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(twice), 9, 11, 13, “sin, that it might be shown to be sin,” i.e., “sin became death to me,
that it might be exposed in its heinous character”: in the last clause, “sin might become
exceeding sinful,” i.e., through the holiness of the Law, the true nature of sin was
designed to be manifested to the conscience;
(b) a governing principle or power, e.g., Rom. 6:6, “(the body) of sin,” here “sin” is
spoken of as an organized power, acting through the members of the body, though the
seat of “sin” is in the will (the body is the organic instrument); in the next clause, and in
other passages, as follows, this governing principle is personified, e.g., Rom. 5:21; 6:12,
14, 17; 7:11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25; 8:2; 1 Cor. 15:56; Heb. 3:13; 11:25; 12:4; Jas. 1:15 (2nd
part);
(c) a generic term (distinct from specific terms such as No. 2 yet sometimes inclusive
of concrete wrong doing, e.g., John 8:21, 34, 46; 9:41; 15:22, 24; 19:11); in Rom. 8:3,
“God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,” lit., “flesh of sin,” the flesh
stands for the body, the instrument of indwelling “sin” [Christ, preexistently the Son of
God, assumed human flesh, “of the substance of the Virgin Mary”; the reality of
incarnation was His, without taint of sin (for
, “likeness,” see
LIKENESS
)], and
77
for sin,” i.e., “a sin offering” (so the Sept., e.g., in Lev. 4:32; 5:6, 7, 8, 9),
“condemned sin in the flesh,” i.e., Christ, having taken human nature, “sin” apart (Heb.
4:15), and having lived a sinless life, died under the condemnation and judgment due to
our “sin”; for the generic sense see further, e.g., Heb. 9:26; 10:6, 8, 18; 13:11; 1 John 1:7,
8; 3:4 (1st part; in the 2nd part, “sin” is defined as “lawlessness,”
RV
), 8, 9; in these
verses the
KJV
use of the verb to commit is misleading; not the committal of an act is in
view, but a continuous course of “sin,” as indicated by the
RV
, “doeth.” The apostle’s use
of the present tense of
, “to do,” virtually expresses the meaning of
, “to
practice,” which John does not use (it is not infrequent in this sense in Paul’s Epp., e.g.,
Rom. 1:32,
RV
; 2:1; Gal. 5:21; Phil. 4:9); 1 Pet. 4:1 (singular in the best texts), lit., “has
been made to cease from sin,” i.e., as a result of suffering in the flesh, the mortifying of
our members, and of obedience to a Savior who suffered in flesh. Such no longer lives in
the flesh, “to the lusts of men, but to the will of God”; sometimes the word is used as
virtually equivalent to a condition of “sin,” e.g., John 1:29, “the sin (not sins) of the
world”; 1 Cor. 15:17; or a course of “sin,” characterized by continuous acts, e.g., 1 Thess.
2:16; in 1 John 5:16 (2nd part) the
RV
marg., is probably to be preferred, “there is sin
unto death,” not a special act of “sin,” but the state or condition producing acts; in v. 17,
“all unrighteousness is sin” is not a definition of “sin” (as in 3:4), it gives a specification
of the term in its generic sense;
(d) a sinful deed, an act of “sin,” e.g., Matt. 12:31; Acts 7:60; Jas. 1:15 (1st part); 2:9;
4:17; 5:15, 20; 1 John 5:16 (1st part).
Notes:
(1) Christ is predicated as having been without “sin” in every respect, e.g., (a),
(b), (c) above, 2 Cor. 5:21 (1st part); 1 John 3:5; John 14:30; (d) John 8:46; Heb. 4:15; 1
Pet. 2:22. (2) In Heb. 9:28 (2nd part) the reference is to a “sin” offering. (3) In 2 Cor.
5:21, “Him … He made to be sin” indicates that God dealt with Him as He must deal
with “sin,” and that Christ fulfilled what was typified in the guilt offering. (4) For the
phrase “man of sin” in 2 Thess. 2:3, see
INIQUITY
, No. 1.
2.
(
2 1$
, 265), akin to No. 1, denotes “an act of disobedience to
divine law” [as distinct from No. 1 (a), (b), (c)]; plural in Mark 3:28; Rom. 3:25; 2 Pet.