Meaning
lit., "to go aside" (para), hence "to go beyond," is chiefly used metaphorically of "transgressing" the tradition of the elders, Mat 15:2; the commandment of God, Mat 15:3; in Act 1:25, of Judas, AV, "by transgression fell" (RV, "fell away"); in 2Jo 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 1Th 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 Luk 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, Rom 5:14; (b) of Eve, 1Ti 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, Rom 4:15; (d) of "transgressions" of the Law, Gal 3:19, where the statement "it was added because of transgressions" is best understood according to Rom 4:15, Rom 5:13, Rom 5:20; the Law does not make men sinners, but makes them "transgressors;" hence sin becomes "exceeding sinful," Rom 7:7, Rom 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 Rom 2:23, RV, "transgression (of the Law)," AV, "breaking (the Law);" Heb 2:2, Heb 9:15.
"lawbreaking" (para, "contrary to, nomos, "law"), is rendered "transgression" in 2Pe 2:16, RV (AV, "iniquity").
Note: In 1Jo 3:4 (1st part), AV, poieo, "to do," with anomia, "lawlessness," is rendered "transgresseth ... the law" (RV, "doeth ... lawlessness"); in the 2nd part anomia alone is rendered "transgression of the law," AV (RV, "lawlessness").
