“Sin” is the translated Hebrew word “khata” or the Greek word “hamartia,” the basic meaning of sin isn’t religious at all, khata simply means “to fail” or “miss the goal.” Like when the Israelite tribe of Benjamin trained a small army of slingshot experts, they could sling a stone at a hair and not khata. There is the biblical proverb that warns against making hasty decisions, because you are likely to khata your way, miss your destination. In the Bible, sin is a failure to fulfill a goal, but what is the goal? In the Bible, we learn that every human is a image of God, a sacred being who represents the Creator and is worthy of respect. In this way of seeing the world, sin is a failure to love God and others by not treating them with the honor they deserve. We can see this idea in the famous code of conduct given to the Israelites-the Ten Commandments, half of them identify ways we can fail at loving God and the other half names ways we can fail at loving people. The fact that both kinds of failure are combined, shows that failing to honor God is deeply connected to failing to honor people, this is why in the Bible, sin against people, is sin against God.
Genesis 37:9, when Joseph refuses to sleep with the wife of Potiphar, he says, how could I sin against God? In Joseph’s mind, failing to honor a human made in God’s image, is a failure to love God, sin is a failure to be truly human. Most of the time that people are failing, they either don’t know it or even worse, they think they are succeeding. Like when Pharaoh wants to build Egypt’s economy and protect national security. In his mind, this justifies enslaving the Israelites, he thinks it is good and he is totally unaware that it is an epic fail. 1 Samuel 26:21, when king Saul is chasing David around the wilderness trying to kill him, he thought he was bringing a criminal to justice, until he realizes he is the corrupt one and he says, I have sinned, I am the failure.
Sin is about more than just doing bad things, it describes how we easily deceive ourselves and spin illusions to redefine our bad decisions as good ones. Why are humans such bad judges between moral failure and success? The first appearance of the word “sin” in the Bible offers an insight, there are these two brothers, Cain and Abel. Their parents had just given into this beastly temptation to redefine good and evil by their own wisdom, now Cain is faced with a similar choice. Cain is jealous and angry that God has favored his brother, God warns him, if you don’t choose what’s good, khata is crouching at the door, it wants you, but you can rule over it. In these stories, sin or moral failure is depicted as a wild hungry animal that wants to consume humans. The Bible is trying to tell us that failed human behavior, our tendency toward self-deception, it runs deep. It is rooted in our desires and selfish urges that compel us to act for our own benefit at the expense of others, it leads to this chain reaction of relational break down. This is why in the New Testament, Paul describes “hamartia” as a power or a force that rules humans. Romans 6:6, we are slaves to sin. Romans 7:15-16, sin lives in us, so that the things we don’t want to do, that’s what we do.
With the word “sin,” the biblical authors are offering a robust description of the human condition. Our inability to judge whether we are succeeding or failing and it’s that deep selfish impulse that drives much of our behavior. This is not a pretty picture of ourselves, but if we are honest, it’s realistic. This is why the story of Jesus is such good news. Jesus is depicted as the Creator become truly human, who did not fail to love God and others, he did not sin and yet, he took responsibility for humanity’s history of failure. Jesus lived for others and he died for their sin and he was raised from the dead to offer them the gift of his life that covers for their failures. 1 Peter 2:22-24, Jesus committed no sin, yet he carried our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to our sins and live to do what is right.
Transgression describes how we break trust with others. In Old Testament Hebrew, “transgression,” the noun is “pesha” and the verb is “pasha.” In the New Testament the Greek word is “paraptoma.” They are usually translated as “transgression,” sometimes as “rebellion” and older translations as “trespass.” These words refer to ways that people violate the trust of others. Pesha describes the betrayal of a relationship, since there are may kinds of relationships, a lot of different behaviors can be called pesha. If two nations are in a relationship, we would call that a treaty, and pesha would describe the breaking of that agreement. 2 King 1:1, after the death of king Ahab, Moab pesha with Israel. This is usually translated, Moab rebelled against Israel, but in biblical Hebrew, we don’t pesha against someone, we pesha with them. That is, we break trust with that person.
