Saint Monica Institution of Religious StudyTabor Hill, Brgy. San Jose, Talamban, Cebu City

Term paper on Theology of Sin

To Rev. Fr. Arnie Visitacion

By Jakomo Khun

March 21, 201318

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General out line

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 3

Categories of Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 3

Sins in the Pentateuch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 4

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 12

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Introduction

According to the dictionary1 of biblical theology, sin is an act of man which he

consciously and deliberately puts himself in opposition to God’s love and mercy.

Sin is nothing else than a morally bad act, an act not in accord with reason

informed by the Divine law. God has endowed us with reason and free-will, and a sense

of responsibility; He has made us subject to His law, which is known to us by the dictates

of conscience, and our acts must conform to these dictates, otherwise we sin (Romans

14:23).

The Categories of Sin2

As mentioned by the Catholic Encyclopedia, there are different categories of sins.

The first category of sin is original or actual. According of the book of Genesis, the will

of Adam acting as head of the human race for the conservation or loss of original justice

is the cause and source, and it is the origin of sin. Actual sin is committed by a free

personal act of the individual will.

The second category of sin is the sins of commission and omission. A sin of

commission is a positive act contrary to some prohibitory precept; a sin of omission is a

failure to do what is commanded. A sin of omission, however, requires a positive act

1Dufour-Xavier Leon, Dictionary of Biblical Theology, London, BURNS & OATES, 2004. p 550

2 http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm

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whereby one wills to omit the fulfilling of a precept, or at least wills something

incompatible with its fulfillment.

The third category of sin is regards the of the performer’s intention; in this case,

sins are distinguished into sins of ignorance, passion or infirmity, and malice. And the

fourth is regards to the activities involved, into sins of thought, word, or deed; as regards

their gravity, into mortal and venial.

There is another way of describing sin by Catholic Encyclopedia; it categorizes sin

as material sin and formal sin. This distinction is based upon the difference between the

objective elements (object itself, circumstances) and the subjective (advertence to the

sinfulness of the act). An action which, as a matter of fact, is contrary to the Divine law

but is not known to be such by the agent constitutes a material sin; whereas formal sin is

committed when the agent freely transgresses the law as shown him by his conscience,

whether such law really exists or is only thought to exist by him who acts. Thus, for

example, a person who takes the property of another while believing it to be his own

commits a material sin; but the sin would be formal if he took the property in the belief

that it belonged to another, whether his belief were correct or not.

Sins in the Pentateuch

Going back to the dictionary of biblical theology, sin is an act of man which he

consciously and deliberately puts himself in opposition to God’s love and mercy. In the

book of Genesis, God is described, as He truly is, as the loving Creator. Out of His

abundant love, God created man in order to share His love, joy, happiness and everything

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has, including His being3. Before He created man, first, He created the whole heaven and

earth for man to posses and through which man, also, may know Him. He loves man so

much that He creates in His own divine image and likeness. When we say, “in His own

image and likeness,” it means He includes knowledge, will and freedom when create

man. God created man in this way so that intimacy, love and communion or relationship

between God and man could be possible. He loves man as early as before man came into

existence. In fact, man exists because of His Divine love.

Though God put man on the top of all creatures (things that are on the sky, on the

earth, under the earth and all that are in the sea), as have mentioned earlier, what man

need most and what He desires most is the intimate relationship between God and man,

between the Creator and the creature. For this purpose, God invites man into covenantal

relationship under the symbolism of “fruit in the middle of Garden Eden”. God forbid

man from this particular fruit in order to enter into a deeper relationship with him. The

only thing that is need to fulfill this longing of God and this very need of man in is man’s

absolute trust in the goodness, faithfulness and love of God.

Unfortunately, when tempted by the devil, man chose not trust in God’s goodness

and faithfulness, though he knew well that all things is from God, including his very

being, his existence. This is the first and the origin of all sins that committed by human

being.

As a reaction to the sinners, God interrogated the affair in order to bring the sin of

man into admission by his own account. But, sad to say, here are the immediate

consequences sin are shame (the conscientiousness of their nakedness, which they seek to

33 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Manila, WORD & LIFEPUBLICATIONS, 1994. p 13

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remedy by sewing loincloths of fig leaves) and guilt.4 It is clear that the man rather than

answering God’s question, “Where are you?” gave reason why he was hiding_ “because I

was naked.” He was not naked; he was clothed with leaves. However, in relation with

God, he was naked and remains so. Man cannot cover up its own guilt and shame and

restore its relationship to God. It is God alone who can remove humanity’s guilt and

shame. This is symbolized as the attitude of God toward sinners when He made garments

for man and woman.

