What is the difference between a transgression and a sin?

Thomas R. Valletta

When persons transgress, they “[pass] over or beyond any law or rule of moral duty” (Webster, American Dictionary). “President [Joseph Fielding] Smith also wrote: ‘I never speak of the part Eve took in this fall as a sin, nor do I accuse Adam of a sin. … It is not always a sin to transgress a law. … This was a transgression of the law, but not a sin in the strict sense, for it was something that Adam and Eve had to do’” (in Ogden and Skinner, Book of Mormon, 1:121).

The Book of Mormon Study Guide: Start to Finish

References