Sin means to miss the mark. So very technically, if you are having target practice at a target and you miss the bulls eye, because that’s what you were trying to hit, you sinned. You missed the mark. You didn’t do what you wanted to do, you missed. So any failure, any mistake is a sin. Now it doesn’t have to be a big sin. We all make mistakes, you know.
Lupac. I believe that what Ray is referring to here is the basic meaning of the Hebrew word
chata' that is translated most often as “sin” in the Old Testament. For example:
Exodus 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin (chata’)
not.Psalm 41:4 I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned (chata’)
against thee.Now from
Judges 20:16...
Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss (chata').
So if these seven hundred chosen men had missed the target at which they were slinging stones, they would have sinned. i.e missed their mark.
That is all Ray was saying I think. Missing the mark, making a mistake is the basic meaning of the word, whether one is trying to shoot an arrow into a bullseye and misses or one is climbing a ladder and his/her foot slips and they fall.
Now when it comes to our relationship with God, we sin or miss the mark when we disobey His law. And since there are no laws from God that say that we should always hit a bullseye when we shoot an arrow or never fall from a ladder, we are not sinning against Him should we fail to do those things.
John says that sin is lawlessness (I John 3:4). God’s law is the mark and to fail to live by that law is sin against Him. That is what brings punishment and chastisement, not falling from a ladder or missing a bullseye.
As far as Jesus falling while walking to Golgotha, I agree with John from Kentucky. There are many things about Jesus’ life on this earth that we simply do not know because they are not recorded in the Scriptures. Just because it doesn’t say that he fell doesn’t mean that he didn’t. He was under tremendous physical pressure and stress at the time, so I for one would not blame him if he was not able to remain on his own two feet the entire walk. But the Scriptures just do not say, and the fault lies with those in the churches who have chosen to make a doctrine out of whether or not he fell and how many times he fell. It’s ridiculous some of the doctrines people make up these days simply to have something on which to preach every Sunday.
That said, if Jesus did fall, would he have sinned? If his “mark” or “goal” was to remain on his feet the whole walk to Golgotha (I’m not saying it was; this is just an “if”) and he fell, then yes, according to the basic meaning of the word, he did “sin.” He missed his mark. But he didn’t sin against God, because as far as I am aware, there is no law from God that says one must remain on his/her feet the entire time he/she is walking to his/her death.
Hope that makes sense,
Eric