THE MYSTERIOUS TRINITY OF SIN

We live in a church culture where the only thing to say about sin is “don’t do it”, or “it is an offence to God” or even worse, “if you continue sinning you might go to hell.’  I would like to propose here that there are not one but three things the bible wants to teach us about sin.  Each aspect of this ‘dark trinity’ relates to the other two, much as all members of the Triune God relate to one another.  And just as with the Holy Trinity, when all three of these truths concerning sin are embraced in proper relationship in one’s mind, is the moment the Christian begins to understand the complex mystery of sin. So what are these three propositions about sin? 1. Sin is arch rival of all that is good and should be hated and fought against. 2. Sin is often used by God to further His purposes in glory.  3. Sin will always be a part of this present age and will never be completely eliminated. These three propositions (as with the Trinity), do not comprise a linear or logical system but an interconnecting fullness whereby each reality helps clarify and modify the other two. When we talk about sin we should know that mystery shrouds the entire topic. So let us take these three propositions one by one to see how they help us construct a biblical framework about sin.  

The first perspective of sin is one we hear the most in conservative churches. I call it the destructive view of sin. Sin is rebellion against a holy God and it deconstructs all that is good.  It is the terminal disease of the creation. Thus, our relationship to sin as moral creatures is to mortify sin in every form.  Sin is never to be accepted as normative. Thus, God’s employment of sin to further his kingdom (the second reality of sin) should never be the justification to commit it.  Nor should the fact that sin will never go away in this life (the third reality of sin) make us passive in the fight against it. On the other hand while the believer ought to make every effort to eradicate sin, he must never forget that sin is a continued reality in his life and that it plays an important role in redemptive history. Sin is therefore a complex reality that must be understood in multifaceted complexity.  Nevertheless, there must always be in the believer this very basic view of sin which holds it as a tireless intruder to all that is good and must be voided at all costs.  

The second truth about sin how it is relates to the purposes of God in history.  We can call this the providential view of sin. Here we have entered sacred mystery. Though God hates sin and cannot allow it into His presence, He nevertheless uses it in ways that perplex even the greatest theologians. The very fact that sin exists means that God in some way allowed it.  To paraphrase R.C. Sproul; though sin is never good, it is nevertheless good that there is sin because God ordained it. Christians must understand this aspect of sin; not as a warrant to sin so that ‘grace may abound’ but in order to better understand the God who is is so powerful, and so wise, that He recruits His greatest enemy to achieve His own purposes. The Old Testament is replete with illustrations of how God used sin for His glory.  Jacob must deceive father and brother in order to become the father of the Jewish nation later on.  Joseph is betrayed by his brothers, and the evil they perpetrated against him God used to save the very family that betrayed him.  And of course there is the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. What more heinous deed was ever committed by man than to kill his Creator? Preserving these first two aspects of sin Peter preaches this mystery to the Jewish crowd saying ‘Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.’ The Jews were guilty of killing their Creator, while at the same time God used that sin for man’s greater good. Noting all the instances that God used sin to further agenda to bring an ultimate good, we can therefore deduce that every event in human history has been ordained by God, and nothing more used than human sin. This reality ought to make the Christian fall on His face to worship a God who can govern history in this way.  It also should bring great comfort to those who feel their sin may have thwarted God’s agenda or their sin has permanently disqualified them for kingdom work.  It is important that believers understand that sin, though evil and hated by God, is yet one of His greatest instruments. As the hymnist rightly noted, ‘God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform’.   

