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Old Testament Studies. SIN

Some people say: God cares about the heart. That is, God cares about what you THINK!

King David said: Psalm 51:6 "You desire truth in the inner parts" , 16 & 17 "sacrifices of God are a broken spirt; a broken and contrite heart"

2 Chronicles 34. Josiah became King at 8. Sought God at 16. Found the law at 26. Verse 2 says "He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and ..." but note that he didn't know the Law until he was 26 yrs old. Note though, that it wasn't completely innocent. 2 Chron 24 says that the penalty would still come, just not in Josiah's lifetime because he accepted God's law as he learned.

Some people say: God cares about what is. That is, it is most important whether you are sinning or not.

Leviticus 4: When you sin and don't know.

We know for SURE that it is worst to sin when you know it is sin.

We know for SURE that is is best to do right when you are trying to do right.

We know for SURE that it is sin to even if you think you are not sinning. Leviticus 4.

We know for SURE that is is sin to do something when you think it is wrong. King David.

Since David said, under the inspiration of God, that God cares more about the heart, we also know for sure, that is is worse to do what is right thinking it is wrong than to do what is wrong thinking that it is right.

So, from worst to best we have:

Zechariah 1:15 - God was only a little angry but because of additional sins, angrier.

What about those people who say "Man is basically good, it is the environment that is the problem" - Genesis answers that. Man was put into the perfect environment, and look what happened. No, man is basically evil and stays that way apart from God.

What about Sin vrs Impurity? This distinction is a NT distinction not an OT distinction.

What about Sin vrs Iniquity? Psalm 103:10, Isaiah 59:2 and Micha 7:19

Sin: If it helps any, the words in Hebrew (Hata) and Greek (Hamarta) that are translated as sin mean "to miss the mark."

Iniquity: Verb pasa Noun pesa Rebellion against Man: I King 12:19, against God: Isa 1:2

Isaiah 43:27: Hata/pasa Job 34:27 Pesa/Hata (He adds Pasa to his Hata)

Iniquity = lawlessness - acting as if there are no rules.

One of the original errors was to add to God's words. (Prov 30:6 warns against this) when Eve added "and you must not touch it" (Gen 3:2) to God's command in Gen 2:16.

New Testament comments:

Luke 12: 47 “That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. ^?48? But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.^[1]