Terminology of Sin in the Old Testament Traditions

Abstract

The subject of the science research includes the hamartological terminology of the Bible Hebrew. A philological, semantic and theological method was used. Historical narratives of the Old Testament, through their own and specific terminology, emphasize hamartology mostly in a cultural and liturgical perspective, showing it in social and liturgical environment. In their diagnosis, the prophetic traditions present both a realistic in the same time usually critical assessment of the state of the fulfillment of the covenant, where it is a sin to abandon the just mentioned covenant. Sapiential traditions provide reflection on anthropological questions rather than answering them. Such a reflection can be understood as universalistic one about human life experiences, on its weaknesses and paradoxes. Israel’s prayer perceives evil as the perversity and wickedness of man, subjected to all kinds of oppression. The Old Testament contemplates the nation of Israel as the covenant’s people, hence sin is an offense against the covenant’s God. In such context the sin is an individual human act, but understood in the dimension of the covenant (theological approach), or of a social contract (sociological approach), or of morals (cultural approach).