Crime Vs Sin

While living in this world, we always live under two authorities:

·         Spiritual government

o   God is the creator of the universe and he ordained a set of rules for our life. When we violate those rules we commit sin. Basically any disobedience to God command is sin.

·         Worldly government

o   Society in the world is divided into many states and each state has it’s own constitution and penal code for it’s citizens. Any violation of that penal code is a crime.

Below are the few differences between crime and sin.

CRIME	SIN
Local – defined only for the people of a state	Global – defined for all humanity
Courts can judge	Courts cannot judge
Punishment is temporary	Punishment is forever
Crime is not always sin	Sin is not always crime
It takes place only when you do it	It takes place even when you intend to do it
We can escape the punishment	We cannot escape the punishment
Others can bail you	Others cannot bail you
Others are suffered	Our own self is suffered
Punishment is penalizing	Punishment is brutalizing
It can be stricken off	It cannot be stricken off
It can be faked	It cannot be faked
It cannot be inherited	It can be inherited
It is judged by man	It is judged by God

Crime is local (worldly) but sin is global (spiritual).

Crime is defined by the penal code or the constitution of a state or a country or a nation. And is applicable to the people of that particular region only. Crime differs from place to place.

If you committed a crime in one state, other state doesn’t consider it. That is the reason many people do crimes in one country and run away to other countries.

For example: gender-based discrimination is crime in some places and it’s not in other countries.

 

The courts of this world can only judge crime, but they cannot judge sin.

The courts of this world follow the penal code of that particular state only. And they judge only based on how the is defined there. For courts it doesn't matter if it violates the spiritual law, they're only worried about criminal law.

 

The punishment for crime is temporary but the punishment for sin is forever.

The punishment for crime is defined and the same will be pronounced by the judge. And that punishment can only last for few years only and nothing more than that.

But when it comes to sin, the punishment is eternal damnation. It'll result in permanent separation from God. Once sin is punished, there’s no reversal.

 

Crime is not always sin and sin is not always crime.

Crime is defined by the penal code of a state and the penal code of that state depends on the ideas of the people of the state. So whenever the people of that state think something to be wring they’ll define it as crime in the penal code. Whereas sin is already defined by God and is always constant.

There can be some sins which the people of state also consider to be crime and there can be some sins which the state does not consider to be wrong base on their worldview. So we can say that crime is not always a sin and sin is not always a crime.

 

Crime is done only when you do it; but sin is done even when you intend to do it.

Crime is defined based on human point of view. So crime is validated only when the act is observable by human abilities. But sin is defined by God and is defined based on God’s point of view. God has the ability to observe even the internal thoughts of every person. So we are guilty before God even when we intend to do something and have not yet committed.

 

We can escape the punishment for crime but we cannot escape the punishment for sin.

The judgement of crime is completely in the hands of human beings. If we can mislead the judge and forge the evidence, we can easily escape the punishment from the court. But the judgement of sin is in the hands of God. And God cannot be fooled. He is all knowing and all powerful. He knows everything about everybody. So we cannot cheat him and we cannot escape His punishment.

 

Others can bail you for crime but not for sin.

In this world we have this bailing facility. Our friends or relatives or our lawyer can bail us out by assuring about our honesty. The court with it’s human abilities to understand, can grant the bail. But that’s not the case with sin. Sin is judged by God and He knows everything about us. If we show a false humility or false testimony, He already knows it and He will not agree.

 

Results of crime is suffered by others but result of sin is suffered by self.

All the crimes defined are only when others are offended or hurt. Until and unless others have nothing to do with it, it’s not a crime.

Whereas in the case of sin, it’s God who is offended or hurt. Because sin is an offense against the will of God.

 

Crime can be faked but sin cannot be faked.

We can wrongly accuse a person, create fake cases against innocents and also prove them to be wrong. But that’s not the case when it comes to sin. Sin is noticed, noted, and judged by God, who knows everything about everybody. So we cannot falsely accuse anybody of committing sin.

 

Crime cannot be inherited but sin can be inherited.

As per the penal code of any state every individual is prosecuted for all the crimes he committed. No individual is punished on behalf of others.

 

Crime is judged by a man, but sin is judged by God.

Crime is defined by man, recognized by man, and is judged by man. But sin is defined by God, recognized by God and is judged by God.

 

Crime is not always constant but sin is always constant.

Criminal laws are updated as and when required. That is why the definition of a crime is not always constant.

But sin is defined by God in the beginning and is always same forever.

 

Crime has degrees but sin has no degree.

Crime has different degrees of intensity. So it is measured into more crime and less crime. But it’s not the same with sin. Whether it is small sin or big sin, it is sin.

These are few differences I could figure out from my sources. But it'll be good if we can make it an exhaustive list of differences between crime and sin. So please let me know if you know any other differences so that I can add them to this list.