St. PaulThinkers

Sin is a mighty power in the bonds of which humanity suffers. Therefore, redemption must be the sole act of God with no human involvement.

Sin is a world-ruling power, or personified principle, which makes men his captives, shuts them up in prison, and pronounces condemnation upon them.

Sin is an insidious power that creates a destructive condition that ultimately must be reversed, and from which one must be freed in the meantime.

Sin is more powerful than even the holy law of God because sin resides in the self... it is already there when the law appears, so that it is in a position to pervert and thwart even the good which one intends.

Sin is not a list of wrong acts but a cosmic influence, a personified power. It is not something we do, but a power come into the world that claims us, enslaves us, and demands its wages.

Sin is not an act or a psychological phenomenon, but a force or power outside of us, a power that can make a prisoner of man.

Sin is not just 'being naughty'... sin is not just breaking a rule. Sin is when we forget the big space of grace and it can only be understood against the space of grace.

Sin is not only a single deed but a universal context within which all persons find themselves. Human individuals are from the very beginning of their lives placed within a condition of collective sinfulness so that they no longer have the.

Sin is not simply a social phenomenon, a wronging of other people. On the most fundamental level it is anything that violates the will of God, but moreso (especially in romans), it concerns pagans, and focuses less on their violation of the laws of God, and more on their throughgoing disregard for God himself. Sin is thus a concern for how the entire world is tragically alienated from God.

Sin is not simply culpable wrongdoing, but more fundamentally a power, a kind of force-field that 'has come into the world through one man. The problem it poses is only secondarily one of guilt... more fundamentally. The problem is bondage. What is needed is not forgiveness per se... until the power of sin is nullified, forgiveness does not get at the root of the problem. What is needed, rather, is liberation.

Sin is not so much about the choices we make to do this or not do that, but about an even more basic loss of freedom and power to make good choices at all. Sin is thus the loss of freedom and power to become who we were meant to be.

Sin is not so much an act or an action as it is a whole orientation toward reality. The sinful act is a symptom of sin (like pain is a symptom of problems in our bodies) signaling that state of being alienated from the center of our lives, the God we know in Jesus christ.

Sin is not so much an offense as it is a power. It is a dual polarity paradigm, if you will, that holds power over us. It is a life driven by death or the fear of death.

Sin already ruled even before the age of moses and the law but without the law there is no reckoning of sin. The law, with its prohibitions, only increases sin.

Sin is the whole fabric of life lived in denial of the reality of a loving and merciful God. It is where all of us live, whatever we happen to be doing at the moment good or bad when we go about life as if the God of Jesus christ did not exist.