by Mike James

As we end our first Holy Day season of the year (Passover and Unleavened Bread), we need to be reminded of the fact that we must work at eradicating sin from our lives. Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, but we are also expected to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). Good works, of course, are the opposite of bad works, or sin.

We will begin by defining the Greek and Hebrew words for sin. In Hebrew, the word for sin is hata or chattah. It can mean erring, doing wrong, missing the mark, or going astray. The primary Greek word for sin is harmatia. Much like the Hebrew word, it means to miss the mark. There are other terms in the Hebrew and Greek pertaining to sin, but these are the primary words associated with it.