In the Greek New Testament the word used for sin is a term from archery - hamartanein - meaning "to miss the mark". We aim to do the right thing, gain a positive end, even if it's only some sort of pleasure, but our arrow veers off and instead of the bull's eye we hit someone in the field beyond. In other words, our mistakes are usually misdirected attempts at the good rather than intentional pursuit of the bad. There is one exception to this positive understanding of sin: envy.
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