Sin - What Good Is It?

To understand the nature of sin and how it affects our lives, it is necessary to establish the opposite of sin. In today's relativistic world, clear definitions of terms are required so that concepts can be communicated without confusion. The context for defining sin is the world view in which there is a loving Creator who made the heavens and the earth and who made man in his image and likeness to share with mankind his innate goodness in all things.

In the idyllic paradise of creation, God and man are in perfect harmony. Man and wife are given dominion over the earth and are commissioned to procreate and fill the earth so that God can have a large family to care for and to love. Implicit in this relationship is an acceptance of roles where God is sovereign ruler over all that he has made and that God's human family loves God in return by their subordination to him. Mankind is the beneficiary of his infinite providence such that all their needs are fully satisfied.

For mankind to have a genuine love relationship with God, it is required that it be a free giving of self to God as he freely gives himself. To love is to will the good of the other. Man was made with free will so that he can freely choose to love God by his obedience. Other living creatures have their life patterns programmed into their genetics. Man alone can make a deliberate response of love to his maker.

With this context established, sin can readily be defined as the free and deliberate decision of a human being to disobey God, or in other words, to pursue his own will rather than the will of God. God needs nothing from man, but his desire to share himself with man is an expression of his goodness, and for man to reject God's will is the nature of sin. By its nature, it causes a separation between the will of the creature and that of the Creator. It is a break of relationship that cannot be repaired by man alone. Worse still, once the break is made, it is passed down through all generations.

It is inherent in each person to desire the best for themselves, and there is no better good or fulfillment than for a person to be intimately united in love with God who is the source of all goodness. So why would a rational creature like man willingly choose to break this intimate union that he enjoyed?

This illustrates another aspect of the nature of sin. It is based on a lie, for someone must believe that there is a better good than God, for him to break away from God. The biblical story of creation in the book of Genesis tells us that the first couple, Adam and Eve, were deceived by the serpent who represents the Satan, who is the author of lies.

We don't know how often Satan tempted the first couple. It may have taken many presentations of the lie before they succumbed to the belief that they could be better off without God. Once they accepted this lie of pride, they and all their progeny were doomed to suffer the effects of their choice to disobey God.

So, sin is rooted in the lie that we can do better in life without God's help and provision. It's not hard to see the consequences of this decision in the history of mankind. As people multiplied on the earth, the concept of the loving family of man under God was destroyed. Everyone was tempted to look out for himself.

We often have heard that we must look out for number one - our self - where our true good is to look out for the true number One who is God and only God. With pride and untruth ruling our lives, wars broke out. People learned to kill and steal and covet. All of this is prompted by the continuing works of the devil and his minions, till the original purposes of the Creator were distorted and ultimately lost but for a few who remembered God and desired reconciliation.

The story in Genesis tells us that it wasn't long before people became so intransigent toward God that they lost the ability to seek him. God saw that if he left them to themselves, they would destroy all of goodness of his creation. So, he decided to destroy man and his creation, saving only one family of six (Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives) by having them build an ark to keep them from perishing in the flood that he brought upon the earth.

Noah and his family believed in God and through them mankind was given a new start. From one of their progeny, Abram or Abraham was chosen as a man who, by his faith in God's love, would have a family line which ultimately God could use as a means of bringing his true answer to the dilemma of sin. He promised that through his seed a redeemer would come.

Jesus, the redeemer, was foretold by the prophets as the one who would save the world by reconciling man to God. He was to be the suffering servant of God; the good shepherd would save the flock from the destruction of sin.

But he said that he himself would shepherd his people, implying that this redeemer would be more than just a man. Jesus, born of a virgin by God's own power is both man and God. He is the Son of God who would reveal the true nature of God as a triune being: father, son, and holy spirit.

Jesus, as both God and man, suffered the just punishment for all man's sin and by his total obedience to God by his death he put sin and Satan to death. By rising from the dead, he destroyed the consequence of sin, eliminating in his person the separation of God and Man.

Jesus is the bridge through whom all who believe in him can be reunited with God. By ascending into heaven, he prepares a place for all who have faith in him to be eternally in communion with our Creator. As is said in the Exultet of the Easter Vigil: 'O happy fault' that led to such a salvation that we enjoy in Jesus the Christ, the Messiah.

Why a happy fault, given that sin is the cause of so much misery in the world? God uses everything - even the sin that he does not will or desire - to the good, to show his wisdom and power. If there were no sin, Jesus would not have become man for us. The mystery of the incarnation, God made man, would never have happened. God's solution to sin was to give himself more completely to us than at the beginning of creation.

In Christ, man is exalted beyond what anyone could ever imagine! The infinite deity shares with us our nature. He demonstrates his love for us by his absolute humility and self-surrender, and ultimately in his passion and death on the cross. This total gift of love would not be given to us if there were no sin. Jesus defeats the devil using the very death that the devil brought upon man for our destruction.

The enormity of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection cannot be overstated. It opened the door for God to restore us to himself. He gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and lead us to sanctification. And he often uses our personal sin to do it. How does this work?

For example, all of us need to accept that God loves us. One pathway to that is self-knowledge. As the Holy Spirit enlightens us to see ourselves as we really are, we can be stunned as we see the brokenness and sin of our past and present. We begin to see the truth that we are really nothing, and that there is no good in what we do on our own.

