saying, the old way – the law which included human endeavours such as fasting pertained to the sinful nature  had to be replaced by the new nature (through rebirth), energised [made alive or quickened] by God, through the Holy Spirit. There is no way the Holy Spirit could energise or make alive a person in the old nature – like old cloth or old wine skins, there would only be dismal failures. Only a new spiritual body could contain the Holy Spirit when a believer puts his or her trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 2 Timothy 1:14; Romans 8:9, 11)