Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Sin Bearing

Nasa (נשׂא , Ass. nasû), to bear, though found in connection with the putting away of sin, is by no means confined to this purpose. It is used very frequently of the bearing of the ark, also of an armour-bearer; it implies first the lifting-up; secondly, the carrying; and thirdly, the taking away of a burden. Nasa is often used of the endurance of punishment, or of the incurring of responsibility. Thus, in Genesis 4:13, Cain says, 'My punishment (or fault) is greater than I can bear;' here the LXX less correctly renders, 'My fault is too great to be forgiven.' (See also the Vulgate and Luther.) We also frequently meet with the expression, 'He shall bear his iniquity,' i.e. he shall incur the responsibility of his sin, i.e. Leviticus 5:17, 'He is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.' in some passages the stern consequence of a man having to bear his iniquity is plainly set forth; thus, in Leviticus 19:8, we read, 'He shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed things of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.'

The word nasa, however, is also used of the undertaking the responsibilities or sins of others by substitution or representation. The high priest was to bear the name of Israel before God (Exodus 28:12). The scapegoat was to bear the iniquity of the people (Leviticus 16:22) in Leviticus 10:17, the expression, 'To bear the iniquity of the congregation,' is identified with the making atonement for them before the Lord. A different Hebrew word, Saval (סבל ), 'to bear a burden' (rather than 'to lift'), is used in Isaiah 53:11, 'He shall bear their iniquities;' but in the following verse the word Nasa occurs, 'He bare the sins of many,' and the two Hebrew words are found together in the fourth verse. The expression is very instructive. Christ did not drive sins away; He bare them. Moreover, the emphatic personal pronoun is added. Compare 1 Peter 2:24, 'Who his own self bare our sins.'

The transition from the vicarious bearing of sin to the idea of pardon is very natural, but it is remarkable that this transition should have been effected as early as the days of the patriarchs. Joseph's brethren used the word Nasa when they say, 'Forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy fathers' (Genesis 50:17). Pharaoh says, 'Forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once' (Exodus 10:17). Moses says to God (Exodus 32:32), 'If thou wilt forgive their sin.' Among God's attributes it is recorded that He forgives iniquity and transgression and sin (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Micah 7:18). Again, Moses intercedes, 'Pardon the iniquity of this people' (Numbers 14:19). Joshua uses the word of God, 'He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins' (Joshua 24:19) in some of these passages the English word bear or put up with might possibly express the meaning as well as the word forgive. Nasais also used in Psalms 25:18; Psalms 32:1; Psalms 32:5; Psalms 85:2; Psalms 99:8; Isaiah 2:9; Isaiah 33:24.

In other passages our translators have rendered Nasa by spare or pardon. See Genesis 18:21; Exodus 23:21; 1 Samuel 15:25; Job 7:21; Isaiah 44:21; Jeremiah 23:39; Lamentations 3:17.

The usual Greek renderings for Nasa are αἴρω, and λαμβάνω and these are reproduced in the N.T. Thus, in St. Matthew 8:17, we read that the Lord, in healing various people that came to Him, fulfilled the words of the prophet, 'Himself bare our infirmities and carried our sorrows.' Here the Greek ἀσθενείας ἡμω̂ν ἔλαβε is not quoted from the LXX, but is a translation of the original words in Isaiah 53:4.

In John 1:29 we have the words of the Baptist, 'Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.' Here the word αἴρω answers to nasa, and implies the lifting up or taking a burden up on oneself, and consequently the delivering others from it. this sentence seems to be referred to by St. John when he says concerning the Lord, 'He was manifested that he might take away our sins' (1 John 3:5).

The word ἀναφέρω, which occurs in the LXX in Isaiah 53:11, is used of the offering of sacrifices in Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 13:15; James 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5. It is also twice used of the bearing of sin, i.e. the taking of the responsibility of the sin of others up on oneself; in Hebrews 9:28, 'Christ was once offered (προσφέρω) to bear (ἀναφέρω) the sins of many;' and again, in 1 Peter 2:24, 'Who himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead (ἀπογενόμενοι [This identification in language is well worth observing in connection with the form of Absolution in the Service for the Visitation of the Sick in the Church of England in the General Absolution we read that God 'hath given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins.' in the Visitation Service, after the Priest or Presbyter has 'moved the sick person to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with a weighty matter,' he 'shall absolve him,' i.e. declare him absolved (see Hooker, E.P. Book VI.).]) to sins, might live to righteousness.'