Short answer: The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, wrath (anger), sloth, greed (avarice), gluttony and lust. They are not a list found in the Bible. The list was shaped by early monks, especially Evagrius Ponticus in the fourth century, and settled in its familiar form by Pope Gregory the Great around the year 600. Each of the seven is a real concern in Scripture, and Proverbs 6:16-19 gives the Bible's own list of seven things God hates.
In This Article
Search for the seven deadly sins and you will land on a mix of church history, anime, video games and Dante. People in the pews asked me the straightforward version of the question: are these in the Bible, and should a Christian take the list seriously? Those are the questions I want to answer here, from Scripture first, and with plain honesty about where the list actually came from.
Below you will find the sins and their opposite virtues in a table, the history of the list, a look at each one in the light of the Bible, and then the Bible's own seven things God hates in Proverbs 6. Where I have written a longer article on a single sin, I link to it.
What Are The Seven Deadly Sins?
In the Western Christian tradition the seven deadly sins, also called the capital sins or capital vices, are these, in the order Gregory the Great and later teachers most often used:
- Pride (superbia)
- Envy (invidia)
- Wrath (ira)
- Sloth (acedia)
- Greed or avarice (avaritia)
- Gluttony (gula)
- Lust (luxuria)
The word "capital" here comes from the Latin caput, meaning head. These were never called the worst seven acts a person can commit. They were called the heads or sources: the root habits of the heart that feed many other sins. A person who is proud will lie to protect their image. A person who is envious will gossip. The idea is to deal with the root, not just the fruit.
The word "deadly" needs care too. In Catholic teaching, a deadly or capital sin is a vice that gives birth to other sins, and it is a different category from a mortal sin, which is a particular act that destroys the life of grace. A capital vice can lead to mortal sin, or it can show up in small ways. Catholics therefore ask whether the seven are mortal or venial, and the answer is that it depends on the act. You can read more about the Catholic category in my article on the mortal sin. If you hear "seven deadly sins" and picture a list of seven unforgivable acts, that is not what the church has taught, and it is not what the Bible teaches either. For that, see the unforgivable sin.
Are The Seven Deadly Sins In The Bible?
No. I want to say that plainly, because it is repeated so often that people assume it. There is no verse in Scripture that lists these seven and calls them the deadly sins. The phrase "seven deadly sins" never appears in any translation. You will not find it in Proverbs, in Paul's letters or in Revelation.
What you will find is that every one of the seven is condemned somewhere in the Bible. Pride is resisted by God. Lust, greed, envy and anger all appear in Paul's lists of the works of the flesh and the vices to put away. Sloth is rebuked in Proverbs. Gluttony is warned against in both Testaments. So the list is a useful summary of biblical concerns, but the list itself is a human arrangement, made by teachers who were trying to organize what Scripture says about the heart. That is a fair thing for teachers to do, as long as we do not give the arrangement the authority of Scripture.
The Bible has several lists of vices, and none is the same as this one. Look at Galatians 5:19-21, at Colossians 3:5-8 and at Romans 1:29-31. Each names different sins in a different order. That alone tells us the apostles were not working from a fixed set of seven. Their point was that sin is wide and deep, and no short list will cover it. For the Bible's broader treatment of sin, read what is sin.
What Is Each Sin And Its Opposite Virtue?
The church fathers taught that every vice has a virtue that cures it. The pairings below are the traditional ones. The exact names of the virtues vary slightly between teachers and traditions, so treat them as a helpful guide rather than a fixed rule.
| Sin | What It Looks Like | Opposite Virtue | Read More |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pride | Putting self above God and others | Humility | Is pride a sin? |
| Envy | Resenting what others have or are | Kindness, gratitude | Is jealousy a sin? |
| Wrath | Anger that harms, hates or seeks revenge | Patience | Is anger a sin? |
| Sloth | Spiritual and practical apathy | Diligence | Is laziness a sin? |
| Greed | Craving more money or things | Generosity | Is greed a sin? |
| Gluttony | Excess, lack of self-control | Temperance | Is gluttony a sin? |
| Lust | Desire that treats people as objects | Purity (chastity) | Is lust a sin? |
Pride
Tradition ranks pride first, calling it the root of the rest, and Scripture backs the weight of that claim. Pride is the sin of treating ourselves as the center. It is the sin Genesis 3 describes at the fall: the wish to be like God. Proverbs says:
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)
The cure is humility, and James gives the promise that goes with it:
God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.
