Systematic Theology - Creation and Providence - Part IV

Here is the segment on Sin and Its Effects:

Creation and Providence (Continued)

Sin and its Effects:

Sin can be defined in a number of ways. First, sin is called an evil that acts as “an opposing force that seeks to annihilate the covenant life that God is calling into being” (Morse, 213). Second, sin is when creatures choose evil and humanity is alienated from its “authentic self,” from the image of God in us (Ruether, 159). Third, sin is a denial of our relatedness to God and, therefore, our need for God’s grace (Migliore, 130). Fourth, sin is a betrayal of the divine intent for God’s creation. That divine intent is that we were created in “for-otherness”—for God, for God’s creation, and for other human beings (Gonzalez, 136). Sin is both individual and corporate as it is “the violation of God’s image in us, which is precisely the image of God’s for-otherness” (Gonzalez, 137). Other descriptors of sin include: missing the mark, separation from God, disobedience, and so on. While these ideas about sin are not readily disposable, my favorite definition of sin involves a synthesis of ideas. Sin originates in the free agency of humanity who began by distrusting and being unfaithful to God (Abraham, 2008), acting in ways that places the love of themselves above their love of God (Marshall, 2008).

This latter definition of sin finds its origins in the story of our fall in Genesis, and continues throughout history as humanity continues to be unfaithful to God by placing their love for themselves over their love for God and others. Sin, understood this way, entails several implications. First, the entirety of the creation is affected by sin. Sinning corporately and individually, sinning against one another and ourselves, and sinning against God and God’s creation, leaves nothing created unmarred by sin. Second, we sin and are sinners, not because God has created sin or sin acts strictly as a force of outside evil directly opposed to God, but rather because it is a consequence of the fall; it is because of the original and ongoing distortion of our God given freedom and God’s permitting of that distortion as a potential (and now realized) consequence of granting such a freedom. Third, as a distortion, sin does not change our original ontological identities, but rather mars them so thoroughly that without God’s intervention, there is no way to fully restore the goodness that is God given. Fourth, sin creates separation from God; a separation so great that no one but God can overcome the chasm. Though imaged in the goodness of God, we are distorted creatures, in need of restoration that can only come from the source that gave us that goodness to begin with.