Sin and Sinners

Let us go a step further in our understanding of sinfulness.

We want to further understand this law at work in our members. In the Christian classic, The Confessions, St. Augustine confesses about his prodigal years. He recounts a certain story where he stole a pear. This is rather inconsequential, except for the fact that he was rich. His family had it all. And yet, he still stole a pear from someone else's tree. In writing and considering the event, he comes to find that he stole the pear from no need or want but rather from a lust. A sinful lust. He delighted in the pear not from its deliciousness, but from his own sinfulness. He delighted in the wrongness of his having that pear.

Here in this story, we have a wonderful illustration of sin. It lives within us. It is at work inside of us. It produces actions. We do occasionally sin, but so much more than that, we are sinful. It is a part of our nature before the work of Christ in us. Only two men have ever been without sin, one was Adam and one is Jesus. Adam was a morally neutral agent before the Fall, but since the fall has taken place, all of humanity has been plunged into sinfulness.

Here is where we find ourselves. We are born with inherited sinfulness. As Matt Chandler puts it, you don't have to teach a child to be selfish. They are naturally. They know on their own how to throw a fit. We are naturally selfish as well. It is assumed that people do what benefits themselves best. It is the backbone of studies like economics. We, by nature, love attention, love adoration from others, love self-worship wherever we can get it. We are born like this. What can be done? Who can deliver us from this body of death?

Thanks be to Christ who has made a way for us! We can be freed. Jesus Christ was born, not of man, but of the Spirit. He lived a perfectly holy life and died a sacrificial death. By faith, we can become partakers of the great exchange: Christ's righteousness (holiness) for our sinfulness. We can become indwelt by the Holy Spirit and can be freed from our sinfulness. While we will not ever be completely freed from our sin in this life, we can be freed from its dominion. We can experience freedom from our own selfishness and can serve others out of a generous heart.