“The Forgiveness of Sins”

Thursday November 26, 2009

Psalm 98

There are two questions that offer invaluable help in assessing and analyzing almost any system of thought and belief. 

And the two questions are these -- what is the problem with this world?  And what is the solution?

What problem is being addressed, and what solutions are being offered to overcome those perceived problems?   Often, the difference between different ideological, political, philosophical and religious systems of understanding is rooted in the fact that they do not agree about the first question – that is, what the problem is – and are therefore quite divergent in their proposed answers, even if the vision or outcome is the same.

Some examples.  Both the communist and capitalist philosophical and economic system want to establish a just, equitable and sustainable life for all.  But their analyses of the problem, and therefore the solutions that are suggested, are quite radically different, leading to significant tension and conflict between these systems of thought.

In the communist system, the essential problem that it identifies is that a wide range of social injustices are rooted in a lack of control, on the part of the majority of the members of a community, over the means of production and the resources of a society. Great poverty, great inequality and great injustice is a result of this imbalanced access to power and to resources.  Its complex analysis of power and economics, at some level, is rooted in a confidence that a redistribution or sharing of power and resources into the hands of the all of the members of a community will lead to a more just, equitable and sustainable life for all.

On the other hand, a more capitalist approach would suggest that the essential problem in society is that those who work hard do not have enough freedom to benefit from the fruits of their hard work.  Hard work – in individual terms – should be rewarded to ensure that those who strive hard, make sacrifices, and take the risks that are necessary for progress to occur are not made to suffer for their diligence.  The solution is to ensure that those who work hard and those who own the capital of a society should be protected.  If the community – usually in the form of a government – is too eager to remove the capital of those who have worked hard, who have taken risks, and who have been successful, this removal of freedom and reward – usually in the form of government over-regulation and taxation -- will serve as a form of disincentive to hard work, and the standard of living for all will suffer.  If the property rights of individuals over the capital that they have worked hard to achieve are safeguarded, however, then there will be a sufficient motivation for all to work hard, competition in the marketplace will control prices and enhance the progress of a society, and all of the members of a community will enjoy a more just, equitable and sustainable life.    

But this analysis of problems and their solutions is not limited to the political or economic spheres of life.  Ancient Greek philosophers theorized that the essential problem is that people are ignorant, and that the solution is for philosophers to illumine and enlighten their societies.  The Buddhist tradition suggest that all existence is suffering, rooted in desire, and that the way to overcome this desire – and thereby end suffering – is to follow an eight-fold path.  Modern secular humanism suggests that the essential problem is that religious faiths promote intolerance and division, and the way to safeguard a just and tolerant society is to limit the influence of religion on laws, government and public thought.

Such analyses of the problems and solutions of our societies are not limited to these grand philosophical systems, however.  Even in the home, there can be quite diverse – and sometimes conflicting -- views about the nature of problems and their solutions.  In times of conflict between teenaged children and their parents, for example, teenagers often think that the problem is their parents’ control over them, and that the solution is a greater degree of autonomy, independence and freedom; while parents often think that their teenagers’ problems are rooted in a lack of maturity and responsibility, and that the solution is to maintain a level of discipline and control over their teenaged children.

In these, and in so many ways, it is intriguing for us to seek to understand both the perceived problem – and the proposed solution – when we are seeking to understand the insights and ideas that are presented to us from some system of thought or belief.

And so it is with the Christian faith. 

How, then, might we understand the Christian faith through this lens of the perceived problem with the world, and the proposed solution that it offers, what insights might we derive?

For a number of weeks, we have been making our way through the various insights and ideas that form the Apostles’ Creed.  Today, we turn our attention to one of the final clauses in it – we believe in the forgiveness of sins.

And in this simple phrase is discovered one of the most significant ways to understand both the problem, and the solution, that the Christian faith presents to this world.

So what is the perceived problem with the world, according to the Christian faith? 

In a word, the problem is sin.

There is a wide variety of definitions and understandings about what is meant by ‘sin’.  Some suggest that sin is essentially the intentional or unintentional breaking of certain divinely instituted laws for human conduct and attitude.  To commit a sin, therefore, is to breach one of these moral or ethical rules. 

For others, sin is more broadly defined as anything which separates a person from God.  God’s essential purpose for us, it is suggested, is to be in relationship – so anything which distracts us or keeps us from this primary loyalty and connection with God is sinful. 