The third true statement we make about sin is its permanence in the present age. We may call this the existential view of sin.  This statement simply says sin exists…. and exists…. and exists. .  It is an ongoing and substantive reality. We see it every day. And like life and light and matter and essence, sin is something ingrained in this world and will always be a permanent resident in this fallen place. Removing sin from this world would be like removing heat from light.  All Christians must come to this most sobering conclusion; fight sin as they might, they can never abolish it. No amount of human ingenuity or moral instruction can eliminate it. Like the coyote population in the west, the more man fights against sin, the faster it grows.  When we apply effort to eradicate sin, when we threaten its existence with law we only make sin worse. Paul says that ‘strength of sin is the law.’  So the more humanity fights it the stronger it gets.  This is not a truth that brings much optimism to one’s sanctification. Yet this truth is so important that if one ignores it he is drown beneath a wave of delusion or despair. How so? If a Christian actually thinks he may defeat the power of sin in his life, he finds himself at odds with clear biblical texts. For example John says, ‘if we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His word is not in us’ (1 Jn 1:10). Living as if sin can be totally conquered in his life puts the Christian in a fantasy world that eventually leads him down the road of perfectionism. On the other hand if a Christian has a tender conscience and is told that sin can be eradicated in his life he go in the other direction and fall into despair, falling into self-condemnation because he constantly falls short of a standard that is too high to meet.  This truth raises the question; ‘if every Christians sins, then how can anyone say for sure he is saved?’ The Reformations had an answer to this paradox. While admitting that sin would always be with Christians, it also believed that in a judicial sense, the Christian was perfect because of the imputed work of Christ.  ‘Simul justus and peccator’ was Luther’s famous statement to describe his own life and the life of every Christian (simultaneously just and sinner).  Believing that sin will always be an existential reality in this age is the greatest deterrent for any church to make the elimination of sin as its major focus. So many churches live on this Fantasy Island.  They yearn for a congregation of moral perfection. But this will never happen. This sort of focus only breeds a flock of Pharisees who actually think they have achieved a practical life of righteousness. Bad theology is at the root of this thinking. I knew a church where the majority of the elders believed that Romans chapter 7 dealt with a man (Paul or otherwise) before his conversion.  As a result of this false teaching, a subtle culture of pride sifted into the leadership who often walked around like peacocks believing they were actually living a righteous life. 

In sum, the Christian life is to be built on a true, multifaceted theology of sin which teaches not only the heinousness of sin but also the fact that sin is a useful instrument in the plan of God and that it will ever be an ongoing reality.  Healthy congregations are those who possess a healthy view of sin. Such a congregation will assume that sin is horrible but expected. Such a view embraces the reality that nothing will go right. If a ministry is planned, pride, overzealousness and apathy will always accompany it.  If sinners are trying to break bad habits by the Spirit, they must know that sin will always rise up and retard spiritual progress.  When people are praying to love others they must know that fits of selfishness and coldness will come upon them at the most inopportune time.  A right view of sin helps us deal with failures.  And when Christians understand the ongoing power of sin spiritual declensions will be received as the norm and not the exceptions. To know that sin will never go away is far from endorsing its commission. Hatred of sin and appreciation of how God uses it must be held in parallel tension.

So the three truths about sin comprise a theology that will lead to a well-balanced, sane, winsome, truthful and consistent Christian life.  Living in light of these truths will help a Christian avoid three errors that often impair spiritual growth. First, believing that sin is a horrible reality that destroys the created world and that which ultimately murdered God will keep the believer in a state of healthy sobriety as he considers the power of this evil.  Fearing the power of sin is the first step toward fighting this nasty spiritual virus.  Second, knowing that sin is often used by God to achieve His purposes elevates the Christian mind to the glory of God as He works in history. Who but God can turn the opposition of one’s chief rival to achieve an ultimate good?  Who can turn the murder of one’s Son into a salvation that will one day cover the planet with the aroma of grace?  Only God can do this and the Christian can and should worship the God who employs sin for His own glory and for man’s salvation.  And third, a firm belief in the permanent presence of sin in this age will cause believers to stand in awe of that which ultimately came to defeat sin for all time: the cross of Jesus Christ.  If sin is so powerful that none can eradicate it, then how glorious must the One who brought victory over sin be?  And that is the beauty of the gospel.  Where ‘sin abounded’, and abound it did, ‘grace did much more super-abound’ – and boy did grace abound on that cross!  So believer, exult in the greatest victory ever achieved!  Jesus Christ came to destroy sin and the works of the devil. And the more one sees sin, fears sin, feels the power of sin, the more one will lift up the cross of Jesus Christ. And that is the best thing sin has ever done.