A.--Yes, astounding as the idea may appear, it can be seen to be a sin if we accept

without reserve the inspired language of Scripture. Christ did not want to drink the cup

set before Him, yet this was God's will. The shame and indignity heaped upon Him

during His ministry were not deserved. I acknowledged that men were awfully wrong in

their treatment of Him. What then shall we say of God Who forsook Him in His

deepest need, Who sent fire into His bones, and more than this, delighted to crush Him

(Isa. 53: 10)? There was only one greater wrong in all the universe than that He should

be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and that was that His sorest affliction

should come from the very heart of His God and Father.

B.--You really mean what you say? that we may place in the same category those whose

wicked hands crucified the Son of God, and God Who gave Him up for us all? Men, you

say, were "awfully wrong", but there was one "greater wrong", namely, the action of God

A.--Yes, I do mean that. When we learn the lesson of the Hebrew word for "sin" and

"sin-offering", we can adopt such languages as "God settles sin by sin". The offering of

Calvary is "the sin of sins", and the principle of redemption may be expressed in the

words, "the greatest wrongs will right the universe".

B.--I cannot find words to express my utter abhorrence and repudiation of what you have

brought forward, and based too upon a most unscholarly abuse of the Hebrew language.

The very concordance . . . . .

A.--I rather guessed you would be advising me to "search and see", and I can assure you

that I have not accepted this statement without verifying it by the concordance.

B.--My own published studies of the Scriptures testify to the profound regard I have for

the value of the concordance, but the best of gifts may be abused, and become a

shibboleth. With the hope that God may give you repentance to the acknowledging of the

truth, and that you may be enabled to throw off this snare of the devil, I will go into this

matter with you.

A.--I am sure that is very gracious of you, particularly as that which you consider to be

the snare of the devil has come to me with all the power of light and liberty!

B.--Your position is that the Hebrew word for "sin" and "sin-offering" being the same

necessitates the belief that in the sacrifice of Christ we have "the sin of sins", and "the

greatest of wrongs!" We will, with your consent, use the concordance, and I would

suggest a few examples before turning to the Hebrew word for "sin". Will you read

Deut. 15: 6?