According to Thayer’s Greek Definitions a transgression is: metaphorically a disregarding, violating of the Mosaic law or the breach of a definite, promulgated, ratified law.
The disciples committed a transgression when they ate grain on the Sabbath in Matthew chapter 12:
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"
3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:
4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?
Matthew 12:1-5 nkjv
Although the disciples transgressed, they broke the Jewish law of their time; I do not believe that they sinned: their own flesh nature was not vying for control and operating independently of God’s Spirit or God’s love.
I also believe that a transgression is also a slip-up, a wrong action that is out of character with our nature. Perhaps someone tricked us into doing something wrong or we just got unusually overwhelmed and succumbed to temptation. I suppose this particular line of thought is debatable in that it could be construed as sin. But if it is sin, it is more inclined towards sin in the verb sense and not the noun sense: it does not reflect upon the inward nature of a person.
When Abraham lied and said that Sarah was his sister in Genesis 12, I believe he transgressed (a one-off wrong action), rather than sinned (a natural expression of a nature in enmity with God). This, I believe, is why he got blessed in the end. I actually believe that God allows transgressions: to reveal that His kindness towards us is not impeded by our actions; and to show us, and other people, that we are not perfect and that we don’t have to be. Again, this supposition is debatable and could be looked upon as sin in the strictest sense. What I want to do here is emphasise sin as a predicable propensity to behave independently of the divine nature. As opposed to simply making a mistake that is not in keeping with the typical nature of a person.
As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, What is Sin – Part 2, Christians can get carried away with trying to identify whether or not something is sin. In a similar sense, we can get absorbed in trying to identify the difference between sin and transgression in our lives: did that thing you did ten minutes ago arise out of your flesh nature and are you likely to do it again? Or was it just a one-off error – perhaps a temporary lack of judgement? It is best to not get consumed by such worries and simply rest your mind in the knowledge that you are right with God, He accepts you as you are and that your sins have been remitted by our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 comments:
Hi Paul,
Maybe you should not pursue this subject so much along this line of yours, trying to look at sin from a state (noun) or action (verb) or the diference between transgression and sin. Actually, generally speaking transgression and sin are referring to the same thing. The lesson for the passage above is really about Jesus wanting to teach against legalism which was very prevalent in that time of the Pharisees and Sadduccees.
A one-off sin is still a sin. Do not go there. Of course, we are all in the world although we are not of the world, Jesus knew and knows that, and so He taught us the Lord's Prayer in which we are exhorted to ask for forgiveness; and 1 John 1:9 is for all of us (not just for the non-believers, as some had wrongly taught it), and we should appropriate that in our life. King David was said to be man after God's heart, but it did not mean that he did not sin, in fact, he broke 3 of the 10 commandment at one go (please do not say they were transgressions and not sins). Yet, God still allowed the New Testament writer to record again that David was a man after His heart. Of course, you are not wrong to think about our state; it is true that God looks at our heart-condition. And honestly, precisely because God looks at the heart, we cannot fool God. Ours is a journey, ours is travelling on the Highway of Righteousness, and the Leader guiding us is faithful. We may inadvertently wonder to the edge but do not stray off the highway, stay on course till we are led into our Promised Land
Post a Comment