Hamartia is made up of two parts: ha-(an aspirated alpha), which is a negation (like un-or dis-), and -martia, from the Greek root meros, which means “form, origin, or being.” The fundamental meaning is “negation of origin or being” or “formlessness.” Yes, it is about “missing the mark,” but the mark is not perfect moral behavior. The “mark” is the Truth of your being.

If we take Jesus seriously, then we are not dealing with outsiders and insiders; we are dealing with those who are seeing and those who are not seeing, trusting and not trusting.

Admittedly, we humans are control freaks, wanting to control everyone and everything around us so that the things we fear won’t happen. We inherently know that control is a myth, that one rogue cell or another person’s choices can instantly change the direction of our lives, but we still fight for it and even demand it. So if we can’t have control, we want a God who does.