The Reality of Sin

As we continue our series of studies from Dr. R.C. Sproul’s A Shattered Image, our driving concern this week will be the effects of man’s fall into sin, the event that rendered human beings incapable of fully reflecting the image of God. What did sin do to us, and how do we and God regard the presence of sin in our lives?

The book that bears the name of the prophet Habakkuk is presented in the form of a dialogue with God. Habakkuk struggled mightily to understand the moral corruptions of his time and the looming external threat of the growing Babylonian empire. But even more than that, he was troubled by God’s seeming indifference to the plight of His people and the success of the wicked. His confusion was bolstered by Biblical truths about God. One such truth was given voice in a powerful way as Habakkuk brought his concerns to prayer. In asking why the pagans were triumphing, he declared, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness” (Hab. 1:13a). This simple statement presents an awesome truth—that God is holy, so pure that He cannot stand even a cursory glance at evil.

We tend to forget this truth, or perhaps we never grasp it in the first place, because we are so different as a result of the Fall. Unlike God, we can and do tolerate all sorts of wrong things. In fact, we tend to be more disconcerted by great negative reactions against evil than by evil itself. We have to do this, of course, in order to live with ourselves and others. But we tend to go much too far with this defensive mechanism, excusing our sin in all sorts of ways. One of the chief ways we do this is very subtle—simply put, we redefine what it means to be human. We see this in the way we blithely toss off the phrase “To err is human” when we do wrong. To speak this way is to say that sin cannot be helped, that it is just the inevitable consequence of the way we are are; when this phrase is used, the speaker usually intends to say, “I couldn’t help it.” But while all humans are sinful and therefore all err, sin is not of the essence of what it means to be human. We were not created sinful, and those who have been redeemed have been given new natures that are capable of not sinning. We are called to put our sin to death with the help of God’s Spirit, that we might reflect His holiness.