If you read a hundred articles about sin, you will likely find at least 110 definitions of sin. It's a sickness, brokenness, disobedience, pride, law-breaking, or any combination of the above (and more). Knowing this, I am not going to lay out a comprehensive definition of sinfulness, but give a possible perspective that fits in with the passage here.
Sin is ultimately taking and abusing power. In the Garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not an arbitrary tree which God just decided to make off-limits (as I have heard). The tree was the step to godhood. In the modern world, we repeat the phrase "Knowledge is power." And it was. Even God said in Genesis 3:22 that eating from the tree had made the humans closer to gods than their original design. The tree was about power and control- the ability to decide for ourselves what was good and what was evil, the power to shape the world in our image, the power to control one another.
That impulse toward control is at the root of just about every sinful act. I would challenge you to find a sinful behavior that is not about taking undue power and control.
Jesus, in John 10, is warning the Jewish people about the Pharisees, who regularly used matters of faith to control others. The Gospels are littered with Pharisaical attacks on Jesus in order to control Him and His message. He was demonized (literally called an agent of the devil), gossiped about, discredited and ultimately, killed. The powers that be, in an attempt to control, put Jesus to the cross in order to equate the name of Christ with shame.
Naturally, this did not work. Colossians 2:15 tells us that, in the cross, Jesus triumphed over the powers and authorities. Paul even tells the Colossian church that Jesus made a "public spectacle" of them, just as they tried to make a public spectacle of Him.
Sadly, the resurrection has not ended the practice of spiritual thievery through control and manipulation. Paul regularly reminds the Church of her liberty, even telling us that the mark of the Spirit's presence is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17). And yet there remains a pattern of control that exists within the Church. A symptom is a laundry list of what you can and cannot do that goes well beyond the Scriptural witness. A symptom is a higher concern with the image of the Church than the mission Christ gave us.
What Jesus offers is different- a full and abundant life (John 10:10). The symptoms of this life are many: enthusiastic passion towards God's mission, ability to dialogue, a life of growth and transformation, healthy relationships and the ability to "let go" when needed. I hope that for my life, and for the life of Christ's Church.
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