Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bd@hp-ses.sde.hp.com (Bob Desinger) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Re: sin (was Re: Satan) Message-ID: Date: 29 Nov 89 04:07:31 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 28 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In soc.religion.christian, you asked about the definition of sin. The common Hebrew word (in the OT) translated "sin" is chatta'th, and the usual Greek word (in the NT) is hamartia. In both languages the verb forms mean "miss," in the sense of missing a goal, a target mark, or the right point. Judges 20:16 uses the verb form chatta when it mentions 700 left- handed Benjamites who could "sling a stone at a hair [or, "hair breadth," KJ] and not miss." Greek writers often used the verb form hamartano with regard to a spearman missing his target. Interestingly, the KJ translates Job 5:24 using the word "sin," but the NIV and other modern Bibles use the word "missing." The original words mean not just missing physical objects but also missing moral goals: Proverbs 8:35, 36 says that the one finding Godly wisdom finds life, but the one missing [from the Hebrew chatta] wisdom harms himself. Here again the KJ translates it "sin" but the NIV and New English Bible, among others, use something to the effect of "fails to find." Both Hebrew and Greek terms refer mainly to sinning by intelligent creatures. They have the connotation of "missing the mark" with regard to God's commands, a moral failure to hit the target of perfectly carrying out God's will. I'm no language scholar, but I have this great Bible dictionary.... bob desinger