So, perhaps this blog is turning into a sermon blog... But, my sermon this week is on Romans 7. And I think it helped me to articulate sin as a concept that I am constantly wrestling with- especially in terms of the systemic nature of sin- which then I think definitely applies to the situation in Israel/Palestine as well as any system of oppression, political or otherwise that ends op destroying life or the opportunity to live fully.
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Proper 9
Romans 7:15-25a
To all God’s beloved, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. AMEN
St. Paul often gets the reputation of an antinomian- that is someone who is opposed to the law. At the time that he was writing his letters to early Christian congregations, one of the things he had to overcome was the emphasis of Judaism on the law- the torah- the rules and regulations that were to frame a person’s entire life. Because of this, Paul sort of makes the law an opponent- something that he is continually arguing against.
But Paul wasn’t antinomian, he wasn’t against the law. In fact, he often talked about how he himself actually upheld the law, he lived according to the law, Jewish practices and regulations, quite well.
In addition, in the section of Paul’s letter to the Romans that we read today, he tries to show that it isn’t the law that is his opponent. Prior to this section, Paul has already claimed that the law comes from God. The law is spiritual, Paul says.
The problem then lies in sin, and subsequently the law in relationship to sin.
Sin- it’s a word that we can use quite flippantly, or perhaps we speak the word and talk about sin but do we really dwell on it?
It’s a sin to curse. Lots of people take their vacation in Las Vegas, the city of sin.
We confess our sins in our corporate confession together, often at the beginning of a church service.
Every time we pray the Lord’s prayer we ask God to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Or, in another version of the prayer, we ask God to forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Our word for transgression or trespass, the word sin has been around since the tenth century- it’s an old English word probably with roots in German that means offense or misdeed.
And of course the concept of sin has been around since the beginning of time.
But I suppose this morning we ought to deal with the sin in the context of Paul’s letters and how it relates to our own lives.
Paul talks about sin almost as a personified thing, something that stands outside of us that then influences and manipulates us into doing this that we shouldn’t or don’t necessarily want to do- things that are against the law- God’s law, mostly- but it could probably apply to laws put forth by governments.
This sin, this power that works against our good somehow dwells within us- so much so that even though we may know what the right thing is to do, we don’t do it. It’s almost as if sin takes on a systemic nature- flowing into every aspect of a person’s being, and subsequently entire communities until it infiltrates the whole word.
It’s not good news. In fact it is terrifying really- something that most of us would rather not admit; I daresay some of us here may even deny it.
The way that I often understand sin is that it is a kind of brokenness. With sin, we as human beings are not whole and therefore our relationships and our communties- in fact our entire world, is not whole- rather it is broken.
Sin is something that destroys life. It takes away the life giving possibilities in us, in our communities, and in the world.
I would assume that everyone here has sinned at one point or another- and I would suggest that we are all in a perpetual state of sin- and all our deeds and actions will not deliver us out of that state of sin. There is no self-help book you can buy or episode of Oprah that you can watch that will get you out of the state of sin- that will remove sin from your person, from your relationships, from our world.
Maybe I’m speaking in too general terms.
Now religion has spent millennia trying to figure out sin- so I don’t expect to hash it all out here and now- but one question that frequently arises is in regard to the levels of sin- firstly, are there levels of sin? Are there sins that are worse than others? Surely murder is worse than running a red light. And secondly, what are those levels and how do we determine them?
Perhaps it would be worthwhile to try to articulate levels of sin and that way we can determine where we fall within the spectrum of sin. I may sin- I may take the Lord’s name in vain and I know I’ve gone over the speed limit, but I’ve never killed another human being. Surely a murder is a worse sinner than me!
Perhaps, but perhaps also sin is so pervasive and cunning that although I have never killed anyone I pay taxes to a government that supports torture in certain instances, I purchase clothing from companies that use sweatshops and child labor, I eat food that has been cultivated and harvested by people who do not have status in this country. If I am not contributing to these people lives, am I contributing to their deaths?
If I do not do things in the name of Christ or act out of love, what am I doing? Am I acting in my own self-interest, in my own self-preservation- and to what end? If someone does something that you do not approve of, that you disagree with- what do you do? Do you get angry? Do you decide that you no longer want to be in relationship with that person? Do you gossip or talk about what that person behind his or her back rather than try to come to some sort of reconciliation in your differences?
Maybe my talk about systemic sin and the sin of unjust judgment that leads to a breakdown in relationship are not equal. But that in itself is the deception of sin. It is so pervasive, it becomes so entangled in our lives that we try and justify little sins as no big deal.
A white lie is still a lie.
Perhaps a little sin is still a sin.
And so- here we are, stuck in a pervasive, tangled web of sin with no hope of getting ourselves out of it- in fact, we may only become more enmeshed the more we try to get out of it ourselves.
Because we know that we want to do better. We wouldn’t be here, gathering every week if we didn’t think that we were fundamentally good people trying to do right in the world as God, through Jesus Christ, has called us to do.
But at the same time- sin is pervasive even in this room, in this sanctuary- hate, judgment, transgression have all happened here among us.
And as we are bound in sin, sin has a really amazing way to continue to act in and through us, in spite of ourselves.
Paul writes- I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in myself another principle at war with the principle of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in me. Wretched one that I am.
So what can we do?
Simply know this.
We are saved by God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are stuck and we can’t free ourselves.
But, Jesus Christ came and lived among us teaching us about God’s mercy and steadfast love and that confessing our sins we will be freed through Jesus Christ.
It is Jesus Christ alone who grants the power to forgive sins. It is Jesus Christ alone who went up onto a cross, freely, condemned unjustly, and died for your sake and mine- not so we would feel guilty about it- not so we would feel that we are so terrible and would could never pay back the gift that has been given to us. In fact, we can’t pay back the gift. But, Christ died to reveal the way to triumph over sin, to grant grace and forgiveness to the whole world.
In the sin that was Christ’s condemnation and crucifixion is our very freedom from sin.
In his weakness and suffering is Christ’s full power and glory demonstrated- not in the way that we think it ought to be, but in the way that God demonstrated it through Christ.
In his death is our life.
So, into his death we have been brought down to death- so even though sin may be pervasive and it may seem that we liver perpetually in it- there is one who has taken us up out of that muck and web of sin and gives a new everlasting life.
Sin may live and dwell in us- but we do not dwell in it. You are here because you dwell in Christ Jesus- the one who bathes you and feeds you through his word of grace and truth. Sin could never prevail against this one and will not have the final say. Yes it is here, it breaks down our relationships we sin against one another and the world- but because of Jesus Christ, our lives and our love for one another and the world and built up even more. Because the love from Jesus and through Jesus is more powerful than sin- it is more powerful than death and so the only thing that we can do, that we have been freed to do is to live fully, to live fully in him and for him and for the sake of the world. We have been freed from our sin so that we can name it for what it is, so that we can say no to the systemic nature of sin, to the systems that we are still a part of, but through Christ we have the power and the love to change them.
So thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
