New City Catechism, Week 16 (Question 16)

Q: What is sin?

Children’s answer

A: Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, not being or doing what he requires in his law.

Adult/older children’s answer

A: Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law—resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation.

Video explanation:

Song to assist with memorization:

Relevant Scripture to read:

1 John 3:4

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Children’s Activity (printable pdfs)

Younger Kids (pages 32 and 33)

There are no resources for older kids currently available for this lesson.

Special thanks to Del Rey Church for sharing their New City Catechism kid resources with us!

Devotional questions for individual/family/group discussion:

  1. How have you seen your own sin lead to death, decay and destruction in your own life?

  2. What is the distinction between “rejecting” and “ignoring” God? Sometimes we think of sin as rejecting God - but how have you “ignored” him?

  3. At what points in the Bible do you see the “disintegration” of creation? How is this disintegration tied to sin?

  4. How does the Gospel keep us from both arrogance and despair when we consider our own sin? Which are you more prone to?

For an additional “deeper” dive into this question and answer, check out this video from Dr. Michael Allen (which a few of the above questions are based on):