Word of the Week … Sin
What is sin? Is it still relevant in the 21st Century? Everyone sins don’t they, so what’s the issue? This week’s word is sin. See below for further discussion…
C.S. Lewis, in the second of the Narnia series, ‘The lion, the witch and the wardrobe’, wrote of Narnia, “It is always winter, but never Christmas”. It is an allegory of the world being full of sin.
Wherever we look there is evidence of sin – local, national and international news all make us only too aware of sin in the world. The news is full of it and you, like me, no doubt get sick of all the bad news. We cry out for stories of human goodness.
Sin is closely associated with free will and human nature; also with grace, forgiveness and mercy.
In Genesis 1.26-27 we read, ‘God said, “let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness” … So God created humankind in his image…‘.
The fact that God was to make us in his image and likeness, but then made us in his image without the likeness, became a source of much discussion in the early church. Were these two different things? Why was likeness left out? The discussion followed the line that humankind was made in God’s image, but had to develop into his likeness – either by choices to follow him or at the end times.
Part of this discussion led to the Pelagian Debate, which discusses human free will, sin, grace and salvation. The debate took place in the early 5th century between two famous theologians, Pelagius and Augustine.
Pelagius argued that humanity has total control over their free will and we choose to sin. As perfection possible, it is therefore obligatory.
Augustine argued that we have lost control over our free will and our ‘scales’ are weighted towards sin. He used the example of a set of balancing g scales where one side is heavily loaded. Our human nature is like this, biased towards sin. This innate sin then causes sins.
Augustine’s view was considered correct and Pelagian’s view declared a heresy (heresy means ‘wrong thinking’; orthodox means ‘right thinking’).
Augustine sees sin in three ways:
- As a sickness “by his wounds we are healed” (Is 53.5);
- As a power holding us captive with Christ as our liberator – “come to set the captives free” (Is 61.1);
- As a hereditary guilt passed down from one generation to the next. In the Roman Empire of Augustine, law was very important and Christ brings forgiveness and pardon – “to release the prisoners” (Is 61.1).
In our first reading (Genesis 3.1-24) we can see there was a penalty for human sin, first seen as a separation from God physically and spiritually. Adam and Eve hid themselves from God because of their shame.
Fallen humanity lives in the curse of that failing and we all sin. We are all separated from God.
Sin is actually a term from archery and means to miss the target, or more specifically, to fall short. So sin means we fall short of God’s standard – perfection. To some this might seem very difficult and the question might be asked, “Who can possibly live up to that standard?” This means the whole of humanity is separated from God without exception.
Our second reading (Romans 3.21-31) picks up this point, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3.23). It means that because God can’t look on sin, we cannot have fellowship with him – we are separated from him.
Does this mean then that in real life it is destined to be always winter, but never Christmas?
Thankfully, because of Jesus, the story doesn’t end there. Jesus is not just made in the image and likeness of God, he is the same substance as God – he is God. He took on the image and likeness of humankind.
Sin is the reason why Christ died – it was an expiatory sacrifice -
– his sacrifice healed our wounds,
– broke the power of sins captivity and
– pardoned us from the guilt of sin.
His sacrifice was for all humanity and fully paid the price for sin. Through faith in Jesus our sins are forgiven and our relationship with God is restored – it is not that we stop sinning, just that our sins are forgiven. In the Narnia story, to begin with Edmund decided to follow the white witch, whilst Lucy sought after Aslan. This choice is still available to each of us – some choose to follow a life bound by sin, whilst others seek after God.
This saving act of grace is freely given by God to everyone who believes. Salvation and grace will be discussed in future studies.