Sold under Sin
I find myself thinking of sin today, no doubt partially because of the vibes of the Easter season. This is the season when sin is ceremonialised, Christians and Jews taking the Communion or the Passover in remembrance of Jesus' death and his power over sin through his resurrection from the dead. Jesus died, Christian scripture tells us, for the sins of all mankind throughout human history - history including the present since the present shifts into history all the time - and he was resurrected to eternal life so that all of us, wherever in time we have lived, might have a chance at salvation from sin. So what is sin? In the inimitably arresting language of the St. James version, its wages are death - eternal death - so if we want to continue after the first ordained death, we had better know, hadn't we?
But how can we know when the scriptures on it are hard to interpret and Christian denominations and ministries are divided over its definition? Some say it is the transgression of the law (of the complete Ten Commandments) while others disagree, holding that it is the transgression of the spiritual law (of love) which is inscribed into the heart of the repentant, converted, saved or born-again for individual interpretation and expression within the community of believers. Some say it is attitude and action contrary to the conscience that is being taught and guided by the Holy Spirit that dwells within the believer, but others enter the qualification that the shape of such a conscience, though it is developed in individuals, is specified in scripture apart from individuals and can be known without appeal to individual stages of understanding and growth.
Some say it includes actions such as drinking strong drink, eating certain kinds of food, playing cards, betting, ironing/straightening the hair, going to the cinema, and dancing (especially win(d)ing), while others are amazed and bemused by the prohibitions. Some say it includes homosexuality, but others are sickened by the idea. Some say it includes replacing Saturday by Sunday as the Sabbath or official holy day for special worship, but others counter with the view that the Sabbath is today not a 24-hour day but rather the broader Christian experience of Christ living his life within believers and, accordingly, giving them rest from the privations of sin.
And, of course, there is the bold view that the 'Church', whatever that means, has the authority to (re)define sin! Which is to say that, given changing social conditions and new human behaviours not available when the good book was inspired, it is not enough to rely on old definitions; the 'Church' must read the times and redefine the concept accordingly.
So, how do we know? As Trinbagonian Child would say, 'By faith, I guess.' Faith that God will show us the right attitudes, the right actions, and the right path. Which brings the matter right down to individual behaviour and responsibility.
By faith, then, we believe that we sin, and by faith we understand that sin is whatever we understand it to be. According to Paul (in Rom. 8 in particular), even though we are believers, we are 'sold under sin'. Sin is 'a law in [the believer's] members', in tension and at war with another law, 'the law of God', which is 'the law of [the believer's] mind'. An interesting opposition, that: sin as a law of the members versus righteousness as a law of the mind. It is as if sin is entirely corporeal while righteousness is entirely mental, a concept that is exceedingly difficult to grasp to the extent that we are accustomed thinking that physical action has its base in the mind.
To compound matters (or is it to clarify them?), Paul disconnects the believer from the sin s/he commits. (Sin, you see, is not only corporeal law; it is also things you do.) Saying that sinful actions are actions that he disallows, hates, and does not wish to commit, he reasons that if he nonetheless commits them, it cannot be he that commits them but the sin, that is, the corporeal law. Read it yourself in verse 20!: 'Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.'
Fantastic! Sin with a life and character of its own, blameable apart from the person in whom it dwells who may have a mental righteousness, itself with a life and character of its own.
I suppose that is why we need to be resurrected to eternal life. Jesus showed the way. The sinful body simply has to go, and the righteous mind (with an appropriate body) must prevail.
But why have the sinful body in the first place?
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