Archbishop writes: Escape sin’s addictive power

Much modern Christianity neglects the law, leading to a weak doctrine of sin and a diminished trust in Christ, writes PETER JENSEN.

Whether we like it or not, sin is part of the human personality. One of the uses of God’s law is that of a spiritual mirror in which we may examine ourselves and find out the truth.

It concerns me that in much modern Christianity the law of God is neglected. Of course it needs to be interpreted in the light of the whole Bible – and of course Christians have been set free from the condemnation of the law. But the law still enables us to know ourselves and to know what pleases the Lord, both very useful to our Christian obedience.

When we listen to what the Bible has to say about sin we discover that it teaches that sin is pervasive, addictive and disabling.

Sin is pervasive: that is, it is a feature of the whole community. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is only one exception to this rule and that is the Lord Jesus himself. The pervasiveness of sin is so much a fact of life that we tend to make adjustments for it and ignore it. That is why we need to be reminded of it from time to time. It certainly means that we cannot entrust anyone – ourselves included – with absolute power. That is one of the reasons why I am opposed to such developments as voluntary euthanasia. It suggests that we are trustworthy, morally innocent, fundamentally good persons.

Sin is addictive: The Lord Jesus himself said that if we commit sin we are a slave to sin. Even in a regenerate life, the power of sin, conscious and unconscious, affects us.

I believe that we can and should make progress in our struggle against sin in the power of the Spirit, but the fight goes on until we die. In some ways it becomes more difficult, as we realise the extent and depth of our faults.

Sin is disabling: we cannot save ourselves from the power or the penalty of sin. That is why the Christian faith is not essentially a code of ethics. It is a gospel of salvation. It is only through God’s power in Christ that we may escape the power and the rightful penalty of sin.

And that is why a weak doctrine of sin has bad consequences. It will diminish our sense of the debt we owe to Jesus, and hence our trust in him alone. A weak doctrine of sin leads to a weak doctrine of the atonement. 

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