When seen out of context, this could lead to despair, but in the context of God's love it can begin a great work of transformation in us. To realize that despite all my faults and failures, God in Christ has called me to be an adopted son and has forgiven all my sins, is the realization of the unfathomable depths of God's love for me. As taught in Luke 7:47, "she who is forgiven much is the one who loves the master more." Understanding how much I desperately need salvation causes me to know how much I am truly loved, and it works in me to cause me to love God more in return.

Another powerful impact of seeing the reality of my sinful nature is that it breaks down my pride. Years ago, when a Christian friend and I were talking about how pride has such a hold on our lives, he wisely said, "It's easy to be humble when you are being humiliated." This was at a particularly difficult time in his life. Ouch! Who wants to be humiliated? Isn't that why we so often want to hide our sin? We make excuses. "It's not my fault. They made me do it." Aren't we all given to rationalization, trying desperately to make ourselves look good, or at least not as bad as someone else?

Until we accept the truth that we are weak, sinful people, and turn honestly to God for his help and forgiveness, our pride blocks us from the transformative work of grace that not only brings us forgiveness, but also leads us to humility. And this humility is essential for us to grow in our relationship with God and with each other.

Our willingness to openly deal with our sin by asking forgiveness when we hurt someone is also a witness to those in our life who do not know the love of God. By not avoiding the issue and directly acknowledging it, we are telling others that sin does not have to dominate us. It says that there is a better way of living our life, and even if we have not attained it yet, we are striving for it. It is an opportunity for others to consider where they have fallen short, and it may lead them ultimately to the source of all forgiveness - God in Christ.

As St. John said in 1 John 2:1-2, "I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world." We should strive not to sin, but if anyone does sin, we have the forgiveness of God if we ask for it.

While God can and does use even our sin for good, St. Paul makes it clear to the Romans that we are not to continue in sin even if our sinfulness leads to God's glory through his mercy, forgiveness, and love. In Romans 3:5-8, St. Paul says, "But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, 'If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?' Why not say - as some slanderously claim that we say - 'Let us do evil that good may result'? Their condemnation is just!"

The point is that we need to face up to reality in ourselves and acknowledge the sin that is in us. Hiding from our sinful nature is an aspect of the sin of pride. We need to seek self-knowledge so that the Holy Spirit can reveal what is hidden in us. Allow this self-knowledge to have its full effect in bringing us to repentance and fostering humility in us. Have faith in the infinite power and wisdom of God that turns all things to the good for those who love him. Once we begin to see and acknowledge our own sin and brokenness, we can have greater forbearance others who are also broken. Knowing that we all have sinned and fallen short will help us to have compassion and love instead of judgment and pride. The amazing grace of God working in us when we accept the truth and deal with it will ultimately lead us to a deeper love of God and of one another.

When we repent of our sin, the result is joy. Jesus said in Luke 15:10, "I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." That is surely true when one who is dead in sin comes to life-giving repentance. But it is also true that when we - who are trying hard to walk faithfully with the Lord - recognize a hidden sin in ourselves and truly turn away from it, asking God for His forgiveness. The angels rejoice over every decision we make to conform ourselves more fully to Jesus. Consequently, we, too, experience joy when we reject sin and turn to God.

Sin is a good enemy. It is not a good friend. Remember that the object of sin is to enslave and ultimately destroy us by completely separating us from God's love. Once we accept the grace of God's forgiveness in the sacrifice of Christ for us, we are forgiven and made children of God through baptism into Jesus. But we are called to die with Christ, so that we can rise with him. The way of the cross - the death that we are called to in Christ - is the death of our flesh to sin and self-indulgence. It is clear from the epistles of St. Paul that sin is not to be tolerated. It is an enemy that we must fight with a clear vision of putting on Jesus Christ and living in communion with him.

I believe that the message of St. Paul to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 can give us some insight into the importance of our war with sin.

"According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble - each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."

What we choose to do with our life will have eternal consequences. Gold, silver, and precious stones are pure and not susceptible to burning up, while wood, hay, and straw are readily consumed. For our souls to retain something, we need to become purified, and to the extent that we accomplish this, we will receive a reward. This does not imply merit on our part, since any purification is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It does speak of our will though, and the intensity of our desire to please the Lord who died for us.

Our battle against sin in our souls is eternally important for us. While we may be saved by the blood of Christ, the degree of our eternal reward will depend on how we live out our Christian life. God uses our battle against sin as an opportunity to bless us. Such is the amazing goodness of our God!

Another way to understand the impact of sin is that it corrupts. Once the first man sinned, corruption entered into our flesh. The impact on our physical body is sickness and ultimately death. The impact on our soul is the corruption of our mind and will through pride and self-love, leading us to spiritual death through separation from God.

Christ is the answer, both for our body and our soul. By his death, he died for the salvation of our soul and invites us to be united with him. In John 17:20-23, Jesus prays before His passion, "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity." By his resurrection, we are given the promise of eternal life with an incorruptible heavenly body. He even gives us his own mind, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:16, "But we have the mind of Christ."

What we do with these incredible gifts is extremely important. When a great king offers a precious gift, he expects it to be used and appreciated. In Galatians 6:7-10, St. Paul says:

^" Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."