What Does Sin Mean

[box]RVWD is my abbreviation for Religious Vocabulary Word of the Day. (You can read my introduction to the RVWD series here.) I do not intend for these word investigations to be exhaustive, but I hope they stimulate some thinking about assumptions. Possibly they will help with honest evaluations about what is truth and what is unnecessary baggage in life. [/box]
Why not start with a hard hitter? The word that everyone loves to hate. Sin. It falls into the category of religious words that are pretty much only used in a religious context. As such, its meaning tends to be 1) obscured by careless, rote use; 2) manipulated by legalistic manifestos; 3) swung around like a baseball bat by authoritarian types; 4) blurred by serial language translations; and 5) denied by those who would rather not think about it.
Deep down, everyone knows about their own culpability. Each person has had thoughts and engaged in actions that they know are wrong. However, for the sake of discussion, let’s dissect the history of the actual word “sin.” The first thing to notice is that it is apparently derived from a combination of Old English and Latin roots. So, the word “sin” is not original Hebrew or Greek or any recognized language that is associated with the first writings of the Bible. It was chosen at the time of the first English translations of the Bible because it was understood as a term of the court system and meant “being truly the one (guilty of something).” The Old English spelling was more like “syn.” A “syngian” was someone who “had committed” the guilty act. It cannot be simply translated to “misses the mark” as is often repeated.
If you look in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the Old & New Testament Words, there are at least 7 Hebrew and Greek words that can be translated “sin,” but are also translated to other religious, previously legal terms, such as transgression and trespass. This doesn’t count variations of capitalization or verbs versus nouns. Vanity (emptiness) and iniquity are 2 more choices, depending on context. These all tend to NOT be used in common, everyday conversations, so do not resonate with people. Even those who believe in their application to life, tend to glaze over when hearing them. The words can come across as pompous and just bounce off of the supposed listener.
Words that are synonyms and more in use among us today are numerous. Most of them have not become at all “religicized” or blunted by sloppy communication. Some are absolute and some have an element of being relative, which alludes to the fact that we do need to evaluate how what we do impacts others and how much it is reasonable to let that affect our choices. There are times when a “sin” is just something that shouldn’t be done and there are times when it is a matter of circumstances and company. Here is a list of what I found:
crime
misdeed
error
evil
trouble
wicked
twisted
(causing) offense
perverted
injustice
(causing) confusion
bad
hurtful
(causing) pain
failure (moral)
wrong
abomination
(being at) fault
lacking
defective
detestable
repugnant
disobedient
mischief
burden
blemish
We all know that people have trouble getting along. It is not just “those other people.” Or, we might go so far as to say, “we have all sinned,” according to the actual definition of the word and the facts of our personal history. We are all guilty of some things we would probably rather not talk about. No matter what our aversion to particular vocabulary or other people’s misuse of it; no matter what is wrong with various institutions or the ugliness of those who are smug in self-righteousness. It doesn’t change the facts of the real struggle. However, it will probably help if we get past casual use or misuse of the word “sin.”