The same idea appears in an Old Testament law about theft. If an Israelite is away on a trip and somebody sneaks into their house and steals something, that is robbery, but if the thief was your neighbor, it is pesha, because they are someone you should be able to trust. Genesis 31:36, Jacob is running away from Laban, his uncle. Laban accuses Jacob of stealing some idol statues, he searches all of Jacob’s belongings and finds nothing. Jacob shouts, what is my pasha? How have I violated your trust? But the sad irony is that the statues were stolen by Jacob’s wife, who is Laban’s own daughter, talk about breaking trust. So pesha involves one person or a group violating a relationship of trust with another, this is a really common word in the Bible, because it’s one long story about a broken relationship between God and the Israelites.
At Mount Sinai, they agreed to worship only their God and to care for the poor among them, but they didn’t. God raised up prophets to confront them, Micah 3:8, I’m full of power with the Spirit of the Lord and with justice and courage, so I can declare to Jacob his pasha. Amos 1:2, Amos accused the Israelites of pesha, specifically for idolatry and selling the poor for a pair of sandals. He also accused other nations, like Tyre, who profited from capturing whole towns and then selling them into slavery or the Ammonites for murdering the innocent to enlarge their borders. For Amos, these are all acts of pasha. They violate the universal trust that exists between all humans, who are made in the image of God. He watched these leaders ignore or justify the mistreatment of humans in the name of national security or a strong economy, but for Amos, it was a betrayal of humanity. It makes perfect sense why these prophets associate pesha with words like “treachery” Isaiah 59:12 or “falsehood” Hosea 7:13.
In the Greek New Testament, Paul develops this portrait of humans as “trust breakers,” using the word “paraptoma.” Paul recalls the story in Genesis about “Adam,” that means “humanity” in Hebrew. In that story, humanity breaks trust with God and seizes authority to discern good and evil on their own terms, Paul calls this the paraptoma of Adam, humanity’s violation of trust with God and with each other. It leads to a complicated web of betrayed and broken relationships leading towards violence and death, but for Paul, that is not the last word. Romans 5:15, if death came to all by the paraptoma of a human, how much more will God’s gracious gift overflow to many by means of a human, Jesus the King. Instead of letting humanity destroy itself in treachery, God raised up a human who would allow our pesha to do its worst to him. This is the surprising story of the Bible, that God’s response to humanity’s pesha and paraptoma was to be trustworthy on our behalf. The Apostles claim that in Jesus, God took responsibility for our betrayal, so that he could open up a new future and a new way to be human, the way of faithfulness, trustworthiness and integrity. That’s the kind of human that Jesus was and is, it’s the kind of humans he wants to create as he faithfully guides our world into the new creation.
Genesis 37:9, when Joseph refuses to sleep with the wife of Potiphar, he says, how could I sin against God? In Joseph’s mind, failing to honor a human made in God’s image, is a failure to love God, sin is a failure to be truly human. Most of the time that people are failing, they either don’t know it or even worse, they think they are succeeding. Like when Pharaoh wants to build Egypt’s economy and protect national security. In his mind, this justifies enslaving the Israelites, he thinks it is good and he is totally unaware that it is an epic fail. 1 Samuel 26:21, when king Saul is chasing David around the wilderness trying to kill him, he thought he was bringing a criminal to justice, until he realizes he is the corrupt one and he says, I have sinned, I am the failure.
Sin is about more than just doing bad things, it describes how we easily deceive ourselves and spin illusions to redefine our bad decisions as good ones. Why are humans such bad judges between moral failure and success? The first appearance of the word “sin” in the Bible offers an insight, there are these two brothers, Cain and Abel. Their parents had just given into this beastly temptation to redefine good and evil by their own wisdom, now Cain is faced with a similar choice. Cain is jealous and angry that God has favored his brother, God warns him, if you don’t choose what’s good, khata is crouching at the door, it wants you, but you can rule over it. In these stories, sin or moral failure is depicted as a wild hungry animal that wants to consume humans. The Bible is trying to tell us that failed human behavior, our tendency toward self-deception, it runs deep. It is rooted in our desires and selfish urges that compel us to act for our own benefit at the expense of others, it leads to this chain reaction of relational break down. This is why in the New Testament, Paul describes “hamartia” as a power or a force that rules humans. Romans 6:6, we are slaves to sin. Romans 7:15-16, sin lives in us, so that the things we don’t want to do, that’s what we do.
