Can you sin in your sleep?

The question of what happens during sleep has intrigued psychologists, philosophers, and theologians for centuries, especially regarding dreams. Some people consider dreams as a portal between the spiritual and the physical, facilitating divine communication with humans. Others consider them simply mental images and sensations created by the mind involuntarily—a series of subconscious thoughts.

Some people worry about sinning in their sleep, and the concern is often related to dreams. If a person dreams he or she is committing a sinful act, is that person committing an actual sin? Does dreaming about others doing sinful acts constitutes a sin itself?

In Scripture, no one is ever said to have sinned in his or her sleep. Engaging in sin seems to be a waking activity. Yes, it’s possible to sin “unintentionally” or through ignorance (see Leviticus 4:2), but all sin is committed by conscious people. From Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit to rebels taking the mark of the beast, all the sinners presented in the Bible are conscious and awake. No one was asleep when they sinned.

At a basic level, all sin is an exercise of free will in a way that violates God’s command. We can sin actively (by doing what is wrong) or passively (by refusing to do what is right). But we cannot truly exercise our free will when we are sleeping.

Sleep suspends consciousness, and without consciousness and the ability to make choices, we cannot sin. It would seem that sleep absolves a person of responsibility for the time he or she is asleep. In sleep, we don’t offer ourselves to sin, nor do we violate God’s commands.

Not only does sleep suspend consciousness, but dreams are not reality. What happens in a dream has no bearing on what is happening in the “real world.” Of course, in those instances when God spoke to someone in a dream, the message delivered had real-world consequences. For example, Joseph took Mary as his wife because of a divinely guided dream (Matthew 1:20–24). But the dream does not equal the action; neither can a dream change reality or alter the history of what has already happened.

It’s true that our dreams may reveal inner thoughts, anxieties, and preoccupations, some of which may be sinful. Our sleep is commonly influenced by what we do when awake. If we fill our minds with ungodly material and then dream about those topics, then the inappropriate dreams simply highlight our problem. It’s not that we are sinning in our sleep; we are sinning in our waking hours as we let our minds be “governed by the flesh,” displeasing the Lord (Romans 8:6). We may not be morally culpable for what happens when we sleep, we must pay attention to what our dreams might be showing us about the condition of our hearts.

Besides dreaming, there are other things we do while we sleep. Some people talk in their sleep. What if the sleeper says foul words? Saying something unconsciously as one sleeps may not count as sin, but, once awake, the sleeper would need to examine his or her heart. Is there a proneness to using profane, insulting, or abusive words, even in the thoughts? If so, God’s cleansing is needed (see 1 John 1:9).

We cannot sin in our sleep, but there are cases in which sleep itself could be a sin. Specifically, if we are lazy or indolent and choose sleep over responsibility, we are foolish. “Lazy people sleep soundly, but idleness leaves them hungry” (Proverbs 19:15, NLT; cf. Proverbs 10:5; 24:33– 34). This is not sinning in our sleep but sinning by our sleep.

Sleep is a gift from God: “Truly he gives sleep to those he loves” (Psalm 127:2, ISV). We need not worry about sinning in our sleep. It’s enough to avoid sin in the waking hours and trust the Lord for rest at night.