James 4:6 (NIV)
I would add one distinction. Taking honest satisfaction in good work is not the same as pride. Pride begins when we take credit that belongs to God, or when we use our standing to look down on others. See the full article, is pride a sin, and its close cousin vanity.
Envy
Envy is sorrow at another person's good. It is different from jealousy in the way we often use the words: jealousy guards what is mine, envy resents what is theirs. The Bible treats both under heavy warnings, and the first murder grew out of envy-fueled anger (Genesis 4). Proverbs notes the toll it takes on a person:
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)
The antidote is love for neighbor and gratitude for what we have been given. Paul tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice (Romans 12:15), which is exactly what envy cannot do. Read more at is jealousy a sin.
Wrath
Scripture does not condemn all anger. God is angry at injustice, and Jesus drove merchants from the temple. The sin of wrath is anger that is out of control, selfish, or aimed at revenge. Paul puts the line this way: "In your anger do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26), and James tells us to be quick to listen and slow to become angry (James 1:19-20). Jesus ties anger to the sixth commandment (Matthew 5:21-22). On this page the fuller discussion is in is anger a sin and is hate a sin.
Sloth
Most people hear "sloth" and think of laziness. The old word, acedia, meant something wider: a weary, careless indifference, especially toward spiritual things and toward the work God gives us. The Bible does rebuke plain idleness:
A sluggard's appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Proverbs 13:4 (NIV)
But I would be careful here. Rest is not sloth. God commanded rest, and burned-out or depressed people are not sinning by being tired. If you are unsure which describes you, read is laziness a sin and is depression a sin before you condemn yourself.
Greed
Greed, or avarice, is the grasping love of having more. Paul says it plainly:
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
1 Timothy 6:10 (NIV)
Jesus warned about the same thing in Luke 12:15, saying that life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Paul even calls greed idolatry (Colossians 3:5). The cure is generosity, which is why the Bible repeatedly connects giving with freedom from money's grip. Money is not evil, and poverty is not a sin. See is greed a sin and is debt a sin.
Gluttony
Gluttony is more than eating a big meal. It is a lack of self-control over appetite, and the Bible links it to a kind of enslavement. Paul says of some people that their god is their stomach (Philippians 3:19), and Proverbs warns against joining those who gorge on meat (Proverbs 23:20-21). Feasting is not condemned; Scripture is full of feasts. The sin is excess that rules us. Our is gluttony a sin article goes further, and the related questions about alcohol and addiction belong alongside it.
Lust
Lust is desire that treats another person as something to consume instead of someone to love. Jesus did not stop at the act of adultery, but spoke of the look and the heart (Matthew 5:27-28). The apostles tell believers to flee sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18) and to put to death what belongs to our earthly nature (Colossians 3:5). That said, desire itself, within marriage, is a gift. Read more at is lust a sin, pornography and sexual immorality.
Where Did The List Come From?
The story starts in the Egyptian desert. In the late fourth century a monk and theologian named Evagrius Ponticus (who died in 399) wrote about eight "evil thoughts," or logismoi, that tempt a person who is trying to pray. His eight were gluttony, lust (fornication), avarice, sadness, anger, acedia (a restless, spiritual weariness), vainglory and pride. His aim was not to rank crimes but to help monks recognize the inner patterns that pull the soul away from God.
Another monk, John Cassian, carried Evagrius's teaching to the Latin-speaking West in the early fifth century, which is how it entered the church's life in Europe. Then Pope Gregory the Great (pope from 590 to 604) reworked it in his commentary on Job, the Moralia. He made two significant changes. He folded vainglory into pride and treated pride as the root and queen of all the others, and he combined sadness and acedia into the single vice of sloth. He also added envy, which Evagrius had not listed. The result was the seven we know. Later, Thomas Aquinas called them the capital vices in the Summa Theologiae, and Dante shaped the popular imagination with the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory in his Divine Comedy. The Catholic Catechism today lists them as capital sins.
Notice two things. First, the list is a product of the church's pastoral teaching, not apostolic Scripture. Second, the order and wording moved around for centuries. Protestants do not generally treat the list as binding, though many find it a helpful checklist for self-examination. I think it is. I simply want you to hold it as a human summary of biblical truth, not as a Bible chapter.
What Are The Seven Things God Hates In Proverbs 6?
