‘Read the big books.’ Good advice, that. Even if we only dip into them, we shall gain a sense of proportion. Whether it’s Augustine, Thomas or Calvin, we shall have a glimmer of understanding about why some issues are more important than others. And we may very well conclude that to see Christianity as a neat package with all questions answered is a delusion.
And, despite the mockery that greets any mention of the word, we find sin coming to the forefront. A smirk is understandable. We are a generation without sin. We do our daily work; we go in and out. As far as our influence on world affairs are concerned, we are no more than straws in the wind. We have limited choices. If we ask why wooden ships float, we get the answer ‘Buoyancy’. If we ask why some combinations of sounds please us, we get the answer ‘Harmony’. This is the way things are. This is the world we live in. We did not choose the terms and conditions. We have to fit in.
If we ask why we are here at all, we may favour the Christian answer: ‘God made us.’ If we ask how it is that we are imperfect, we find that ugly old three-letter word offered as an explanation: sin. We live in an orderly world but we are disorderly creatures. There is a flaw in human nature that requires explanation.
Quite possibly we humans do not see ourselves in that light. We have abandoned Christianity. We do not think in terms of all-round gradual deterioration or a flawed nature inherited from previous generations. We live in the moment. We eat, drink, have fun and reproduce ourselves. If there is a God, we say, he doesn’t show himself and there’s no instruction-book that comes with each new birth.
Life, however, is not so simple. Christians say God made us, and there is an instruction-book. It’s called the Scriptures. In that troublesome collection of documents there are some undoubted new words. Sin is one of them.
We have abolished sin. By medicalising ethical problems we have made it possible to eliminate negative performance characteristics. But we cannot avoid the conclusion that humans are a mixed lot – apes and angels, if you wish. Deep down we cannot say we are contented with our human nature. It’s something more than medical attention that is needed. When we turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans we find that we are dealing with a word that has specific meanings.
Sin is for example disobedience. (Romans 5.19). A child rapidly discovers this is one of life’s obstacles. Parents are not only providers; they are supervisors. It pays to keep on the right side of them. Sin is also a matter of missing the target ((Romans 6.23). We fall short of fulfilling our possibilities. And sin goes beyond individual failure. It is participating in injustice (Romans 1.18). A child makes the unhappy discovery that the words ‘It’s not fair’ are frequently appropriate. Outside the family home and into the big world injustice masquerades as something else. Reinhold Niebuhr’s ‘Moral Man and Immoral Society’ still has something to say on this just as Paul does. Paul is not only specific in his understanding of this word. He sees it as a haunting streak in man’s nature that cannot be ignored.
Of course, sin is not something like courage or determination. It does not show itself in its true colours. It advertises itself as adventurous, innovative, gallant, admirable. Sin appears only in camouflage. As Alexander Pope puts it: ‘Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, /As to be hated, need only to be seen.’
Believing there is such a monster, Christians have a fight on their hands. Of course, there is another way. Just go along with the mockers.
More on this next time.
If you have a comment on this post please send an email to Revd John King at johnc.king@talktalk.net Edited extracts may be published. To forward this to a friend click on the chain icon below.