Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 315 – Part I.

YOUCAT Question n. 315 – Part I. What is a sin in the first place?

(Youcat answer) A sin is a word, deed, or intention by which man deliberately and voluntarily offends against the true order of things, as God’s loving providence has arranged them.   

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 1849) Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as "an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law" (St. Augustine, Contra Faustum 22: PL 42, 418; St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 71, 6). 

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) To sin means more than to violate some rules about which men have agreed. Sin turns freely and deliberately against God’s love and ignores him. Sin is ultimately “love of oneself even to contempt of God” (St. Augustine), and in the extreme case the sinful creature says, “I want to be like God” (see Gen 3:5). Just as sin burdens me with guilt, wounds me, and by its consequences ruins me, so too it poisons and damages the world in which I live. It becomes possible to recognize sin and its seriousness by drawing near to God.  

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 1850) Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight" (Ps 51:4). Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become "like gods" (Gen 3:5), knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of God" (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 14, 28: PL 41, 436). In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation (cf. Phil 2:6-9).    

(This question: What is a sin in the first place? is continued)