Sin and Transgression

Though the books of Moses and the Gospels have been the portions of the sacred writings against which the shafts of skepticism have been more generally thrust, yet the Epistles have not wholly escaped their censure. We only select one instance, out of many, from a published pamphlet now before us.
It is alleged as a proof of contradiction, that in Rom. 2 it is said, “For as many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law”; and in the fourth chapter, “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” In the accuser’s mind sinning and transgression are here the same thought, hence to perish without law, and yet for there to be no transgression without law, to him is a contradiction; but it is not so. We are told that “all have sinned,” from Adam downwards; but the people of Israel were also transgressors, because they went across God’s positive commands. Adam also transgressed in doing what God prohibited (Rom. 5:12, 14).
The accuracy of Rom. 2:12 is seen in that not having been under the law, they will not be judged by it: but having a conscience and the knowledge of good and evil since “sin entered into the world,” they will be judged on other grounds. Such may be referred to in Rom. 1:18 and following verses. The accuracy of Rom. 4:15, is seen in the holiness of the principle, that if there had been no law given, there could be nothing to be disobeyed, no transgression. Speaking generally, then, all Gentiles and Jews are sinners by nature, and practice — all are “under sin,” “have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”; but the children of Israel, who willingly put themselves under law, have been proved to be transgressors, and when Jews and Gentiles are classed together another word is used, the word “offences,” for all are offenders, though not all transgressors, inasmuch as Gentiles have not the law — “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
It may be well to add, that the word “sin” is used about thirty times in only two chapters in Romans, the sixth and seventh. It is called “the old man,” “the flesh,” which the believer is not in as to his standing, though it is still in him, but to faith he is righteously delivered from, because “our old man is crucified” and “dead with Christ.” “Sins” are forgiven, because they have been borne, suffered for, and atoned for by Christ, whose blood “was shed for many for the remission of sins.” We read, therefore, of remission of sins, and of our old man (the nature that did the sins) being crucified with Christ; and these are important distinctions. We find “sin,” “sins,” “offences,” and “transgression,” used in this epistle and elsewhere with the greatest precision.