For still others, sin is understood as the gap between ourselves and the standard of holiness and perfection that has been set for us by Christ himself.  In this understanding of sin, it is sometimes suggested that if Christ is the target to which we are aiming, the gap between the center of the target and where we happen to hit the target is considered the sin.

And these are only three of the many understandings of what constitutes sin – as the breaking of a moral law, as a distraction from God, or as a deviation from the goal or target that has been set for us by Christ.

From its opening pages, the Bible speaks of the problem of sin both directly and through its wonderful narratives and stories.  The opening pages of Genesis tell the story of the formation of the world as a place of goodness and perfection – a place in which humans were set, by God, to live in harmony with God, with the natural world, and with one another.  Because of human disobedience to God’s command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, brokenness and pain were introduced into creation.   The sin of longing to be in control, and the desire to be ‘like God’, meant that God’s intended harmony for the world was upset.

Lest we think that this is an irrelevant story, it is important for us to realize that the story of Adam and Eve was never meant to simply be a story of two individuals from long ago.  Rather, its essential message is that this is a story about all of us.  We have all been placed in a good and beautiful creation; God’s intention for each and every one of us is that we live in harmony with one another, with the world and with God; but each and every one of us makes decisions or pursues goals that are motivated by a desire to be in control – and, to a certain extent, to be like God.  Our lives, and the harmony of this world, get broken.  As the Bible clearly suggests, none of us – and no one – is perfect; all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

And the Bible also clearly suggests that there is a consequence for this brokenness.  Today’s reading from Romans articulates the consequences for this brokenness and sin.  “The wages of sin is death.”

Death, both of our physical and spiritual bodies, is the ultimate and final manifestation of the brokenness of creation.  And it is a fate that we all deserve because of our willing acquiescence to sin.  According to the Bible, God’s intention was life; humanity’s choice was disobedience and sin.  And the result is the brokenness of the world and the final manifestation of that brokenness in the annihilation of life.

So if we return to the first of the two questions that help us to understand any system of thought – that is, “what is the problem with this world?” – it becomes clear that the biblical answer to this question is that the problem is sin.   Sin brings disharmony into creation; sin destroys relationships between ourselves and others; sin upsets God’s desire to be in relationship with us.  

There is great truth in this assessment of reality.  It is not difficult to realize that the many manifestations of sin – greed, pride, lust, injustice, hatred, impatience, unkindness, to name just a few – have led to great suffering and great brokenness in the world.

But it is important that we also ponder the second question.  That is, if sin is the problem, then what is the solution?

Some might suggest that the way to overcome sin is to simply stop sinning – and a good suggestion that seems to be.  However, we all know that this is much easier said than done.  Moreover, even if we stop sinning, we also know that too much has happened in the past to undo the consequences of previous breaches of this divine intention.  We all know that even if we were to live a perfect life from now on, there will be levels of brokenness from our past actions that will continue to affect, and perhaps even to keep the world from the harmony and peace for which we all long. 

In other words, goodness in the present and good intentions about the future are not sufficient to undo the problem of sin.  Somehow, we must also find a way to overcome the brokenness of past difficulties so that we can emerge into a brighter and more promising future.

And for this reason, the Christian faith suggests that the solution to the problem of sin is the forgiveness of sins.  As Archbishop Desmond Tutu so eloquently reminded his country – and the world – in the aftermath of the apartheid regime, there can be no future without forgiveness.  And his conviction of this truth was rooted, at least in part, in the Christian belief in the forgiveness of sins.  We cannot undo the past, but we can forgive.

And it is this hope that lies at the very heart of the Gospel of Christ.  At the very heart of the good news is this conviction that there is forgiveness.  The full meaning of the cross will ever and always be beyond our human comprehension, but we believe that at the very heart of that terrible event was the process by which and through which God’s forgiving love was revealed to this world. 

And, just as God has forgiven us, so too we are called to forgive one another. 

This hope for forgiveness also re-opens, to us, God’s original intention for us and for all people – the intention for an eternally restored, eternally reconciled relationship.  And it is for that reason that the Apostles’ Creed invites u to name the problem with the world and the solution to that problem when we proclaim that “we believe in the forgiveness of sins”.