-->

Sunday, May 25, 2008

On Sin

We ought never to be content with our sin, for this denies the justice and righteousness of God and - what's more - the power of God to overcome our sin,to bring reconciliation, new life and transformation.

But we also ought not to be impatient with our sin, for this denies God's grace and decision that we are acceptable in Christ, substituting for it a notion of needing to 'make ourselves acceptable', which is to say, self-righteousness and legalism. It is only a short step from that to the autonomous 'self-made man'.

Labels: , ,

2 Comments:

Blogger Crimson Rambler said...

lovely...and somewhere Julian reflects that it would be most ungracious to blame God for [our] sin ...as he does not blame US for it!

Saturday, May 31, 2008 3:09:00 AM  
Blogger Jason said...

Yes!
And at the same time, since we are established by and in grace, we are also able to claim our sin as our own, even while we are confident in God that this is not the final word on who we are. So there is a sense in which, because of grace, we are freed to be blameworthy, to take responsibility for ourselves - and yet also because of grace, we are able to view ourselves as more than simply a problem to be solved or denied*, but established in and by God in the deepest love so that we may be both discontented and patient with sin: both our own and others'.


* 'Blame' can sound like scapegoating or a reduction of the mystery and extent of sin to something managed and finite: I'd want to avoid that.

Saturday, May 31, 2008 12:09:00 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home