A Word About Sin

I want to take a moment and talk about sin.  Actually, I want to talk about what the Bible says about sin.  I think we have some preconceived notions and generalizations that could be clarified and specified if we look a little closer at the terms the Bible uses.

I don't want to take away the gravity of sin.  It separates us from God; it keeps us out of heaven and damns us to hell; and it is the reason Jesus had to die.  It is a pretty heavy subject.  What I do want to do is help with Bible study and maybe give insight to what God might be trying to say to us in particular passages where He deals with Sin.

The three main words we are going to look at today are: sin, iniquity, and transgression.  At first glance, we think they mean the same thing.  They do not; and while all three are part of the big 'sin umbrella', each of them carries a different aspect of it.  We can see that they refer to different aspects in Exodus 34:6-8, which says:

" And the Lord passed by before him (Moses), and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children unto the third an fourth generation.  And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth and worshipped." 

Notice that the scripture says, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children," not sin.  Even at a casual glance,we can see that there is a difference.

So, what is iniquity anyway?  The word that is translated iniquity is, Avon (a-VōNE).  This word comes from the root, avah, which means to bend, twist, distort, or to pervert.  The other thing to bear in mind is it also means consequenses of that crookedness. 

Here are some examples:

"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment (avon) is greater than I can bear."  Genesis 4:13

"Is the iniquity (avon) of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord?" Joshua 22:17

In the first example, the word avon is used for consequences.  Cain was walking the crooked road established by his parents when they decided to put their own idea of what was right before God's.  That crooked road led him to murder and then to exile.  It can be said that the iniquity of Adam and Eve was visited upon their son.  They perverted what God had said; and while Abel was walking in the path of the Lord, Cain stayed on the crooked path and received the 'avon' for his actions.

In the second example, avon is used for the perversion itself.  I have written elsewhere about the sin of Baal Peor.  Baal means 'lord' and Peor means 'cleft' or even 'open hole'.   I know that invokes pretty graphic images but the sin of Baal Peor found in Numbers starting in chapter 23 but culminatting in chapter 25 was all about perversion (and I do mean sexual perversion) and twisting God's established way.  It was iniquity and we haven't excaped that twistedness to this day.

Let's now look at transgression.  There are a couple of Hebrew words for transgression in the Old Testament Hebrew are pesha (n.)/ pasha (v.) which is deliberate rebellion, 'abar which is to cross, and ma'al which is a treacherous act.  These words represent betrayal, breaking covenant, backstabbing, et al. These words are also translated as rebellion falsehood.  All of these words imply a violation of trust.  Like if a treaty is broken, it is a transgression.  The trust of one country has been violated by another. 

Here are a couple of examples:

We have transgressed and have rebelled; thou hast not pardoned. Lamentations 3:42

Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. Daniel 9:11

Exodus 22 talks about stealing and the laws concerning theft.  It is interesting to note that if a stranger is caught stealing, a different word is used, but if it is a breach between neighbors, it is pasha.  It is not only to do with your posessions but with a violation by someone you should have been able to trust.

This gives some clarity to verses like Ezekiel 39:26 which says:

"After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid."

You could easily have substituted the words 'violations' and 'rebelled' for the words 'trespasses' and 'trespassed' in that verse.  Then it would read:

    "After that they have borne their shame, and all their violations         whereby they have rebelled against me, when they dwelt safely in      their land, and none made them afraid."

See how a little word study can help?

Now for the big kahuna, sin.  What does the word sin mean? Well, the main Hebrew word used in the Bible that is translated as sin is 'chatta' which literally means, 'to miss the mark.'  It is used of many many times in the Bible for wrongdoing, but it is also used to literally miss the mark as in Judges 20:16, which says:

"Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at a hair breadth, and not miss (chatta)."

Another word translated as sin in the Bible is chatta'ath.  As you can probably tell, its root is chatta.  It is used in verses like Genesis 4:7, which says:

"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin (chatta'ath) lieth at the door.  And unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him." 

 I have heard many a sermon preached on this verse and it was usually that sin is like a wild animal crouched at the door ready to consume you and you have to control it, or else.  That's what the verse says, isn't it?

If we look at the Hebrew though, chatta'ath can also mean offering.   The sin at the door could also be the very offering we need to make things right.  What a picture of Jesus.  The Bible says He became sin for us.  

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew not sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

Think about that.  We miss the moral mark of God.  We fail.  That is what being a sinner is, a failure.  Before all the positive affirmation people get up in arms, why else would we need a savior?  God gave us the Torah or Law, and no one, I mean NO ONE lived it....except Jesus.  He lived it as the perfect man. a lamb without blemish, and then became sin, also translated the sin offering, that could Make us right with God the Father. 

I hope this helps with your Bible study.  Knowing exactly what God means in his word is so helpful.  I used Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible to do this study.  Before you run off to the book store, I used the Blue Letter Bible app which has a Strong's resource built in.  Bible Hub is another that is full of resources.  Both of these resources are free and available online as a website or in an app for your tablet or phone.

Please take advantage of the resources God has given and get to know Him through His word.  You won't be sorry.  It is a treasure trove of wisdom, mystery and awesomeness.