Q. What does it mean, "I have sinned against heaven" (Lk.15:18,21). Can one sin against a place as well as against God and against people?

A. This is an example of biblical periphrasis. Here "heaven" is a roundabout way of saying "God" (Elohim) and therefore the Godhead. Since heaven is the exclusive abode of the Godhead (Father, Son, Ruach/Spirit, and redeemed men and angels), to sin against heaven is to sin against these.

Literalists, who do not understand the Hebrew mindframe, have a tendency to miss such things. A careful comparison of scripture makes the identification of periphrasis relatively easy with a little care. For instance, rewards are said "to be given ... from heaven" (Jn.3:27). Since we know from elsewhere that all good things and rewards come from God (Elohim) (e.g. Ps.58:11; Is.40:10; 49:4; Ruth 2:12) it follows that heaven is again a roundabout away of saying God (Elohim).

Other examples of periphrases (though they may be personifications, abstractions and/or other things as well) would be using the terms Wisdom (Hochmah), Zion, the Shulamite woman, and Jerusalem as representations of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). In a spiritually shallow world where reverence and the day-to-day use of poetry has been taken out of language and replaced by meaningless coarseness and vulgarity, these things become increasingly difficult for the modern Christian to understand or appreciate.

This page was created on 15 June 2004 Last updated on 15 June 2004

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