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What Are the Sins Listed in the Bible? The 10 Commandments

What Are the Sins Listed in the Bible? The 10 Commandments

Last updated on: June 10, 2025 at 12:56 pm by Jack Wellman

What Are the Sins Listed in the Bible? The 10 Commandments 2025-06-10T12:56:30-05:00 Jack Wellman

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We are all sinners, even those who have been saved as Paul says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). | Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

A List of Sins from the Bible

The Bible says that sin has separated us from God. What are the sins listed in the Bible?

What is Sin?

Sin is the transgression of the Law of God (1 John 3:4) as John writes “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” We are all sinners, even those who have been saved as Paul says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23). Isaiah writes “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” The good news is that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8) and “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:11a). Jesus solved our sin problem by becoming sin for us so that for those who have repented and trusted in Him can be seen as having the same righteousness as Christ does (2 Cor 5:21) but if not, we still have the wrath of God on us (John 3:18b, 3:36b).

All Sins Fit under the Ten Commandments

There are almost one hundred and twenty-five sins listed in the Bible so I thought it might be useful to show why God gave us the Ten Commandments as a standard by which to live. Of course, no one can keep the Ten Commandments but even though it’s not humanly possible, this doesn’t give us an excuse to break them so what I have done below is to list the Ten Commandments and what sins fall under each of these sins.

It should be noted that many of these sins could be placed under more than one of the Ten Commandments but in order to see where the biblical list of sins fall, I think it best to list almost all of the sins given in the Bible under each of the Ten Commandments because if we were able to keep the Ten Commandments, none of the sins would be broken so here is a list of the Ten Commandments and the sins which they fall under each one. There is no doubt that since there are so many sins listed in the Bible, some might be inadvertently missed while others may be repeated since they fall into the differing commandments.

The Ten Commandments and Associated Sins (Ex 20:3-17)

The First Commandment: You shall have no other gods before me.

Idolatry, greed, covetousness, love of money, gluttony, complaining, not loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, tempting God, high-mindedness, disobedience, witchcraft, lover of self, putting family, friends, job, or anything else above God including food, money, sports, inter, TV, Internet pornography, movies, cars, attachment to riches or material goods and dozens of other things.

The Second Commandment

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Love of money, greed, disobedience, covetousness, love of money, lover of self, putting family, friends, job, or anything else above God, irreverent use of God’s Word, attachment to riches or material goods.

The Third Commandment

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain, irreverent use of God’s Word

Cursing, swearing, blaspheming, breaking oath taken in God’s name, irreverent use of God’s name in humor, speaking evil of the church, taking communion or the Lord’s Supper in a careless manner or unworthily, anger at God, careless use of God’s name, euphemisms like “geez, gosh, oh my God” etc.

The Fourth Commandment

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Sloth, laziness, neglecting to assemble with the saints, profaning worship service, fighting or speaking evil of Christian brothers or sisters.

The Fifth Commandment

Honor your father and your mother, breaking civil laws when taught by parents to do obey the laws, failing to take care of aged parents, failing to take care of sick parents, fighting with and/or speaking evil about siblings, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Cursing father or mother, dishonoring parents, striking or fighting with parents, disobeying parents, making fun of parents, filthy talk, speaking evil or badly of parents, and grandparents included in the aforementioned things.

The Sixth Commandment

You shall not murder.

Murder, anger, hate, enmity, rage, brawling, rioting, striker, unforgiving heart, wrath, unmerciful, dissensions, contentions, clamor, despitefulness, debate, arguing, fighting, abortion, divisions, strife, rivalries,

The Seventh Commandment

You shall not commit adultery.

Adultery, fornication, sexual immorality, filthy talk, crude joking, whoremongers, defiling the body, homosexuality, sensuality, impurity, tempting others sexually, inordinate passion, corrupt language, effeminate, pornography, vulgar or crude jokes.

The Eighth Commandment

You shall not steal.

Stealing, bribery, extortion, sloth or laziness at work, defrauding, dishonesty, cheating, gambling,

The Ninth Commandment

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Lying, gossiping, slandering, backbiting, spreading rumors, deceit, extortion, railing, slander, defrauding, breaking promises, craftiness, hypocrisy, dishonesty, whisperers, idle words, withhold all of the truth, double-tongued, bragging, boasting, flattery, exaggerating the truth, whining, speaking evil of others.

The Tenth Commandment

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

Coveting, envy, lust, jealousy, drunkenness, sorcery (Greek means drug abuse), materialism, wantonness, sensuality, gambling, revelings, attachment to riches or material goods, lawsuits against Christians, emulations, extortion, desire for money, desire for power, desire for sex (relating to sexual immorality), anger at other’s good fortunes, desiring things of others, flirting or playing with temptation.

Conclusion

There is but one way a person can be saved and that is to repent and confess sins and then putting trust in Christ to save them. No one can ever out-sin the work of Christ on the cross. The blood of the Lamb of God covers every sin ever committed. Only the sin of unbelief cannot be forgiven if when Christ comes, a person has not asked to be saved by the only name given to us to be saved and that is Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). There is no other possible way.

Additional Reading:

The Ten Commandments and the Origins of Law

It’s about Freedom: Reflections on the Ten Commandments

Do the Ten Commandments Still Matter?

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon

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