Views of Sin
April 15th, 2010
People can have three different views of sin:
1) Some people are indifferent to sin. They have no inner awareness of right and wrong, or they have their own preferences that govern their lives.
2) Others are ambivalent to sin. Ambivalence is the simultaneous and contradictory desire to do something and not do something. It is being attracted and repulsed at the same time. This is the struggle against sin that Paul describes in Romans 7.
3) Finally, there are those who have rejected sin; that is, they do not struggle with certain sins as they once did. This condition reflects the personal growth in Christ that people experience when they live the Christian life. Although they may have new temptations and struggles, they do not struggle as they once did because they are no longer “infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1).
This process has a parallel in attitudes toward addiction to drugs and alcohol. The person who is indifferent is not aware or does not care that he has a problem. The person who is ambivalent desires to stop but also desires to abuse drugs and alcohol. The person who rejects addiction has found a new set of values that has lessened the appeal of using drugs and alcohol.
Notice how important self-image is to this process. A person who adopts an addiction identity is much more likely to continue abusing drugs and alcohol than someone who views himself differently.
Likewise, the Christian has a new identity in Christ, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Those who have a new identity in Christ will live and behave differently from those who do not.
J B Myers
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