Sins of the spirit are those that do not go through the conscience. Even if you believe that those actions are good, you are sinning. Your conscience cannot identify the sin because whatever controls your spirit dictates your conscience. Whatever controls your spirit becomes your conscience.
The sins of the spirit include:
1. The sin of idolatry
An idol is nothing at all in the world. (1 Corinthians 8:4 NIV) It is within man that idolatry is conceived. Anything we devote ourselves to (food, wine, self in all its forms, trees, mountains, shrines, statues, etc.) is an idol; for the Christian’s spirit belongs to Christ alone. (Deuteronomy 4:24 NIV)
A person controlled by idolatry has a dead conscience. That is why a drunkard or glutton will tell you, “I did nothing wrong.” He sees nothing evil in his actions, and his conscience cannot discern it. It is a sin of the spirit, not the conscience. The sin is that he loves those things more than God. The same applies to all forms of idolatry. (Deuteronomy 4:15–20 NIV; Deuteronomy 27:15 NIV)
Idolatry is a sin of the spirit (spiritual bonding); that is why, in the Old Testament, idolatry was often referred to as prostitution or adultery. (Hosea 6:10 NIV; Ezekiel 15:8 NIV) Spiritual purity connects directly to freedom from demonic oppressions.
2. The sin of fornication
The sin of fornication is a spiritual sin. This is why a fornicator may justify their actions by saying, “We are just loving ourselves. Did I rape her?” They may not understand that they have sinned against themselves and not just another person—it is a sin of the spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:18 NIV)
The sin of fornication is one of the most severe sins with hard-to-comprehend consequences. It opens the door for connections that are normally blocked (prevented) by the covenant of marriage. Essentially, fornication is an unlawful merging of genealogy links. Instead of dealing with the guilt of your ancestors (Exodus 34:6–7 NIV), you become linked to the sins and covenants of others simply because you merged with them. Adultery is a spiritual sin that has similar consequences to fornication. Only marriage, a blessing from God, can cover that genealogy door. If you are not married in the traditional sense, then any sexual relationship represents a spiritual union (sin of the spirit), a spiritual door.
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