Sin IS a Big Deal
Genesis 3:1-6, 16-19, 24; Romans 5:12-14
The picture comes out of a child’s nightmare. Ravenous jaws, dripping with the rotting residue of past victims. A cavernous stomach, irresistibly drawing multitudes into uncertain and eternal shadow.
This is “Death” in the ancient Near East, personified in Canaanite religion as the god Mot. Canaanite myths portrayed Mot as a voracious devourer, gulping down unsuspecting mortals in a single mouthful.
We moderns do not personify death, but in practice we conceive of it similarly. Death is insatiable and inevitable, universal and ultimate.
Yet, though we all know the reality of death, often we miss the root cause – a little word that has big consequences, “sin.” The apostle Paul, drawing on the historical account of the Fall in Genesis 3, makes this correlation between death and sin completely clear (Romans 5:12-14).
Death entered into the world by one real man – Adam – and has subsequently spread to all because all sinned. This curse, stemming from sin and the fall, catches all in its clutches. Like the Canaanite picture of Mot, the Bible personifies sin as “crouching at the door, and its desire is for you” (Genesis 4:7).
Catholics have distinguished traditionally between mortal sins (leading to damnation) and venial sins (forgivable). But the biblical picture is that all sin is mortal, leading to spiritual death, and unless atoned for, leading to eternal damnation. As Paul said in his epistle to the Romans, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
The reality of this connection between sin and death has largely been lost in today’s society, where sin has been relativized, reduced in significance, and redefined as “bad choices” or “mistakes.” Certainly, most do not see it as a grave problem affecting all of humanity and creation itself – much less a terminal condition, resulting from rebellion against a holy God.
For this reason, the good news makes little sense to most. As Peter Kreeft writes, “A free operation is not good news if you don’t think you have a mortal disease.”
So if we want people to understand and embrace the beauty of the gospel and the priceless, yet costly, sacrifice of our Savior, we must help them to see that sin IS a big deal to God.
Cribb– Lessons by Bryan Cribb, assistant professor of Christian studies in the College of Christian Studies at Anderson University (www.auministry.com). Cribb holds a Ph.D. in Old Testament theology from Southern Seminary.