Bible: Seven deadly sins...or is it 8?

20 March 2024

Seven Deadly Sins? Why seven?

As Evangelicals, we do not discern a degree of disobedience in sin. But since Roman times, theologians have struggled to define sin (and the opposite concept, virtue). To establish the what, how, and why. The literature is vast.

During the Renaissance, seven sins were considered mortal: pride, envy, wrath, gluttony, sloth, lust, and avarice [2]

St Augustine famously named pride as the sin which nurtures all others.

Billy Graham authored a book on the seven. [1]

Every era adds more.

The 2024 list of runs to a couple of dozen (in Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and many other major denominations’ theology) and includes many things dismissed as unserious by contemporary culture.

There is a hint in Romans [3] that what is a sin for one believer may be permitted for another; just remember that it is not so easy to categorize human misconduct.

As it says elsewhere, “(He) hath made us able ministers of the new testament (covenant); not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. [4]"

1. Graham, B., “Freedom from the Seven Deadly Sins,” numerous publishers and editions

2. Hieronymus Bosch painting “The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things,” circa 1500, now in El Prado, Madrid. (Probably the most well-known among many ).

3. See Romans 14:13-23

4. 2 Corinthians 3:6

Loving you

Grampa Jeff