Sin

What is sin? The nature of sin is attracting a lot of attention at the moment as atonement theology is reconfigured. Our starting point in trying to answer this must be the Biblical picture, without this we are cast adrift on the open ocean of contemporary culture where prevailing winds and tidal drifts determine our course and destination.

So we turn the sin. There seem to be two braod schools of thought. First, sin is primarily about acts which are condemned by the law. The significance of sin ends here, on this view. The other view, whilst not discounting the transgression of the law, focuses on the effects of sin - that it causes a break our relationship with the God. Relational or juridical.

THe first picture we find in the creation narratives is that sin lurks at the door and its desire is for you. When? When you have not done well. Interestingly, this talk of sin does not occur with Adam and Eve's ejection from the garden but with Cain and Abel. The surprising fact is that the Lord is still walking amongst humans, amongst the creation.

The consequences of Adam and Eve taking the fruit results in their exclusion from the garden. This has traditionally been seen as sin. But is it? What is actually lost through being expelled from the garden? It isn't knowledge, communication or communion with God (see Noah and Enoch 'walking' with God). The garden narrative ends with an angel guarding the tree of life. Humans are excluded from intimacy of life with God, not by God's doing but by the consequences of their actions - that their eyes were open. Innocence is lost and man indeed becomes like god and something of the original purity and intimacy of relationship is lost. Not obliterated at that moment but the dam had been breached and humanity is open to the power of sin and its desire for us.

More sin later...