Christians and sin

[OzSpen]

I'm in the midst of preparing a new article for my homepage on the topic of 'Do Christians continue to sin?' Often I've heard Christians say that sin means missing the mark. Yes, that is the dominant use in the NT, but the rich language of the Greek NT reveals further dimensions of sin.

In the process of examining this troubling topic, I've been reading Richard Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (1880). He lists 8 different Greek words used for sin.They include these meanings:

• 
  agnoema signifies error, i.e. ignorance of what one should have known. The only incidence of this word in the NT is in Heb 9:7. However, the related word, agnoia is in Ps 25:7 and the verb, agnoein, is in Ps 25:7 and Heb 5:2. ‘Sin is designated as an agnoema when it is desired to make excuses for it, as far as there is room for such, to regard it in the mildest possible light (see Acts 3:17)' (Trench 1880:247).
  

• anomia or paranomia and anomema mean unrighteousness or lawlessness; anomema is not in the NT but is in 1 Sam 25:28 and Ezek 16:49 in the LXX. Trench’s assessment was that we have generally translated anomia 'iniquity' (Matt 7:23; Rom 6:19; Heb 10:17); once 'unrighteousness' (2 Cor 6:14), and once 'transgression of the law' (1 Jn 3:4). It is set over against dikaiosune [righteoueness] (2 Cor 6:14) (Trench 1880:243-244).

• hamartia or hamartema, which means missing of a mark or aim, is the meaning most frequently used to describe sin. Examples of the use of hamartia include (this is not an extensive list) Jn 8:21; Rom 3:9; 5:12; 6:2, 6; 7:7; 8:2-3; 2 Cor 5:21; Jas 1:15; etc. Hamartema occurs only in Mark 3:28; 4:12; Rom 3:25; 1 Cor 6:18). This word is never used as meaning ‘sinfulness, or as the act of sinning, but only sin contemplated in its separate outcomings and deeds of disobedience to a divine law’. The difference between hamartia and hamartema is that hamartia ‘is sin in the abstract as well as the concrete’ (Trench 1880:241).

• hettema refers to failure – reducing what should have been provided in full. It does not occur in Classical Greek, appears once in the LXX at Isa 31:8 and is only used twice in the NT at Rom 11:12 and 1 Cor 6:7, having ‘an ethical sense’ in the latter Scripture, meaning ‘coming short of duty, a fault’ (Trench 1880:248).

• parabasis means transgressing of a line. ‘There must be something to transgress, before there can be a transgression…. With law came for the first time the possibility of the transgression of the law’ (Rom 4:15). See also the use of both hamartia and parabasis in Rom 5:14 (Trench 1880:244-245).

• 
  parakoe refers to disobeying a voice. It appears 3 times in the NT at Rom 5:19; 2 Cor 10:6; Heb 2:2, and this noun is never in the LXX. However, the verb, parakouw (I refuse to hear) is used in Matt 18:17 and also in Esth 3:3, 8 and Isa 65:12. ‘Parakoe is in its strictest sense a failing to hear, or a hearing amiss' (Trench 1880:242-243).
  

• 
  paraptwma denotes trespass or fault – falling where someone should have stood upright. Paraptwma occurs only in later Greek and then rarely. Both paraptwma and hamartia are found together in Eph 2:1 which speaks of being ‘dead in the trespasses and the sins’. ‘The former are sins suggested to the mind and partially entertained and welcomed there, and the latter the same embodied in actual deeds’ (Trench 1880:245-246). However, paraptwma can be used to designate sin as fault (see Gal 6:1). But it indicates mortal sin in Exek 18:26 and severe sin in Heb 3:12; 6:6; 10:26 (Trench 1880:246).
  

• 
  plemmeleia refers to a discord in the harmonies of God’s universe. This word occurs frequently in the LXX (see Lev 5:15; Num 18:9) but it doesn’t occur in the NT. It is found in Greek church fathers such as Clement of Rome (1 Ep 41). ‘It is properly a discord or disharmony’ (Trench 1880:248-249).
  

Works consulted
Trench, R C 1880. Synonyms of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Also available online HERE (StudyLight.org) and HERE (studybible.info)

May you have a blessed Christmas season and not sin too much! Do you remember the one who said, '[SIZE=13pt]Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly' (source)?[/SIZE]

Oz

 

[heretoeternity]

Apostle John in 1st John, defines sin as transgression of God's law, and "those who say they know Him and keep not His commandments are liars and the truth is not in them"....it is very clearly defined in these statements....and remember always

Salvation is through the Son of God, God's grace and commandments, and NOT the sungod/satan and his doctrines and traditions of sunday, dec 25th and easter, all of which are non Biblical and of pagan origin.

 

[OzSpen]

 

[OzSpen]

Apostle John in 1st John, defines sin as transgression of God's law, and "those who say they know Him and keep not His commandments are liars and the truth is not in them"....it is very clearly defined in these statements....and remember always

Salvation is through the Son of God, God's grace and commandments, and NOT the sungod/satan and his doctrines and traditions of sunday, dec 25th and easter, all of which are non Biblical and of pagan origin.

That's not addressing the issues I raised of 8 different Greek words used for sin in the NT and to demonstrate the differences in meaning, based on Trench's fine exposition of the differences among the synonyms.

Now tell us which Greek words for sin you are referring to in 1 John.