Personal sins
Personal sins are the sinful thoughts, words, and actions for which each individual is morally responsible before God. The term highlights a person’s own acts of disobedience, not merely the sinful condition shared by humanity.
At a Glance
Personal sins are the sinful thoughts, words, and actions for which each individual is morally responsible before God. The term highlights a person’s own acts of disobedience, not merely the sinful condition shared by humanity.
Description
Personal sins are the concrete sins an individual commits in thought, word, deed, or omission, and for which that person is answerable to God. In conservative evangelical theology, this term is often used to distinguish actual, personally committed sins from original sin, which refers to humanity’s fallen condition and inherited corruption through Adam. Scripture teaches both realities: people are sinful by nature and also actively transgress God’s will in their own lives. The category is useful pastorally and doctrinally so long as it is not treated as if personal sins were separate from the deeper problem of the sinful heart; both the sinner’s nature and the sinner’s acts stand in need of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ.