I. Name

The most general word for sin, and the one most frequently used in the NT, is hamartia. It usually occurs in the plural; but it also occurs a number of times in the singular, referring to the totality of sin, or sinning as such—see John 1.29; John 8.21, John 34; John 9.41; John 15.22; John 16.8, John 9; 1 John 1.8; 1 John 3.4, 1 John 8, 1 John 9; Rom. 8.2, Rom. 3, Rom. 10; Rom. 14.23; 2 Cor. 5.21; Heb. 10.18. There is a fluid transition between this use of the singular and the notion of sin as an active …