Re-reading Augustine’s Confessions has reminded me again of how sin needs to be taken seriously.
Augustine is honest both about his actions and the thoughts and motivations that shape those actions.
In Riga over the weekend, I was assigned Romans 3:9–31. The passage begins with a series of Old Testament quotations that make it plain that sin is pervasive in human beings. It is not so much that we are as bad as we could be, but that sin pervades every aspect of our personality, our thoughts, motivation, words, actions and relationships.
Paul reminds his readers that no-one is righteous, no-one understands and no-one seeks God: “… the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:9–18)
It is this awareness that prompted Augustine to pray earnestly,
“My soul’s house is too meagre for you to visit; enlarge it. It is falling down; rebuild it. Inside it are things that would disgust you to see; I confess this and know it. But who is going to clean it?” (Augustine Confessions, Ruden’s translation)
The great thing about Paul’s words in Romans chapter 3 is that he shows us how we might be made clean through the sacrificial death of Jesus. Paul wants to make sure that everybody realises that this cleansing is needed by all and offered to all.
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:22–24)
I was helped by Tom Wright and Fleming Rutledge to see why Paul’s dark view of sin is necessary to grasp the importance of the death of Christ for us.
“The charge of universal sinfulness is of course as controversial today as ever … if humans are not deeply sinful the gospel is no longer astonishing; indeed, it is not good news at all, since there is no problem to which it was the shocking, startling answer … Paul’s denunciations, for all those who have ears to hear, are always hinting at the solution. His robust faith in God’s forgiving faithfulness enables him to call a spade a spade.” (Tom Wright)
It is our appreciation of the divine remedy for sin that helps us to be honest about the condition that required it.
“So catastrophic a remedy demands a dramatic predicament. The crucifixion of Jesus is of such a magnitude that it must call forth a concept of sin that is large enough to match it.” (Fleming Rutledge)
Preachers must preach a nuanced view of sin so that people can see why they need to be saved, but also a full expression of the depth and availability and efficacy of God’s salvation in Christ.
When humans hear about sin we either deny or despair.
For those who deny: read the newspapers.
For those who despair: listen to the tender puritan Richard Sibbes:
“There is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in us.”
Photo by Judy Beth Morris on Unsplash