There are many ways to go wrong in this life. Accordingly, the writers of God’s word use a broad spectrum of vocabulary to deal with the concept of sin. Listening to a recent recorded message from the son of a good friend, it occurred to me that it might be useful to start compiling a biblical “sin dictionary” to try to cover all the bases.
That turns out to be a little more difficult than one might think.
Unexpected Difficulties
No pair or trio of the words defined below are precisely synonymous in English. Different versions of our English Bible opted for one word choice or another depending on which then-current understanding of a given concept in English best reflected the underlying Greek or Hebrew ideas. Printed English translations available for study and comparison now cover a period of over 500 years, so many of these translation teams were working with vernacular now obsolete, and therefore made different translation choices than earlier or later working groups. Moreover, I doubt there is a single Bible translation that translates the same Greek or Hebrew word with the same English word consistently, because context often affects our understanding of a writer’s intended meaning. That makes the exercise a challenge to say the least. On top of that, the same English word is often used to translate a Hebrew word AND a Greek word. Rarely do both have the exact same semantic range.
Meh. Let’s give it a go anyway. Most of the online “sin dictionaries” I’ve seen start with the Greek or Hebrew, which makes it impossible for the average Christian to find what they are looking for. I’m going to start from the other end just to be different. This is a work in progress, so it will not be comprehensive. Feel free to suggest additions.
The Sin Dictionary 1.0
Apostasy: [Greek: apostasia]. Falling away or defection, usually meaning from spiritual truth. No Hebrew equivalent. Key verses: Acts 21:21, 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
Concupiscence: [Greek: epithymia]. The desire for something that is wrong in its very nature, not just under the wrong conditions or with the wrong motives, but in every imaginable scenario. More often translated “lust”. This is pretty much a KJV-only word, and it has no Hebrew equivalent. Key verse: Romans 7:8.
Debt: [Greek: opheilēma]. A legal or moral obligation that remains to be satisfied. Key verses: Matthew 6:12, Romans 4:4. (The moral aspect has no real Hebrew equivalent, but Jews naturally have lots of words related to financial transactions.)
Error: [Hebrew: šal, šāḡâ; Greek: planē]. Wandering off the course by accident, like a drunk, as opposed to deliberate, conscious rebellion. Error is sin you commit in ignorance and find out about later. People who err are generally deceived or judgmentally impaired in some manner. Key verses: Leviticus 4:13, Deuteronomy 27:18, Proverbs 5:23, James 5:20.
Evil: [Hebrew: raʿ; Greek: ponēros]. Annoying, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant, unhappy, injurious, hurtful. Has more to do with outcome than intent. Key verses: Genesis 2:9, Genesis 6:5, Matthew 5:11, Mark 7:23.
Guilt: [Hebrew: 'āšam, 'āšēm; Greek: opheilō]. Legal or moral responsibility, similar to debt but in Hebrew always with a sense that the responsibility is Godward. The legal aspect is more a Greek thing, also translated “debt”, “owe” and “duty”. Key verses: Leviticus 4:13, Zechariah 11:5, Matthew 23:18, Luke 17:10.
Immorality: [Hebrew: zᵊnûnîm; Greek: porneia, moicheuō (the latter specifically related to adultery)]. Sexual sin including but not limited to adultery, fornication or prostitution. The modifier “sexual” is included in English to make the sense understandable, but is implicit in both original languages. Key verses: Genesis 28:34, Ezekiel 23:11, Acts 15:29, 1 Corinthians 6:18.
Iniquity: [Hebrew: ʿāôn; Greek: adikia]. Depravity, perversity; violation of moral or ceremonial law (not limited to the formal Law of Moses), or the responsibility therefor. Key verses: Genesis 15:16, Exodus 20:5, 2 Timothy 2:19.
Lawlessness: [Greek: anomos]. Outside the law or in violation of the law. May refer to those who do not have the law (1 Corinthians 9:21, 2 Peter 2:8) or those who have it but utterly disregard it (Acts 2:23, 2 Thessalonians 2:8). No Hebrew equivalent.
Lust: See “Concupiscence”.
Offense: [Hebrew: pešaʿ; Greek: proskopos]. Usually rendered “transgression” in Hebrew. In Greek, something that causes moral stumbling or injury. Key verses: Romans 9:32, Romans 14:21, 1 Peter 2:8.
Rebellion: [Hebrew: māraḏ, mārar, mᵊrî]. Open revolt, in Hebrew from a word that means “bitter”. Key verses: Ezekiel 2:3, Hosea 7:14. No precise Greek equivalent.
Sin: [Hebrew: ḥaṭṭā'āṯ, Greek: hamartia]. In either language, literally “missing the mark”. The most generic word for evildoing, covering every type of violation or misbehavior. Key verses: Genesis 4:7, Genesis 18:20, Matthew 9:6.
Transgression: [Hebrew: ʿāḇar, pešaʿ; Greek: parabatēs]. The first Hebrew word means to cross over, usually a border or a moral line in the sand. The second is another word for “revolt”, making the sense similar to “rebellion”. The Greek for “transgressor” means simply “lawbreaker”, which amounts to much the same thing. Key verses: Genesis 50:17, Romans 2:25-27, Galatians 2:18, Hebrews 2:2.
Trespass: [Hebrew: māʿal, Greek: hamartanō, paraptōma]. This one’s a bit of a jumble. The first Greek word is just a variant on the standard word for “sin”. The second is literally “sideslip”, suggesting an inadvertent fall. The Hebrew means literally to “cover up” or “conceal”, as Achan famously attempted to do. In English, trespassing and transgressing are near-synonyms. Key verses: Numbers 5:12, Joshua 7:1, Luke 17:3-4, Romans 5:16.
Unrighteousness: [Hebrew: ʿaûāl, lō' ṣeḏeq, 'āven; Greek: adikos]. The first Hebrew word means “injustice” or oppression of others. The second combo is a negation: literally “without justice”. The third means “trouble” or “sorrow”. The Greek means “injustice”, but is also translated “iniquity”. Key verses: Job 8:3, Job 29:17, 1 Peter 3:18.
Wickedness: [Hebrew: raʿ, zimmâ; Greek: ponēros]. The first Hebrew word is the same as “evil”. The second means a plan, device or contrivance, obviously a bad one. The Greek is the same word for “evil”, suggesting there is little difference between the two concepts in scripture. Key verses: Genesis 6:5, Proverbs 21:27, Matthew 13:49.
Wrongdoing: [Hebrew: 'āšam, ʿāôn; Greek: adikia]. The first Hebrew word means the same as “guilt”, the second the same as “iniquity”. The Greek is also the same word as “iniquity”. Nothing new here. The English translators of various Bibles have just found another way of saying the same thing.
Conclusions
What can we say about all that? Well, it’s clear not every translation team for every Bible version made consistent, one-for-one decisions to bring over a particular Greek or Hebrew word as a unique English word, but that is the nature of translation. There’s a lot of conceptual overlap, but more than a few distinct ideas when you add them all up.
More to come on this. You probably noticed more words I haven’t defined than words I have.
Yes, there are many ways to go wrong in this life …
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