The Etymology of “Sin”

Chet/Avon/Pesha - missing the mark, twisted iniquity, and deliberate rebellion against God

Hebrew uses three main words: chet (unintentional missing), avon (premeditated moral crookedness), pesha (deliberate rebellion). Together they describe sin as multidimensional: accident, distortion, and defiance.

Hamartia - missing the mark; personified by Paul as a ruling power from which liberation is needed

Romans 6-7: Paul personifies hamartia as a power that enslaves. Sin is not merely wrong acts but a ruling force. John 1:29 - the Lamb who takes away the sin (singular) of the world.

Peccatum originale - original sin as inherited guilt and disordered desire transmitted from Adam

Augustine developed original sin doctrine against Pelagius. Sin affects not just behavior but the will itself - concupiscence (disordered desire) warps every human act. Even infants share Adam guilt.

Total depravity - sin corrupts every faculty of the human person, leaving no capacity for self-salvation

Calvin TULIP begins with Total Depravity: sin affects intellect, will, emotion. Not that people are as bad as possible, but that no faculty is untouched and no merit contributes to salvation.

Structural sin - evil embedded in institutions, systems, and cultural patterns beyond individual acts

Liberation theology and social ethics identify collective and systemic sin: racism, poverty, oppression as sin structures requiring repentance and structural change, not only personal conversion.