On Wednesday Night, July 21st, at 6:30pm, we will have a study on Sin. Specifically, I was asked about the differences between Sins, Transgressions, and Iniquities. In Exodus 34:7, we find all three words located in the same sentence. If you research these words in Strong’s Concordance or in the Gesenius Lexicon you will discover that these three words offer three different shades of sin.  Sin comes from a Hebrew word that means to miss the target, or to misstep, or to make a mistake. Transgression means to cross the line or trespass or disobey the law. Iniquity moves sin from the level of an act to a lifestyle of perversion, depravity, and guilt. Beyond these three basic words for sin, there are dozens of others found in the Bible: wickedness, evil, unrighteousness, lawlessness, rebellion, stray, fall away, hypocrisy, and abomination – just to name a few.  

While there may be some differences in the names of the offenses against God, all these words are like synonyms for the umbrella term “Sin.” Christian Theologian Millard Erickson says “the common element running through all of these varied ways of characterizing sin is the idea that the sinner has failed to fulfil God’s law… [so] Sin is failure to live up to what God expects of us in act, thought, and being.”    

But the problem we have in our culture is that most people no longer believe in God or believe that God’s Word is relevant for our life and times. In our post modern, post Christian society most people believe (whether they know it or not) in relativism or situation ethics which is the belief that different things are true or right for different people or at different times. What may be true or false or right or wrong depends on the person and the situation at the time.

So our Wednesday question for the evening is:

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