Think Wink.

At Theology for the Masses there is, basically, round 2 of the debate on Original Sin and Total depravity.  I must say this time that I am attempting to debate this in a more calm fashion than the last time.  My Irish temper came out in that last debate and I was too agressive and not very gracious and merciful and understanding.  So now I am just sticking to arguing with the post itself and I also have a limit to how many responses I will make in the post.  My limit is four and I have posted three comments to the site.  This is not comment number four but I do want to examine a problem I am seeing the argument presented.  There is no real grasp of the power of sin over humans.  I want to be careful and state from the beginning that the author of that post knows of the deadly results of sin and the grave situation that sin causes.  But his argumentation has a basic assumption that is contrary to the Bible: we control sin by our decisions and actions, but sin does not control us.

The text I want to highlight is Romans 6:12, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.”  Notice what sin does in this verse: it reigns and it causes obedience.  Sin is more than just mere action and thought.  It is deeper than that and its reality is greater than that.  It is a power that controls and rules over people.  Sin isn’t just deeds that we do, it is greater than that.  It isn’t just the thoughts we think, it flows deeper than that.  Sin controls and rules over us.  It causes us to obey it.  It fights dirty too.  Sin is nasty.  It works through desires, hence the word “passions” in the text.  Where do our actions and thoughts flow from?  Our desires, our affections, our passions.  Here the words of Christ in Mark 7:20-23,

20 And [Jesus] said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

It is from the heart, the seat of the desires of the man that comes forth all of our sinful thoughts and deeds.  It’s more than just willing and running.  It goes down into the very pits of who we are, into the very root of our souls, and sets up its throne to manipulate us.

Now there is a very important exegetical insight I must share in understanding how sin controls us.  Sin is not just desires either.  Our thoughts, our deeds, and our passions are not sinful.  The Greek literally reads, “Let not reign sin in the mortal your bodies into the obedience of the passions of it.”  The pronoun “it” or “its” in Romans 6:12 is a neuter term and modifies passions.  So in the text, the pronoun must agree with a neuter term.  Sin is a feminine term and therefore cannot be modified by “its.”  Thus the passions are not the passions of sin in a direct sense.  The Greek term “body” is a neuter term and is most likely the noun that “its” refers to.  The passions refer to those of the body.  Thus sin rules and forces the bodily passios to become its servant, but the passions are not directly sin’s passions, only indirectly.

Now, we must then realize that sin is not the mere disobedience from the law.  It is greater than that.  Jesus said in John 8:34, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.”  Sin is a power that takes people captive and rules over them on the throne of our souls: our hearts and desires.  From there it manipulates our minds to think counter to the will of God.  From there is manipulates our actions to run counts to the law of God.  It is a power that controls.

Related posts:

Puritan Wisdom and Sin

Making Sense of a Cruel World.

One More Question

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