Transgress, Transgression

lit., "to go aside" (para), hence "to go beyond," is chiefly used metaphorically of "transgressing" the tradition of the elders, Matthew 15:2; the commandment of God, Matthew 15:3; in Acts 1:25 , of Judas, AV, "by transgression fell" (RV, "fell away"); in 2—John 1:9 some texts have this verb (AV, "transgresseth"), the best have proago (see GO , No. 10).

lit., "to go over" (huper), used metaphorically and rendered "transgress" in 1—Thessalonians 4:6 (AV, "go beyond"), i.e., of "overstepping" the limits separating chastity from licentiousness, sanctification from sin.

"to come by" (para, "by," erchomai, "to come"), "pass over," and hence, metaphorically, "to transgress," is so used in Luke 15:29 . See COME , No. 9, PASS.

akin to A, No. 1, primarily "a going aside," then, "an overstepping," is used metaphorically to denote "transgression" (always of a breach of law): (a) of Adam, Romans 5:14; (b) of Eve, 1—Timothy 2:14; (c) negatively, where there is no law, since "transgression" implies the violation of law, none having been enacted between Adam's "transgression" and those under the Law, Romans 4:15; (d) of "transgressions" of the Law, Galatians 3:19 , where the statement "it was added because of transgressions" is best understood according to Romans 4:15; 5:13; 5:20; the Law does not make men sinners, but makes them "transgressors;" hence sin becomes "exceeding sinful," Romans 7:7,13 . Conscience thus had a standard external to itself; by the Law men are taught their inability to yield complete obedience to God, that thereby they may become convinced of their need of a Savior; in Romans 2:23 , RV, "transgression (of the Law)," AV, "breaking (the Law);" Hebrews 2:2; 9:15 .

"lawbreaking" (para, "contrary to, nomos, "law"), is rendered "transgression" in 2—Peter 2:16 , RV (AV, "iniquity").