And so on. The one voice in history who cuts through this is Jesus, who didn't merely teach or give voice, but gave a life. Jesus does not speculate on the origin or nature of sin and doesn't offer a definition. He simply indicates its reality in his parables and in his ministry to others. Sin is simply the failure to accept that we are children of the One who made us.
Sin is a matter of the heart.
And the wonder, the miracle, really, when you consider all the sound and fury about sin, is that he represents the hall of fame. I have known some of the others there, too, people so assured of their acceptance that they never needed to mention it. People secure about their own boundaries, but out of some graceful bounty planted deep in their souls, they could give and give, they could listen, they could somehow know what you needed. These Hall of Famers had some extra helping of that lovely acceptance that Jesus so freely handed around while he was alive on this earth and which, in spite of ourselves, we in the church can still hand around. He offers a way out, a way to live whole and undivided from ourselves and undivided from our Creator.