Is the Bible’s List of Sins Complete?

If the Bible doesn’t specifically forbid something, is it okay to do?

When you’re trying to live a life as free from sin as possible, following the Bible is the best place to start. But keep this in mind:

An action isn’t a sin because the Bible says it is. The Bible says it’s a sin because it is a sin.

We are created in God’s image as thinking, intelligent beings. We are not meant to blindly obey; we are meant to question and understand so we can live a life that is pleasing to God.

For example, the Bible specifically tells us to not commit murder (Exodus 20:13).

But if that verse had somehow gotten left out of the Bible, would murder be okay?

No. It would still be a sin.

It’s the same thing for stealing, adultery, lying, lust, greed, gluttony, and so on. These things are not sins because the Bible says they are. The Bible says they are sins because they are sins.

And this is why we can’t wiggle around sinful conduct because something we want to do isn’t specifically mentioned in the Bible.

Hamartiology, which is the study of sin, defines sin as “an act of offense against God by despising his persons and Christian biblical law, and by injuring others.” Augustine of Hippo defined sin as “a word, deed, or desire in opposition to the eternal law of God.”

A simpler definition is that sin is any conduct that separates us from God. Sin also separates us from one another.

The Bible mentions hundreds of sins and scholars over the years have tried to list them, even as sinners have tried to figure out a way to excuse them (yes, I’ve been guilty of that—and I believe that’s a sin in itself).

Let’s not get bogged down in the human interpretation of what the Bible says we should and shouldn’t do. If we feel like we need to justify our conduct by pointing out that the Bible doesn’t specifically forbid it, we’re probably doing—or wanting to do—something we shouldn’t.