7. A native of Cyrene and the father of Alexander and Rufus. As a passerby who was coming from the country, Simon was pressed into service to help carry Jesus’ torture stake.—Matt. 27:32; Mark 15:21; Luke 23:26; see CYRENE, CYRENIAN.

8. A magician in the city of Samaria who so amazed the nation with his magical arts that the people said of him: “This man is the Power of God, which can be called Great.” Due to Philip’s ministry, Simon “became a believer” and was baptized. Later, when the believers received the holy spirit as the apostles Peter and John laid their hands upon them, Simon displayed a wrong motive, offering money for the authority needed so that those upon whom he laid his hands would receive holy spirit. Peter strongly rebuked him, telling Simon that his heart was not straight in God’s sight and urging him to repent and pray for forgiveness. In response, Simon asked these apostles to make supplication to Jehovah in his behalf.—Acts 8:9-24.

9. A tanner of Joppa in whose house by the sea the apostle Peter was entertained for quite a few days in 36 C.E.—Acts 9:43; 10:6, 17, 32.

SIN, I

The term so translated in Hebrew is hhat·taʼthʹ and in Greek ha·mar·tiʹa. In both languages the verb forms (Heb., hha·taʼʹ; Gr., ha·mar·taʹno) mean “to miss,” in the sense of missing or not reaching a goal, way, mark or right point. At Judges 20:16 hha·taʼʹ is used (with a negative) to describe the Benjamites who were ‘slingers of stones to a hairbreadth and would not miss.’ Greek writers often used ha·mar·taʹno with regard to a spearman missing his target.

Both these words were used to mean missing or failing to reach, not merely physical objects or goals (Job 5:24), but also moral or intellectual goals or marks. Proverbs 8:35, 36 says the one finding godly wisdom finds life, but the ‘one missing [Heb., hha·taʼʹ] wisdom is doing violence to his soul,’ leading to death. In the Scriptures both the Hebrew and Greek terms refer mainly to sinning, missing the mark by God’s intelligent creatures with regard to their Creator.

“Sin” (hhat·taʼthʹ; ha·mar·tiʹa) from the Scriptural standpoint is basically anything not in harmony with, hence contrary to, God’s personality, standards, ways and will; it is anything marring one’s relationship with God. It may be in word (Job 2:10; Ps. 39:1), in deed (doing wrong acts [Lev. 20:20; 2 Cor. 12:21] or in failing to do what should be done [Num. 9:13; Jas. 4:17)), or in mind or heart attitude. (Prov. 21:4; compare also Romans 3:9-18; 2 Peter 2:12-15.) Lack of faith in God is a major sin, showing, as it does, distrust of him or lack of confidence in his ability to perform. (Heb. 3:12, 13, 18, 19) A consideration of the use of the original-language terms and examples associated therewith illustrates this.

MAN’S PLACE IN GOD’S PURPOSE

Man was created in “God’s image.” (Gen. 1:26, 27) He, like all other created things, existed and was created because of God’s will. (Rev. 4:11) God’s assigning to him work showed that man was to serve God’s purpose on earth. (Gen. 1:28; 2:8, 15) According to the inspired apostle, man was created to be both “God’s image and glory” (1 Cor. 11:7), hence to reflect the qualities of his Creator, conducting himself so as to reflect the glory of God. As God’s earthly son, man should resemble, be like his heavenly Father. To be otherwise would be to contradict and reproach the divine parenthood of God.—Compare Malachi 1:6.

Jesus showed this when encouraging his disciples to manifest goodness and love in a way surpassing that done by “sinners,” persons known to practice sinful acts. He stated that only by following God’s example in mercy and love could his disciples ‘prove themselves sons of their Father who is in the heavens.’ (Matt. 5:43-48; Luke 6:32-36) Paul ties in God’s glory with the matter of human sin in saying that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23; compare Romans 1:21-23; Hosea 4:7.) At 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; 4:1-6 the apostle shows that those turning from sin to Jehovah “with unveiled faces reflect like mirrors the glory of Jehovah, [and] are transformed into the same image from glory to glory,” because the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, shines through to them. (Compare also 1 Corinthians 10:31.) The apostle Peter quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures in stating God’s express will for his earthly servants, saying: “In accord with the holy one who called you, do you also become holy yourselves in all your conduct, because it is written: ‘You must be holy, because I am holy.’”—l Pet. 1:15, 16; Lev. 19:2; Deut. 18:13.

Sin, therefore, mars man’s reflection of God’s likeness and glory; it makes man unholy, that is, unclean, impure, tarnished in a spiritual and moral sense.—Compare Isaiah 6:5-7; Psalm 51:1, 2; Ezekiel 37:23; see HOLINESS.

All these texts, then, stress God’s original purpose that man should be in harmony with God’s personality, be like his Creator, similar to the way a human father who loves his son desires the son to be like him as to outlook on life, standards of conduct, qualities of heart. (Compare Proverbs 3:11, 12; 23:15, 16, 26; Ephesians 5:1; Hebrews 12:4-6, 9-11.) This, of necessity, requires man’s obedience and submission to the divine will, whether that will is conveyed in the form of an express commandment or not. Sin, thus, involves a moral failure, a missing of the mark, in all these aspects.

THE INTRODUCTION OF SIN

Sin was introduced first on the spirit plane before its introduction on earth. For unknown ages full harmony with God prevailed in the universe. Disruption came through a spirit creature referred to simply as the Resister, Adversary (Heb., Sa·tanʹ; Gr., Sa·ta·nasʹ; Job 1:6; Rom. 16:20), the principal False Accuser or Slanderer (Gr., Di·aʹbo·los) of God. (Heb. 2:14; Rev. 12:9) Hence, the apostle John says: “He who carries on sin originates with the Devil, because the Devil has been sinning from the beginning.”—1 John 3:8.

By the “beginning” John clearly means the beginning of Satan’s career of opposition (even as “beginning” is used to refer to the start of the discipleship of Christians at 1 John 2:7; 3:11). John’s words show that, once having introduced sin, Satan continued his sinful course. Hence, any person that “makes sin his business or practice” (The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Vol. V, p. 185) reveals himself to be a ‘child’ of the Adversary, spiritual offspring reflecting the qualities of his “father.”—John 8:44; 1 John 3:10-12.

Since cultivation of wrong desire to the point of fertility precedes the ‘birth of sin’ (Jas. 1:14, 15), the spirit creature who turned opposer had already begun to deviate from righteousness, had experienced disaffection toward God, prior to the actual manifestation of sin.

Revolt in Eden

God’s will expressed to Adam and his wife was primarily positive, setting forth things they were to do. (Gen. 1:26-29; 2:15) One negative command was given to Adam, that prohibiting eating of (or touching) the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. (Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:2, 3) God’s test of man’s obedience and devotion is notable for the respect it showed for man’s dignity. By it God attributed nothing bad to Adam; he did not use as a test the prohibition of, for example, bestiality, murder, or some similar vile or base act, thereby implying that God felt Adam might have some despicable inclinations residing within him. Eating was normal, proper, and Adam had been told to “eat to satisfaction” of what God gave him. (Gen. 2:16) But God now tested Adam