It is to be noted the all too human response of the man as he blames the woman

and indirectly even God_ “The woman you put here gave me and I ate.” Man lost his

integrity; out of guilt and shame he blames his partner, woman and God, his Creator.

As a reaction to sin, God makes sure that sin is defeated, no longer over power

man_ “He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." Thus, Satan is to be

crashed by Christ’s on the cross. God, whose identity is holiness punished man and

woman due to His hatred on sin.

As the external consequences of sin, nature became hostile to the humanity. As the

sacred author describes in the Genesis, “Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you

(Gen 3:18).”

In the story of Cain and Able, Cain was resentful because his sacrifice was not

accepted by God as He did to the sacrifice of Able, his brother. God knew the feeling of

Cain; He warned him that sin is lurking at his door; but, assured him he could overcome

it. When Cain proceeded into sin, again, God interrogated; “Where is your brother?” Cain

4 The Collegeville Bible Commentary, Makati, Philippines, STPAUL, 1994

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lied and then addresses a sarcastic question to God, which is worse than the first sinner

who merely shifts the blame.

The punishment of Cain is more severe than that of the first parents’. He is to be

banished from the soil, cursed to be a wanderer. Out of hatred of sin God punished him;

but it is not the final words. When Cain cried out against the severity of his punishment

and states his gear that others may seek vengeance against him, God places a mark on

Cain to protect him. God continues Cain that He put him under His protection in a

mysterious way, though Cain has to leave His presence.

As time went on, men grew in sinning. And God saw how great was man's

wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but

evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the

LORD said: "I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created, and not only

the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry

that I made them." "My spirit shall not remain in man forever, since he is but flesh.”

Here, the reality of sin is to taken note; it does not end by itself; sin cause pain and

suffering not only to the sinner but also to the creator. But the judgment of God was not

the last action; God preserves man through Noah and gives new hope to humanity

through Abram_ "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your

name great, so that you will be a blessing. All the communities of the earth shall find

blessing in you."

In the course of history, no mater how far human has gone, God is always looking

for a way to bring him back to Himself. God said to Moses on Mount Sinai, "I have

witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt; therefore I will rescue them from the

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hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a

land flowing with milk and honey.” Here, Egyptian is to be understood as sin that

overpowering humanity. And He did rescue His people with signs and wonders from the

hand of the Egyptians that no one could ever imagine.

In the way of desert, when the Israelites were pursued by the Egyptians, they cried

out to the LORD_ “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here

to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt?” In

spite of numerous wonders that performed by God in the eyes of the Israelites, they had

no trust in Him. God replied, "Fear not! Stand your ground, the Lord himself will fight

for you; you have only to keep still." What we need is only to put our whole trust in God;

believing His goodness and mighty power is our salvation and the will of God and it is

what is due to Him. After letting the Israelites passed through the sea miraculously God

plunged the Egyptian troops into the sea in their sight. And thus, the Israelites came to

believe in God and His servant Moses.

Truly, God is holy; and nothing which is not holy could be with God (Leviticus

20:26). For this, God reminded His people seriously, saying, "If you really listen to the

voice of the LORD, your God, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I

afflicted the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer."

When there was no food, in the desert, the Israelites, instead of put their trust in

God, they complained: "Would that we had died at the LORD'S hand in the land of

Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread! But you had to lead us into this

desert to make the whole community die of famine!" This death wish contains the

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elements of rejection of God’s saving plan. By opting for an earlier death in Egypt, they

are, thereby, rejecting the events that led to the present impasse, the Exodus. This is not

hunger pangs but the rebellious heart; the hunger served merely as the background. Yet,

in respond to their stubbornness of heart, God feeds them with Quail and Manna.

Again, when there was no water to drink, the people said, "Why did you ever make

us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our

livestock?" In deed, they had no trust in God who has been performing wondrous deeds

along their way. Humanity has been rejecting the love of God since from the beginning,

and it remains so. But, the mercy God, in respond to their needs, again, gives them water

from the Rock.

When Moses was delayed on the mountain, the whole, rebellious, Israelites

rejoiced in the absence of Moses, the servant of God. Wishing that he (and God) no

longer exist5, they made a golden calf for themselves to worship. In this case, too, the

golden calf served as the backdrop of the rebellion; the real object of the worship was not

the calf; it was their own plan, their own self that they worshiped.

God has always been inviting man into salvation, saying, “You are my people,

and I will be you God.” But it is the rejection of man that cases the pain. As the hatred

toward sin God said, “I see how astiff-necked this people is. Let me alone, then, that my

wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great

5 The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, China, Midas, 2000, p. 58.

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nation." But when Moses invoked the mercy and goodness of God in behalf of the

Israelites, God withdrew His wrath.

