LIE: Man’s biggest problem is sin

Lie:      Man’s biggest problem is sin.
Truth: Man’s biggest problem is himself.

We have met the enemy and he is us. — Pogo (cartoonist Walt Kelly)

Sin is our insistence that, despite the overwhelming odds against us, we must have it our way. Obviously this sinfulness has penetrated deeply and infected our entire being. It’s gone so deep that, apart from a miracle, nothing could be saved; sin has degraded man into a ‘ruined masterpiece.’ But sin is not the root of man’s problem; sin is not self-generating. In the final analysis we must identify the real enemy, and as Pogo said, “ . . . he is us.”

But also let me hasten to say that sin is not native to us – it is alien. It did not originate with us. It was there in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, waiting to ensnare us. But it was we who chose it, not the other way around.

So let’s distinguish these two truths:

1  Although sin existed before us and deceived us, we were still responsible for choosing it, and that made Adam the real problem.

2  Once sin invaded our being, we became ruined by it, making the problem no longer sin, but the ruined self.

In both cases then, we are the real problem.

To demonstrate the second truth, that this is not just a matter of semantics, an analogy may help: When cancer invades a lung, and the cancer is allowed to spread, eventually the cancer will so corrupt the lung that it will be ruined beyond any attempt at rejuvenation. At that point all that can be done, at least by conventional medicine, is to surgically remove it. So the cancer is no longer the problem; the problem is now the bad lung and the need for a new one.

So it is with sin and human beings. Sin has done its work and now the old humanity can no longer recover. It’s not simply a matter of cleansing away or forgiving the sin. Sin, and the death process that inevitably follows in its wake, has irrevocably done its damage and nothing can change that fact, except somehow to completely recreate a new man. And that, of course, is precisely what God has done. Yes, Jesus offered up his life as the sacrificial lamb to make atonement for our sins, but then rose up as the prototype of a new creation, a new man.

So unless we properly frame the problem we cannot and will not see the solution aright. Therefore re-framing – the problem is Adam, the old man; the solution is Christ, the new man. Nothing less will do.

But what difference does it really make whether sin or man is the biggest problem? I can think of at least four ways:

Unless we see that ruined man himself is the problem:

1  We won’t fully understand or appreciate the Incarnation. The fact that God himself became a man cannot be understood any other way. If the problem was anything less than man himself, God could have handled it remotely or in some other less personal way. But it wasn’t. The problem is man, so the Father sent the Son; God became man, to personally and directly deal with it. And deal with it, he did!

2  We won’t fully understand or appreciate the resurrection of Christ. Christ saved us, not only by atoning for our sins on the cross, but also by rising again as the new man. He overcame sin and death so that he could stand victorious with us as our present Savior and Mentor in Life. Listen to the words of Paul:

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. — I Corinthians 15:17–22 [emphasis mine]

3  We won’t fully understand or appreciate that our whole life needs salvation. Christ died and rose again to redeem every part of our life, our whole being. Yes, this includes our so-called church life, but also came to redeem our family life, work life, our food, educational, and recreational life – both the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular.’ It’s all our life and God cares about it all. So now, we have a new life to live as a man or a woman, and we have a Man in the glory to show us how to live it. He himself is our complete provision.

4  We won’t fully understand or detect the world’s alternative, false salvation: transhumanism. Somehow the world has already figured this out. The world knows that the ultimate problem is not economic or educational or cultural; no, the real problem is man himself. So their solution/salvation is trans-humanism or post-humanism depending on who you talk to – a humanism that transcends the natural limits of humanity. Using technology, they want to remake man without his biological weaknesses or proneness to disease and death. And technology is already far more advanced toward this end than most realize. We as Christians, to the extent that we remain passive and unaware of God’s great salvation, are vulnerable to this delusion.

But seeing the grandness and completeness of ruined humanity, and God’s corresponding grand and complete salvation in Christ, will keep us from blindly following this and any other mass deception. May God give us eyes to see his magnificent and complete salvation in Christ.

See also the introduction to this category: Lies about sin.