What is iniquity? What are transgressions? What is sin?
1 John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law
Is this saying that transgression is to break, move away from, or attempt to live outside, the knowledge of the law?
Does iniquity mean to be tried and come up short?
What does God want us to understand about the act of forgiveness giving three conditions of adherence?
A good place to start in studying how scripture (both Hebrew and Greek) expresses the
is in Romans 4:6 where Paul the apostle quotes David's thirty second psalm.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. [Romans 4:6 and 7 KJV]
The Hebrew words pesha, chattah and avon in Hebrew are mirrored by anomia, hamartia and paraptoma in Greek.
These words relate to transgression, sin and offence. The actions of transgression, sin and offence derive from the inward states of lawlessness, alienation and lifelessness.
These states are contrary to the righteous nature of God, the holy, spiritual being of God and to the divine life of God.
The Hebrew word nasa means uplift and is mirrored by the word aphesis in the Greek. Aphesis does not mean remit. It does not mean forgive or pardon. It means unburden.
The Hebrew word kaphar does not, precisely, mean cover nor do the words 'atone' or 'expiate' helpfully convey its true meaning. I believe it means something that cannot be expressed by a single English word. “Containment in hand” is as close as I am able to express it at this time.
I cannot find - anywhere - in the Hebrew or the Greek scriptures any word that should be, properly, translated as either of the English words “forgive” or “pardon”. The concept which these two words conveys is, to my own understanding, just not there in the Bible.
Personally, I prefer to bring the Hebrew word kaphar (from Hebrew) into English and to bear in the mind its unique meaning, which is considerable, diverse and rich. I prefer also to bring the word aphesis (from Greek) into English in order to retain its unique weight of meaning in relation to the singular unburdening which only occurs when it is preached by Christ himself and applied by the Spirit.
This is a very big subject and is, of course, highly important to one's own apprehension of one's own sinful state, to one's own sinful deeds and to one's own sense of guilt and distance from the God who is not only righteous but is also holy.
I have only touched on the subject here, but I hope there is enough to point you in the right direction.
Reproduced from the book 'The Burden of Sins' Belmont Publications by Nigel Johnstone.
Let us begin with the Hebrew. The text of Ex 34:7 reads:
The three words used here (and variously translated above) are:
These words are frequently used as synonyms in Hebrew parallelism so their meanings overlap considerably. Thus, the thrust of Ex 34:7 is to say that God forgives all kinds of sin/wickedness etc, without exception.
1 John 3:4 is more problematic because of the quite misleading translation provided by the KJV which translates a single word, ἀνομία (anomia) with a whole clause, "transgression of the law". Here is a faithful, literal rendering of 1 John 3:4 -
BLB: Everyone committing sin also commits lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
Note that we have two words defined here as equivalent:
Thus, sin, missing the mark set by the law, results is lawlessness.
Paul discusses these ideas in Rom 3-7 extensively by making the points that:
In Exodus, three words are used for sin. Each of these has their own context. Here's the verse:
The first word Moses uses is, "עָוֹן" ("Ahh-vohn"). As HALOT aptly defines it: "guilt caused by sin (and the consequences thereof)"(HALOT, s.v. “עָוֹן,” 2:800.). So, here the emphasis is not on a guilty feeling, it's on a guilty verdict and the consequences that flow from it. Often, in English, this is translated with the word, "iniquity."
The second word is, "פֶּשַׁע" ("Pesh-a"). The word means, "rebellion, revolt" (HALOT, s.v. “פֶּשַׁע,” 3:981.). This word then describes the internal attitude of pushing against what God wants. This internal attitude then overlooks to action. In English, when translating the word, some translations shift the thought slightly. Instead of keeping the 'rebellion' thought, they shift to 'transgress' (Latin for 'march on over without permission.') This is found in the greek, ⲡⲁⲣⲁⲡⲧⲱⲙⲁ. It's nice to see modern translations return to the original thought in the Hebrew (rebellion).
The third word is, "חַטָּאָה". It comes from the verb, "חָטָא". BDB defines the verb this way: "2398 † חָטָא 238 vb. miss (a goal or way), go wrong, sin (NH id.; Aram. חֲטָא ܚܛܳܐ" (BDB, s.v. “חָטָא,” 306.). This noun, too, has a picture behind it. It's the picture of 'missing the mark.' As the previous post explains, it's NT counterpart is "ⲁⲙⲁⲣⲧⲓⲁ" ("hamartia.") It carries with it the concept of missing the standard that God sets.
These are the three words that Moses uses in Ex. 34. We can see that we have different nuances to them. But, we can also see that when they are used in parallel constructions like this, Moses is letting us also know that there is overlap in meaning too.
It is a rhetorical figure called “hendiatris” (εν δια τρις), that is to say, “one through three” which means that one and the same notion is expressed by three synonymous words for creating a rhetorical effect. Like if I say, “I am perplexed, puzzled and bewildered by Pelé’s graceful play” - he died yesterday, at 82, the GOAT of football, may God rest his immortal soul.
What is iniquity? What are transgressions? What is sin?
Let's look at the passage
1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
What is sin? According to the passage, sin is breaking the law.
What are transgressions? In the passage a transgression is when the law is broken. There is no difference between sinning and breaking the law.
The point of the passage is to address the idea that it's OK to keep on sinning as a follower of Jesus. John tells us that sin = breaking the law.
Anyone who continues to sin does has not seen and does not know Jesus.
In Greek the word for "sin" is "hamartia"
/hamartía ("sin, forfeiture because missing the mark") is the brand of sin that emphasizes its self-originated (self-empowered) nature Strongs
The idea is missing the mark, missing the target. What is the target? In the broadest sense the target is meeting God's expectations. Any time we fail to do what God wants us to do we sin which is the same thing as breaking the law. In a narrower sense the target is the law of which explains God's expectations. Jesus summed up the law in Matthew 22
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Anything that misses this mark is sin and as 1 John 3:4 says, sinning = breaking the law
What does God want us to understand about the act of forgiveness giving three conditions of adherence?
An answer should be based on a passage to provide context. The question is unclear.
What does God want us to understand about the act of forgiveness - the act of God's forgiveness, the act of human forgiveness or about forgiveness in general?
Forgiveness is a theme that runs throughout the Bible. Please add a reference to allow for focus.
