What is the difference between a mistake and a sin?
Question:
How do we discern if a mistake is sinful or not?
For example, if someone (not a characteristically prideful person) fails to listen to wisdom and makes a poor choice, believing they’re using good judgment, is that sin?
Does the Bible talk about mistakes, or give examples of mistakes, or is it all sin or not sin? How do we discern the difference?
If a church is trying to discern whether a sin or a mistake took place, and they’re unable to agree, what can be done?
Answer:
Accidentally spilling a glass of milk is a mistake. No law was broken. It caused a less-than-favorable consequence to result. A person might have selected a job that turned out to be unpleasant. The job isn't sinful. Working for a living is actually commanded. However, the choice was a mistake.
Sin is the breaking of God's Law. "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness" (I John 3:4). Stealing a car is not a mistake; it is violating God's law about respecting other people's property.
The reason the two terms are often confused is that people will frequently refer to their sins as "a mistake" to minimize the severity of what they have done. "I had sex with my girlfriend last night. It was a mistake." It almost sounds like what occurred was an accident, but it wasn't. It might not have been planned or intended, but it still was a sin. The Old Law had a class of unintentional sins: "If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them" (Leviticus 4:2). Unintentional sins are never called "mistakes."
