Rethinking Sin

breaking free of legalism and behavior-driven religion

Photo by Jack Lucas Smith

If you’ve spent any time in Christian fundamentalism or conservative evangelicalism, then you probably understand hyper-fixation on sin. There seems to be a constant calling out of certain behaviors as sin and an avoiding of places, actions, or objects because they might be sinful. We often feel the need to over-evaluate our interactions, obsess about things we said or didn’t say, and worry about how we came across to others. We police our own behaviors, words, and motives, and we become excellent at policing others’ as well. Constantly trying to avoid sin is an anxiety inducing and exhausting way to live because it is all about control. Well, if we are going to be honest, it’s about control and pretending to be in control while hiding the truth.

Too often in conservative, fundamental, and legalistic circles, sin management is about body management. We follow a list of strict rules so that our bodies do not sin or do not cause other people to sin. Fear and pride are often lurking behind this control, which is why we hide and pretend if we aren’t good enough at controlling ourselves. The god of behavior-driven religion wants us to perform, will bless us if we perform, and will like us better if we are performing well. We avoid outward sins in an attempt to make god happy, gain his approval, and above all avoid his punishments. (I am purposely not capitalizing god in this paragraph because the god who demands religious, behavior control is not the Real God.)

Often people who are stuck in this mindset of sin will still tell you that salvation is a free gift, but they will also express that once you are saved, you need to be obedient. I can’t help but think that their understanding of salvation is basically a “get-out-of-hell-free” card that still demands works. They are fixated on human efforts, sin control, and behavior modification. What exactly is their salvation doing for them besides saving them from hell? My understanding of salvation has grown, changed, and expanded so much over the years that this fundamentalist view feels completely false to me. It is a false gospel based on Gnostic ideology that doesn’t understand what it means to be holistically human. This false gospel also doesn’t know the Real Jesus and his Real Father God. Just saying.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦

I found a really interesting secular article explaining Gnosticism—which was considered a heresy by the early church fathers. The part of Gnosticism that Christians seem repeatedly enamored with is the belief that the body and anything physical is bad, and only spiritual things are good. For whatever reason, it is easy for us to separate ourselves into parts instead of seeing ourselves as holistic people. We are physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental beings all at the same time. Our various parts influence the other parts, but they cannot and should not be separated.

For more information on Gnosticism, check out this podcast episode I did a few years back:

#10 Evangelical Gnosticism (S1E10)

Yet, many Christians seem to think that sin is purely physical, purely part of our body, and something that can be controlled if we try hard enough. They don’t understand that sin is a brokenness that affects our whole self. It is the thing that twists our understanding and makes us susceptible to lies. Sin is the deep self-centeredness that colors everything. We cannot get rid of it by human effort or good behavior. It is part of us. Ironically, even things that are considered good and godly—like reading the Bible—could be sin if they were done with a prideful, legalistic attitude. Sin is everywhere.

While I don’t think we need to hyper-fixate on sin, be consumed with guilt and shame, or focus on trying to control our behavior so that we never sin, I also don’t think we can dismiss sin or pretend that it doesn’t exist. Sin is real. And it affects our world every day bringing about decay, separation, and death.

Dr. Eitan Barr is an Israeli-Jewish follower of Jesus with multiple advanced degrees in Bible and theology. After being a leader for over twenty years in a fundamentalist Christian movement, Eitan Barr deconstructed his faith. He now seeks to combine his Jewish native, Hebrew speaking background, and his advanced Christian education to provide a fresh and timely perspective on Christian beliefs and doctrines. I thoroughly enjoy the way Dr. Barr makes me stop and think. Here are some of his thoughts on sin:

“Our brains are holistic, which means that we have much less patience when our battery runs low. For example, if we are hungry, sleep deprived, or stressed, we make far worse decisions. This is because we are a holistic body-spirit organism. The interplay between what is happening inside and outside of us affects our feelings, thoughts, and decisions. Our physical state affects our mental state, and vice versa.

I might be somewhat impatient if you nag me before my morning coffee or if I woke up sick. I am also more likely to be rude if it’s a hot and humid August day and you do not care enough to put on deodorant. However, if you came to me in the evening, smelling good and offering me a glass of delicious pinot noir and a ribeye steak, I would likely beam at you. It is not because I am evil in the mornings and righteous in the evenings. It’s because I am human.”

Later in his article Dr. Barr says this:

“We are responsible for our decisions and therefore bear the responsibility for our wrongdoings. But while sometimes people sin as a pure reflection of evil, more often than not, people sin because they are under pressure, in survival mode, don’t understand, or for many other reasons. Whatever the reason, there is almost always more to blame than just the person who committed the offense.”

One of the biggest problems with behavior policing and body control is the fact that it makes us feel like we can do something about our sin. We just need to stop it. But focusing on outwardly stopping sin doesn’t make us curious, and it doesn’t heal our broken hearts. Check out this example.

The other day I had a fight with my husband. I said some unkind things in the heat of emotion. If I were merely focused on sin as behavior, I would have felt guilt over my words and the fight we had. I would have decided that I needed to be better at submitting to him and controlling my tongue. I would have put more effort in next time and instead of expressed my feelings and frustrations, I would have stuffed them down and stayed silent, and I probably would have felt like I succeeded in being less sinful.

But that’s not who I am anymore.

This time I recognized that I got pretty emotional and said some unkind things. I stopped to be curious, and I asked the Holy Spirit to help me understand. One of the topics of our fight was something that triggered me from back in the cult days. I realized that I was still believing a lie about myself and projecting that lie onto my husband. As I allowed the Holy Spirit to speak truth about me, I felt the lie release. I did not feel shame because I am confident in God’s love and in my husband’s love. Once I understood what had happened, I went and apologized to my husband. We talked it through and our relationship was restored. Do you see the difference? I’m not ignoring sin, but I’m also not fixating on it or trying to stop it myself. Instead, I am allowing the Holy Spirit to sit with me, sift through the mess, speak truth, and restore my soul. Because that’s the gospel.

We aren’t obsessed with removing all sin from our lives, because we understand that we can’t. We know it’s something we will always live with while we are here in this world. We also understand that the point isn’t to be sinless, it’s to be reconnected and restored because of Jesus.

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

It is important to remember as we talk about sin that we are not defined by our sin. While we will sin, we are defined by the image of God that each of us holds. We were made in God’s likeness. This is what makes us so complicated as humans. We are both broken and beautiful. People hold capacity for amazing good and horrifying evil. Like it or not, sin is always going to be part of our experience in this broken world. The good news is that it’s not something we have to deal with on our own.

Jesus conquered evil, sin, and death on the cross. He restored our relationship with God as the torn curtain in the temple proves. The Holy Spirit is here within us remaking us into the people we were created to be. As we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and allow him to turn our stony hearts into hearts of flesh, we will be renewed. It’s not something we have to generate in our own strength. It’s a power that we submit to as his life flows through our veins. Sin loses it’s power as we become like Jesus. When our hearts change, our behaviors change too. Look at these verses!

“For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be constituted righteous. Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life” Romans 5:17-6:4 (NET).

That is good news! That is the gospel.

I’m going to close with a video of an Eastern Orthodox priest explaining salvation. It’s something you may have seen before if you’ve followed me for any length of time. When someone tells me that I sound Orthodox when I talk about salvation, that is the highest compliment. This video touches my heart and makes me tear up every time I watch it. I hope it encourages you too!

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As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments. You can find me on Threads, Instagram, Facebook, in the Substack app, and on my website. I’d love to connect with you on any of these places!

My podcasts, Religious Rebels and Looking for the Real God can be found here on Substack, and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and anywhere you listen to podcasts.