With the word “sin,” the biblical authors are offering a robust description of the human condition. Our inability to judge whether we are succeeding or failing and it’s that deep selfish impulse that drives much of our behavior. This is not a pretty picture of ourselves, but if we are honest, it’s realistic. This is why the story of Jesus is such good news. Jesus is depicted as the Creator become truly human, who did not fail to love God and others, he did not sin and yet, he took responsibility for humanity’s history of failure. Jesus lived for others and he died for their sin and he was raised from the dead to offer them the gift of his life that covers for their failures. 1 Peter 2:22-24, Jesus committed no sin, yet he carried our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to our sins and live to do what is right.
Transgression describes how we break trust with others. In Old Testament Hebrew, “transgression,” the noun is “pesha” and the verb is “pasha.” In the New Testament the Greek word is “paraptoma.” They are usually translated as “transgression,” sometimes as “rebellion” and older translations as “trespass.” These words refer to ways that people violate the trust of others. Pesha describes the betrayal of a relationship, since there are may kinds of relationships, a lot of different behaviors can be called pesha. If two nations are in a relationship, we would call that a treaty, and pesha would describe the breaking of that agreement. 2 King 1:1, after the death of king Ahab, Moab pesha with Israel. This is usually translated, Moab rebelled against Israel, but in biblical Hebrew, we don’t pesha against someone, we pesha with them. That is, we break trust with that person.
The same idea appears in an Old Testament law about theft. If an Israelite is away on a trip and somebody sneaks into their house and steals something, that is robbery, but if the thief was your neighbor, it is pesha, because they are someone you should be able to trust. Genesis 31:36, Jacob is running away from Laban, his uncle. Laban accuses Jacob of stealing some idol statues, he searches all of Jacob’s belongings and finds nothing. Jacob shouts, what is my pasha? How have I violated your trust? But the sad irony is that the statues were stolen by Jacob’s wife, who is Laban’s own daughter, talk about breaking trust. So pesha involves one person or a group violating a relationship of trust with another, this is a really common word in the Bible, because it’s one long story about a broken relationship between God and the Israelites.
At Mount Sinai, they agreed to worship only their God and to care for the poor among them, but they didn’t. God raised up prophets to confront them, Micah 3:8, I’m full of power with the Spirit of the Lord and with justice and courage, so I can declare to Jacob his pasha. Amos 1:2, Amos accused the Israelites of pesha, specifically for idolatry and selling the poor for a pair of sandals. He also accused other nations, like Tyre, who profited from capturing whole towns and then selling them into slavery or the Ammonites for murdering the innocent to enlarge their borders. For Amos, these are all acts of pasha. They violate the universal trust that exists between all humans, who are made in the image of God. He watched these leaders ignore or justify the mistreatment of humans in the name of national security or a strong economy, but for Amos, it was a betrayal of humanity. It makes perfect sense why these prophets associate pesha with words like “treachery” Isaiah 59:12 or “falsehood” Hosea 7:13.
In the Greek New Testament, Paul develops this portrait of humans as “trust breakers,” using the word “paraptoma.” Paul recalls the story in Genesis about “Adam,” that means “humanity” in Hebrew. In that story, humanity breaks trust with God and seizes authority to discern good and evil on their own terms, Paul calls this the paraptoma of Adam, humanity’s violation of trust with God and with each other. It leads to a complicated web of betrayed and broken relationships leading towards violence and death, but for Paul, that is not the last word. Romans 5:15, if death came to all by the paraptoma of a human, how much more will God’s gracious gift overflow to many by means of a human, Jesus the King. Instead of letting humanity destroy itself in treachery, God raised up a human who would allow our pesha to do its worst to him. This is the surprising story of the Bible, that God’s response to humanity’s pesha and paraptoma was to be trustworthy on our behalf. The Apostles claim that in Jesus, God took responsibility for our betrayal, so that he could open up a new future and a new way to be human, the way of faithfulness, trustworthiness and integrity. That’s the kind of human that Jesus was and is, it’s the kind of humans he wants to create as he faithfully guides our world into the new creation.
