Session Two: Sin, Transgression, & Iniquity
THE TRAGEDY OF HUMAN FRAILTY & SELF-DESTRUCTION...
Were you aware that there are several different words in the Hebrew text, used to describe Human behavior, estranged from God?
Our lived experience of people and their choices are often complicated. We know that there is evil in this world, but there is also good, and Humanity seems to be capable of both in ways that break our religious understanding of how things are supposed to work. This session explores how these three different Hebrew words help us make sense of the world we find ourselves in and our place in the perpetuation of the problem of evil.
1) WATCH THESE VIDEOS & TAKE NOTES:
- What stands out you from the video?
- What ideas are discussed in the video that are new to you, or interesting to you?
- Why do you think that God chose to distinguish between "Sin", "Transgression", and "Iniquity"?
2) READ & REFLECT: Psalms 1:1-6 / Romans 1:1-3:31
- How does the description of the un-Blessed person's life choices in Psalm 1:1 reflect the progression of Sin, Transgression and Iniquity? How does this help us understand how seemingly good people can do bad things, and seemingly bad people can do good things?
- Knowing that Righteousness is having relationships with God, Humanity, and Creation, that are healthy and life-giving, what is the significance of Paul's statement in Romans 1:17, that "the Righteous live by faith"?
- How do we see Sin, Transgression, and Iniquity in Romans 1:18?
- How does the Apostle Paul’s contextualization of Psalms 1:1-6 in Romans 1:16-31 help us understand that the root cause of Evil is the rejection of God’s definition of what is real, true, and good?
- How does Romans 2:1-29 further explore the difference between Sin and Transgression?
- Romans 3:9 states that ALL Humanity is "Under Sin". How does this phrase, and the Apostle Paul's quotes from Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 in Romans 3:10-18, help us understand the effect of Iniquity in Human Society?
- Romans 3:25 states that Jesus' blood is the "Propitiation" for ALL Sin, a word in the Greek that means "Covering". How does this connect with last week's lesson and Genesis 3:21?
3) ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
- What did you learn about yourself in this session?
- What did you learn about God in this session?
- What questions do you have now, after finishing this session?
- What will you do next?
