3 Types Of Sin

By Greg Quinn

July 28th, 2025

We humans like to categorize sin. We like to rank sin. We do this for comparison to make ourselves feel better. "Well, maybe I cuss too much but I don't drink like John!" "Yes I agree that I don't do much around the house as a husband, but at least I don't cheat on you like Alfred does with Jenny!" "Well I would never do _____ but at least I go to church." 

Or one of my favorites, "I don't drink, cuss or chew, and don't date girls who do."

God doesn't rank sin. Any sin is a shortcoming in the eyes of God. None of us can keep the Ten Commandments and God doesn't expect us to, as the Ten Commandments were given to us to show us there is no way we can keep the Law perfectly, and therefore we need a Savior to bring us back into fellowship with a Holy God. The Ten Commandments convict us of sin so we run to Jesus, the only one who can save us from our sin and justify us before God.

1 Corinthians 15:56
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

Romans 5:13
13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

But whenever we think we are good enough, then we can look at these scriptures to show us that we really are not.

James 2:10
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

Romans 3:10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;

Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the [a]gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

But God has a plan. Jesus died to save us from our sin. To redeem us to a Holy God. To justify us (Just as if I had never sinned). To pay the penalty in full for our wrongdoing so that we can live a victorious life.

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

We know we all sin, we all do wrong, none of us are perfect. But did you know that all our sin falls into three main categories? The lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes. And the pride of life.

1 John 2:15-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

This started way back in the beginning. I mean the very beginning. God created the heavens and the earth, and all that are in it. He created light, moon, stars, earth, water, animals, and then man. God created man to fellowship with him. God placed man in a beautiful garden, gave him the task of tending the garden, gave him a woman to provide him companionship, and God Himself visited with them each day in this paradise.

Everything was wonderful. No sickness, no sin, no guilt, no shame, no pride, no vanity, no selfishness, no wrongdoing of any kind. God gave them free rein of the Garden, with the exception of not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Well, Eve was deceived by the serpent (Satan in disguise), disobeyed God, ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and gave Adam to eat and he did also. Sin entered the world. 

Genesis 3:1-7 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was [a]pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves [b]coverings. 

Verse 6 says the same thing. Lust of the flesh (tree was good for food), Lust of the eyes (pleasant to the eyes), and the Pride of life (tree desirable to make one wise).

Jesus was tempted of Satan the same way as found in Matthew 4:1-11.

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "
5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "
7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not [a]tempt the LORD your God.' "
8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
10 Then Jesus said to him, [b]"Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "
11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Satan tempted Jesus the same way. Lust of the flesh (Matthew 4:3 "command these stones to become bread"), Lust of the eyes (Matthew 4:5-6 "devil set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him 'If you are the son of God, throw yourself down'"), and the Pride of life (Matthew 4:8-9 "showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, 'All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.'"). 

I John 2:16
16 For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world. 

So we all have sinned. Most of us sin every day. Anything short of the best God has for us is sin. So all of us sin.

And we all sin in basically 3 ways. Lust of the flesh. Our habits, or sinful desires, the things we want. Gluttony, drinking to excess, etc. Lust of the eyes. Lusting after things we want, cheating someone else to get what you desire, envy, sexual lust, pornography, etc. Pride of life. Our pride, our jealousy, our lying to make ourselves appear better than we are, keeping up with the Jones, etc. 

Satan comes after us all the same way. Each of these three areas may be manifest in different forms, but it's all basically the same. Lust of the flesh. Lust of the eyes. Pride of life.

Adam and Eve were tempted in these three ways, and they failed, and sinned. All the failures of mankind started here.

Jesus was tempted in these three ways, and succeeded, and did not sin. All the true successes of mankind started here.

When we are tempted to sin, God gives us a way out.

1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to [a]bear it.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:31
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

John 10:10 Jesus speaking:
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

So what do we do?

We know all of us sinned. None of us are good enough. None are righteous "no not one".

We know Satan is the one who tempts us to sin. Not God. And Satan isn't that smart. He uses basically three ways to tempt us to sin. Lust of the flesh, Lust of the eyes, and the Pride of life. These three take many forms, and the devil will try his best every day to get you to fall prey to his temptation and get you to sin.

We know there is a way out. When we are tempted, we don't have to sin. We don't have to give into it. We can resist. We can learn Scriptures to help us know God's plan for our lives and resist falling prey to the devil. We can think of the consequences of our wrong doing, the people we will hurt (ourselves and others), and recognize there is a better way. We know how the devil will tempt us, and each of us know our own weak points. We can find ways to overcome this temptation and not sin.

If we have a problem with drinking, we should not go out after work with our buddies to the bar.

If we have a problem with gluttony, we should not frequent the "all you can eat" buffets.

If we have a problem with sexual lust, we should not watch explicit TV shows, movies, or things on the Internet that will drive these sexual lusts.

If we have a problem with selfishness, we should make a habit of trying to do something good for someone else each day.

If we have a problem with greed, we should give things away to others in need.

You get the point.

And recognize as it says in the Scripture, with each temptation God gives us a way out.

But don't expect to be able to do this on your own. You need help. You need Jesus.

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

And getting Jesus on your side is easy.
1. Admit you are a sinner. You have done wrong. You cannot reconcile to a Holy God on your own. You need help.
2. Realize that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus came to earth to face the same temptations as we face, but to overcome them as an example to us. As God cannot accept sin, and requires a sacrifice for sin, Jesus became that permanent sacrifice for all our sin (mine and yours and everyone else's in the world, past, present and future). Jesus died a cruel death on a Roman cross to pay the penalty for all our sin. As such, Jesus became our sacrificial savior.
3. Accept that Jesus rose from the dead, which is testified throughout the Gospel. As God in human form, Jesus died for our sins as human, but rose from the dead as God, defeating death where we can as well.
4. Accept that Jesus did this for you. Simply believe He did this for you. Accept this free gift. And enjoy the benefits, all the best God has, now and forever through eternity, for you.

The Bible puts it this way:

Romans 10:9-10
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Today you can overcome victory from your sin. You can overcome those things in your life that you wish you did not do. You can learn to do the things you should do. You can overcome the lust of the flesh (gluttony, sexual sin, drinking to drunkenness, etc.), the lust of the eyes (envy, greed, selfishness, etc.), and the pride of life (pride, selfishness, comparisons, thinking of yourself better than others, etc.). But you need help to do so. No matter how good you think you are, you cannot do it alone. You need Jesus.

Ask Jesus today to come into your life, to forgive you of your sin. Accept him as your Lord and Savior. Follow his teachings for a successful life.

You can pray right now a simple prayer like this. "Jesus, I know I have sinned. I know I do wrong, think wrong, act wrong at times. I know that God has a standard that I cannot keep on my own. I need your help. I accept that you Jesus were born of a virgin, came to earth and lived a perfect life, died in my place for my sins, and rose victorious over death. One day I can live forever with you and God in Heaven, and until then you will help me live the most successful life on earth. I want to receive your free gift of salvation right now, right this moment. I believe and accept what you did for me, I make you may Savior and my Lord, right now. I thank you, Lord, for saving me. Amen."

If you prayed a prayer like this and meant it, then according to the Holy Scriptures, you are saved. Rejoice in a new life, a better life, than you could imagine, beginning now. And eternity with Jesus and God in Heaven.

If you accepted Jesus today and want to share with me, you may email me at greg@gunblast.com. 

And, if you have been a Jesus-follower for some time, I hope this message gave you a renewed hope for the future.

May God bless us all as we try to live the best life we can for Jesus and others.

Greg Quinn