When the Israelites found out that the natives were powerful than they, they

murmured: "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or that here in the desert we

were dead! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword?

Our wives and little ones will be taken as booty. Would it not be better for us to return to

Egypt?" “Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt." The Israelites wished to go back

to the stage of slavery just for the sake of opposing God. Sin is ever as stupid as this.

And this utterance of God is due to the sin of the Israelites: "How long will this

people spurn me? How long will they refuse to believe in me, despite all the signs I have

performed among them? I will strike them with pestilence and wipe them out." (Num

14:11-12)

When Moses begged for mercy, even for the sake of His name6; that the Egyptians

may not say: “Their God has brought them out of evil intention.” The LORD said, "I

have pardoned them according to your word; but, no men who have seen My glory and

My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test

these shall see the land which I swore to their fathers. Note is to be taken here that no sin

is acceptable in the sight of God; it is right and just man is to be pure and holy as God is

so as to be with Him.    

    But, My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me

fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take

6 The Collegeville Bible Commentary, Makati, Philippines, STPAUL, 1994 , p. 169

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possession of it (Numbers 14:21-24). Unless we believe in God and willing to be saved

by Him, God could do nothing.

Again, here how sin, our rejection of God is hurting to the Lord, "How long shall I

bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the

complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. As I live, just as you

have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this

wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from

twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Your children, however,

whom you said would become a prey-I will bring them in, and they will know the land

which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your

sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your

unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness.

   According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every

day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition.

I, the LORD, have spoken, surely this I will do to this entire evil congregation who are

gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they

will die." (Numbers 14:28-35)  I directly quote from the Bible text so as to emphasize on

God’s inner feeling.

From time to time, man’s patient worn out, get frustrated; sometimes even wish not

to exist since from the beginning. I have read in a short story: it was a bout a frustrated

man. The man wished to exchange his life with that of a hippopotamus which was lying

in the water and whose responsibility was to open its mouth for food. The man said,

though he wished to commit suicide, he could not because he was a human being; he

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need to have a decent death; but, according to him, it was too difficult to be a human

being. The man said in his heart, “How I wish to become that hippopotamus.”

Whenever I read the murmuring of the Israelites, I remember this short story. I

think this how I can understand the situation of the wandering Israelites. (And I myself,

sometimes, wish to be an atheist, who I believe to have lesser moral responsibility.) But it

is not an excuse; sin is always bad; it can never be accepted by God. It is against the

Divine Justice of God. Here take a look at the complaint of the Israelites. "Why have you

brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are

disgusted with this wretched food!" It seems that they never wished to trust in God; there

is an image of accusing Him as a wicked God. This is the poison and bitterness of sin.

In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the

people so that many of them died. (Lev 21:7) This is the prize of sin: death. But, the story

is not ended. When the Israelites acknowledged their sin and beg for forgiveness, the

Lord had Moses ‘make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been

bitten looks at it, he will recover.’(Lev 21:8) Here, again, we may notice that the mercy

of God is powerful than sin; His love is not diminished by our wickedness.

Conclusion

Now a day, people tend to undermine or ignore the reality of sin. We often take to

mercy of God for granted. In the Old Testament, any one who commits a mortal sin

deserve death, for example, stoning. In the New Testament, when a sinner was about to

be stoned by her accusers, Jesus said to them, “Any one among you be the one to stone

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first.” And thus, no one was able to stone because they were all sinners. This does not

mean the reality of sin has, somehow, been nullified. On the contrary, it was not; Jesus

wanted to offer us the mercy of God, the forgiveness sin. In deed, the reality of sin is as

ugly and stupid as it ever was since from the beginning.

Metaphorically, as I have heard, Bible is the love letter of God to man. And it is

proven true. As we have seen in the Pentateuch, God’s love is constant and pure, the love

that cannot be measured; but, humanity is ever as stupid as has nothing to be compared

with. Yet, the love of God is proven more powerful and stronger sin, no matter how big it

is.

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Bibliographies

• The New American Bible , St. Joseph Personal Size, Makati City,

Philippines, ST. PAULS, 2004.

• Dufour-Xavier Leon, Dictionary of Biblical Theology, London,

BURNS & OATES, 2004.

• The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, China, Midas, 2000.

• The Collegeville Bible Commentary, Makati, Philippines,

STPAUL, 1994

• Catechism of the Catholic Church, Manila, WORD &

LIFEPUBLICATIONS, 1994

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