If you want a list of seven that really is in the Bible, here it is. Solomon uses a poetic device: "six things... yes, seven." Here is the passage in the NIV:
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV)
The seven are haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet quick to rush into evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict among brothers (the NIV says "in the community"). Two points to keep in mind:
First, the numerical pattern "six, yes seven" is a Hebrew way of saying the list is complete, with the last item the emphasis. It is not a claim that there are only seven sins.
Second, the overlap with the church's list is partial. Haughty eyes is plainly pride, and innocent blood is the end of the road for wrath. A heart devising wicked schemes could describe envy or greed at work. But Proverbs names lying, false witness and stirring up conflict, which have no home on the traditional list, while the traditional list names gluttony, sloth and lust, which Proverbs 6:16-19 does not. Both lists are warnings about what the heart does when left alone. The Bible's list is the one with God's authority behind it, and notice what it highlights: sins of the mouth and of harm to other people, things God "hates" because of what they do to his image-bearers. For more, see is lying a sin, gossip and the greatest sin in the Bible.
Which Sin Is The Worst?
Many searchers ask which of the seven is the worst or most powerful. The tradition says pride, and Scripture gives that real support, since pride makes us resist God himself. But no list ranks sins in a way that lets us ignore the rest, and a "small" sin is a poor name for anything that hurts people or dishonors God. For the careful answer, see are all sins equal. And for the good news that matters most: whatever sin you carry, forgiveness is offered in Christ. Read does God forgive all sins, and when you are ready to deal with it, how can we overcome sins and how to repent.
How Can A Christian Use The List Wisely?
I find the seven useful in one way: as a mirror for the heart. When I am irritable, I ask whether wrath is at work, or whether it is pride in disguise. When I am restless about what others own, I ask if envy has crept in. The list works best that way, for asking honest questions of ourselves rather than for labeling other people.
A few cautions. Do not use it to rank people. Do not turn a list of vices into a way to earn God's favor by avoiding them. And do not stop at the negative. The old teachers paired each vice with a virtue for a reason: the Bible does not just say stop, it says put on a new self, as in Colossians 3:12-14. If you want to start with a single sin, choose the one you recognize fastest, and read the matching article.
What About The Anime, Games And Books?
A good share of people searching this topic are looking for a show, a manga, a game or a novel that borrows the seven deadly sins for its characters. I cannot help with plot questions, and I will not pretend to. What I can say is that these stories borrow a very old idea, that human weakness comes in recognizable shapes, and that is why they feel familiar. Fiction that uses the sins as costumes does not change what Scripture says about the real thing. If you want to think about entertainment more broadly, the Bible on discerning entertainment is a good place to start.
Key Bible Verses About The Seven Deadly Sins
- Proverbs 6:16-19: the six things, yes seven, that the Lord hates.
- Proverbs 16:18: pride goes before destruction.
- Galatians 5:19-21: Paul's list of the works of the flesh.
- Colossians 3:5-8: put to death greed, lust and anger.
- 1 Timothy 6:9-10: the love of money and the harm it does.
- Ephesians 4:26-27: be angry without sinning, and do not give the devil a foothold.
- James 4:6-10: God opposes the proud; humble yourselves before the Lord.
- Matthew 5:27-28: Jesus on lust and the look of the heart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the seven deadly sins in the Bible?
No. The list is a later arrangement made by early church teachers, and the phrase never appears in Scripture. Each of the seven is condemned somewhere in the Bible, though, and Proverbs 6:16-19 gives the Bible's own list of seven things God hates.
What are the seven deadly sins in order?
In the order commonly attributed to Gregory the Great and later teachers: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. Other writers order them differently, which shows the sequence is a teaching tool and not a biblical ranking.
Are the seven deadly sins mortal or venial?
In Catholic teaching they are capital vices, meaning sources of other sins, rather than a list of mortal acts. A particular act is mortal only if it is grave matter done with full knowledge and deliberate consent. Read more in what is a mortal sin.
What is the worst of the seven deadly sins?
Church tradition ranks pride first, calling it the root of the others, and Scripture says God opposes the proud (James 4:6). Still, the Bible does not give us a ranking that excuses any sin. See are all sins equal.
Is saying "Oh my God" a sin?
It is not one of the seven, but it touches the third commandment about misusing God's name. Whether it is sin depends on the heart and the intent behind it. I deal with it directly in is saying Oh my God a sin.
