Observe the threefold form of expression--iniquity and transgression and sin.
It seems natural that in the divine proclamation of His own holy character, the sinful nature of men should be characterized with all the fervid energy of such words; for the accumulation even of synonyms would serve a moral purpose, expressive at once of the divine displeasure against sin, and of the free full pardon for it in all its possible forms. But the words are very far from all meaning the same thing. They all designate the same actions, but from different points of view, and with reference to different phases and qualities of sin.
Now these three expressions are inadequately represented by the English translation.
Iniquity' literally means twisting,' or something twisted,' and is thus the opposite of righteousness,' or rather of what is straight.' It is thus like our own right' and wrong,' or like the Latin iniquity' (by which it is happily enough rendered in our version). So looking at this word and the thoughts which connect themselves with it, we come to this :--
(1) All sin of every sort is deviation from a standard to which we ought to be conformed.
Note the graphic force of the word as giving the straight line to which our conduct ought to run parallel, and the contrast between it and the wavering curves into which our lives meander, like the lines in a child's copy-book, or a rude attempt at drawing a circle at one sweep of the pencil. Herbert speaks of
The crooked wandering ways in which we live.'
There is a path which is right' and one which is wrong,' whether we believe so or not.
There are hedges and limitations for us all. This law extends to the ordering of all things, whether great or small. If a line be absolutely straight, and we are running another parallel to it, the smallest possible wavering is fatal to our copy. And the smallest deflection, if produced, will run out into an ever-widening distance from the straight line.
There is nothing which it is more difficult to get into men's belief than the sinfulness of little sins; nothing more difficult to cure ourselves of than the habit of considering quantity rather than quality in moral questions. What a solemn thought it is, that of a great absolute law of right rising serene above us, embracing everything! And this is the first idea that is here in our text--a grave and deep one.
But the second of these expressions for sin literally means apostasy,' rebellion,' not transgression,' and this word brings in a more solemn thought yet, viz. :--
(2) Every sin is apostasy from or rebellion against God.
The former word dealt only with abstract thought of a law,' this with a Lawgiver.'
Our obligations are not merely to a law, but to Him who enacted it. So it becomes plain that the very center of all sin is the shaking off of obedience to God. Living to self is the inmost essence of every act of evil, and may be as virulently active in the smallest trifle as in the most awful crime.
How infinitely deeper and darker this makes sin to be!
When one thinks of our obligations and of our dependence, of God's love and care, what an evil and a bitter thing' every sin becomes!
Urge this terrible contrast of a loving Father and a disobedient child.
This idea brings out the ingratitude of all sin.
But the third word here used literally means missing an aim,' and so we come to
(3) Every sin misses the goal at which we should aim.
There may be a double idea here--that of failing in the great purpose of our being, which is already partially included in the first of these three expressions, or that of missing the aim which we proposed to ourselves in the act. All sin is a failure.
By it we fall short of the loftiest purpose. Whatever we gain we lose more.
Every life which has sin in it is a failure.' You may be prosperous, brilliant, successful, but you are a failure.'
For consider what human life might be: full of God and full of joy. Consider what the fruits' of sin are. Apples of Sodom.' How sin leads to sorrow. This is an inevitable law. Sin fails to secure what it sought for. All wrong' is a mistake, a blunder. Thou fool!'
So this word suggests the futility of sin considered in its consequences. These be thy gods, O Israel!' The end of these things is death.'
