From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 01 1996 - 07:26:31 EST
At 11:52 PM 12/31/95, David Moore wrote:
>On Sun, 31 Dec 1995, Rod Decker wrote:
>
>> > "Hamartia" brings to mind the image of an archery target "bullseye." The
>> >mark is the exact center of the target. To hit an outer ring is
>> >"hamartanein," to miss the mark. Applied to the category of sin, anything
>> >less than absolute perfection in performance would be "missing the mark."
>>
>> The NT pix of sin is, IMHO, something more than hitting the outer ring of a
>> target. Too often the etymologizing approach goes to the slingsmen of the
>> OT who could cast a stone at a handsbreadth and not 'sin'--i.e., miss
>> ('harmartanw' in LXX). It is more like shooting at the _wrong target_. It
>> is not that people try to "hit God's mark" but come a bit short. "Sin"
>> points to a deliberate rebellion against his standard (to mix the metaphors
>> a bit). This explan. cannot be based on the "mng." of the word 'harmartia'
>> but comes from the biblical theology of sin (context, not etymology).
>
> The passage that comes to mind right away is Rom. 3:23, "For all
>have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Gross rebellion against
>God is sometimes pointed out as sin in the NT, but it appears that sin is
>not limited to that. We should take into account also Paul's statements
>about those who try to please God by the "flesh." These certainly may
>not be aware of any rebellion against God on their part, but they sin in
>falling short of the righteousness God has provided.
My own reading of Rom 1 is that "sin" is fundamentally idolatry, worship
directed toward creation rather than Creator, and that all the things
generally called "sins" are CONSEQUENCES resultant from that (the 3
PAREDWKEN verses).
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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