Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5
I broke off last time intending to share a couple of
personal experiences which have a bearing on the mystery of “original sin”, how
it can seem baffling and even unjust.
First, a conversation with a fine, committed Christian
whose life had turned out hard; she had shed many tears. Hearing her share her
sorrows I tried – no doubt very clumsily – to offer some sort of comfort: she
had at least received the gift of life, and there had been some times of
joy and happiness, that sort of thing. To which she replied, not bitterly or
angrily, but in a purely matter-of-fact way: “Yes, but to be honest I think
that if I had been given the choice, I would have said No, thank you”.
It wasn’t easy to respond to that! It certainly wasn’t a
time for a lecture on the sin of ingratitude! (Or so I felt, anyway – you may
think differently.) She was, after all, only doing what Job did when he “cursed
the day of his birth” (Job 3:1), but in a far gentler way. She was simply
daring to say, “I just can’t see the justice of God in the way the world is,
and in the way my own life in particular has panned out”.
Second, a conversation with an older man who was explaining
his decision not to become a Christian: “If God knows all things, then he must
have known that it would all go wrong! So why did he persevere with his plan?
It has led to so much pain and sorrow…”
Again, it wasn’t easy to know how to respond (I was still a
teenager at the time, and had only been a Christian a matter of months). As I
got to know the Bible a little in the coming years I came across passages like
Romans 9:19-21, words written by Paul (admittedly in a rather different context):
“Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to
the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this…?”
In other words… God is God. He only does what is good and
right, however hard it is for us to understand. There are those who accuse Paul
of offering not an explanation but, putting it bluntly, a cop-out in those
verses. Well, that may be their choice. But what can we do, ultimately, but
tremble and bow the knee? – and cling by faith to the hope that one day we will
see it all clearly (as, of course, Job did)?
Those two stories don’t prove anything. But they do
illustrate how, even in our own modern world, the question of “original sin”
remains a mystery, whether to a Christian or a non-Christian.
So let’s go back to the question: Am I a sinner because
I sin, or do I sin because I am a sinner?
My friend Peter, who posed the question, felt that we have
to say Yes to both parts. And that, surely, is right. Our consciences, even
before we become Christians, produce in us a sense of guilt when we think, say
or do something wrong. But it’s also a plain fact that we are born into the
world with that tendency to do wrong which is our inheritance from Adam and
Eve.
We can, if we like, shake our fists at God (he can take it)
or tie ourselves in knots trying to work it all out; but ultimately we will be
wasting time and energy. Better by far to recognise Satan, the enemy within, as
a sinister reality, and to do battle with him day by day. Explanations can wait
until that day when “God will wipe every tear from their eyes”, when “there
will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of
things (yes, including sin!) has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Above all, let’s not forget the greatest truth of all: a
human being has been born into this world who lived and died victorious over
all sin. Jesus wasn’t sinless because his mother had been preserved from
sin; Mary was a sinner like every other woman and man. No, he was sinless
because, where Adam had yielded, he prevailed. When Satan came to do to him,
the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), what he had originally done to the first
Adam, he was sent on his way.
That’s the main thrust of the second part, the rather
tricky part, of Romans 5. Yes, the curse of sin is something we inherit from
birth – each of us, if you like, becomes our own Adam or Eve, and we become
responsible. But that curse is lifted by the second Adam, and we are made free.
By faith we have entered into his victory, and the day will
come when that victory will be completed by final resurrection. It was said of
Jesus’ encounter with Satan that “the devil left him, and angels came and
attended him” (Matthew 4:11).
And that’s exactly what one day they will do for us too!
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing
out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Who
has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him
and for him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. Romans
11:33-36
No comments:
Post a Comment