Sin and Judgment to Come 43 those who wallow in filthy sin—“they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” “The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib.” But, as for us, we have gone astray like lost sheep. The natural man does not know his God. MAN A SINNER IN CHARACTER While then sin has many aspects, man is a sinner, I repeat, primarily and essentially, not because of what he does but because of what he is. And this brings into prominence the obvious truth that sin is to be judged from the divine, and not from the human, standpoint. It relates to God’s requirements and not to man’s estimate of himself. And this applies to all the many aspects in which sin may be regarded. “It may be contemplated as the missing of a mark or aim; it is then ó/ioprta or a¡iápTr¡fta: the overpassing or transgressing of a line; it is then irapá/3a sis: the disobedience to a voice; in which case it is napaKoy: the falling where one should have stood upright; this will be irapáimapa: ignorance of what one ought to have known; this will be ayvw¡pa: diminishing of that which should have been rendered in full measure which is yrnipa: non- observance of a law, which is avopia or irapa.vop.ia: a discord, and then it is irX-qppiXua and in other ways almost out of number.” This well known passage from Archbishop Trench’s “Synonyms” must not be taken as a theological statement of doctrine. As Dr. Trench notices on a later page, the word apapria. has a far wider scope than “the missing of a mark or aim.” It is used in the New Testament as the generic term for sin. And avopia has a far deeper significance than the “non-observance of a law.” 'H apapria ¿ otív r¡ ¿vopía, we read in 1 John 3 :4; and “sin is lawlessness” is the revisers’ admira ble rendering of the apostle’s words. What anarchy is in another sphere, anomia is in this—not mere non-observance of a law, but a revolt against, and defiance of law. “Original sin” may sometimes find expression in “I cannot;” but “I will
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