3. Sin: the corruption of mankind’s being

Where the first two points describe where we have come from, this third point provides the key to understanding who we are now and the context we currently occupy in this life. If the fundamental essence of being human is located in the being of God, as the first two points above attest, then at whatever point we seek to define ourselves apart from God, we introduce a fundamental distortion into our being.

This is where the Christian doctrine of sin speaks so powerfully. As unfavourable and unfashionable as it might sound, this aspect of Christian teaching can radically change our perspective on the world for the better. This may seem counter-intuitive. After all, isn’t thinking about sin a bit pessimistic and hopeless? Doesn’t it darken our view of the world? This is a common retort, even among Christians. But remember the man who jumps off the wall without an awareness of gravity. If he knew the forces around him, he would adapt his approach to flight. When you know about sin, you begin to understand the forces around you, and it helps you adjust your approach to life. Denying sin, or even dumbing down your conception of sin, won’t do you any favours. Ironically, in an attempt to avoid the dark, you will only be left in the dark, fumbling in confusion.

In its quest to help people make good choices in life, it’s not surprising that the book of Proverbs puts the knowledge of sin as the first step towards attaining wisdom. After spruiking the benefits of wisdom and its pursuit, Solomon quickly turns to a warning.

My son, if sinful men entice you,
do not give in to them.
If they say, “Come along with us;
let’s lie in wait for innocent blood,
let’s ambush some harmless soul;
let’s swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
cast lots with us;
we will all share the loot”—
my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
for their feet rush into evil,
they are swift to shed blood.

Proverbs 1:10–16

The mortal enemy of good choices is the presence of sin. It pervades everything around us and influences everything within us. There’s no escaping it. We are both victims and villains of sin. Its corruption abounds. And the reality is: it’s enticing. “All sorts of valuable things” are on offer; “we can fill our houses with plunder”, and it needn’t cost us anything! All this can be ours for the meagre price of someone else’s life – “let’s ambush some harmless soul”! This may seem extreme, but the essence and ugly truth of sin lies here. The complete disregard for human life in the image of God.

But what is “sin”? How should we understand it?

Many people understand sin as the “bad things we do and the good things we don’t do”. But in the Bible, sin is more than just moral failure. Sin displaces God (in his perfection) from the central position of our being, and as such distorts and corrupts our being.

In this way, sin needs to be understood first and foremostly in terms of who we are and not what we do. Being before doing. It’s a corruption of our being, not simply the mistakes in our behaviour. The system of life God created is disfigured because we as his image bearers pursue an existence separate from his image. The logic of this is not complex. Gears grind when they are out of alignment. If we are not aligned to the God who created us should we not expect the gears of existence to grind? Should we not expect all creation to groan when the creator is abandoned? (cf. Rom 8)

Understanding the world through the lens of sin is not at all unreasonable. In fact, it describes the world very well. Yes, we see evidence of good things and good behaviour all around us. These all point to there being a good and right standard to live by and for, namely God. But there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary as well. People treat other people poorly, all in the name of selfish gain. Evil is real and it permeates every facet of our existence. Sin corrupts, pollutes, and devastates life. We need to take this force seriously. Sin is always crouching at our door (Gen 4:7).

The book of Romans traces this pattern out at length. Romans 1-3 demonstrates the full catalogue of godless human behaviour. In Greek, the words for “doing” (poieo) and “practising” (prasso) dominate these chapters. These words are concerned with what we do on the outside. Things that can be seen. While this is often described as a catalogue of “sin”, it is better to understand it as a catalogue of sin’s effects. In fact, the word for sin rarely features in these early chapters of Romans. It’s not until Romans 5 that the language of sin (hermatia) emerges with more emphasis, where the focus shifts to what can’t be seen, namely, the sinful human nature.

The evidence against all humanity – Jew and Gentile – is damning. It is clear that human behaviour points to a more significant problem. What we do flows out of who we are by nature. Being before doing. And without God’s intervention, the situation would be hopeless. No amount of moral reform can fix the problem that lies at the core of our being. We need more than rules. We need re-creation. Re-formation. Resurrection.

Many see this as an unjust cruelty on God’s part. Why does he judge us for the things we “do”, when he knows we don’t have the ability to “do” them? Why is our destiny tied to our behaviour when we’re powerless to behave well? The error in this thinking is that God does NOT judge us for the things we do. He judges us for who we are, and our behaviour is the evidence. What we do testifies against us (rather than for us as many people want to claim). This sorry state of “being” sounds hopeless. Romans 7 captures the essence of lament that a person awakened to this reality might utter “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (Rom 7:24). But the answer quickly follows. Having brought people to the brink of despair, the apostle swoops in with the saving message of the gospel. “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:25).