Lawlessness 1: The Common Denominator...in Hell!

Lawlessness 1: The Common Denominator...in Hell! Brad Reiches Oct 11 2007 01:23AM Subscribe to GodThoughts Wired! Thursday, October 11, 2007 GodThoughtsWired! "LAWLESSNESS!" THE COMMON DENOMINATOR...IN HELL! 1 "Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4, bold mine anomia:  "lawlessness., sin, without the law." Sometimes we can't FULLY understand the meaning of a biblical word or phrase until we have access to the original language.  For example, there are several Greek words that the English Bible translates as "love."  In each case the translation is technically correct, however, until you know the actual Greek word, you don't know for sure the kind of "love" that the scripture is talking about (i.e. "agape" means "unconditional love," whereas "phileo" refers to the "friendship kind of love" that exists among close friends.  Both "agape" and "phileo" are simply translated, "love" in the English Bible). Such is the case with the term that we commonly translated "sin."  There are four primary Greek words*, all of which we translate as "sin."  They are: hamartia:  this is the most common word that we translate as "sin."  Semantically, this word has the meaning, "to do amiss, to lose the goal, to miss the mark."  It is an ancient military term.  When the archer misses the bulls-eye of his target, the distance between the bulls-eye and where his shot hit was described as hamartia. agnoema:  literally means "mistake."  Characteristic is the element of ignorance.  Those guilty of agnoema are not fully aware of their "mistake." parabasis:  this is a significantly stronger term than the previous two.  Literally, "transgression."  Infers disregard for a known law. anomia:  "lawlessness., sin, without the law."  By far, the most EXTEME form of "sin." Whereas hamartia and agnoema can contain an element of "ignorance," the opposite is true of parabasis and anomia.  These latter terms are "known and willful."  Whereas, parabasis is a "violation of the law," anomia is not only "violation of the law," it is "lawlessness."  Violation means to break the law, but "lawlessness" means to "abolish the law," to act as if the law didn't exist. As we shall see, anomia or "lawlessness"... is the common denominator in Hell. *Please note the word, "primary."  Other terms regarding sin can include: adikos, meaning "dishonesty or injustice" (see 1 John 1:9), paraptoma, meaning "trespass, to fall when one should have resisted" (see James 5:16), and parakoe, meaning "disobedience" (see Romans 5:19).