A closer look at sin

In the Book of Genesis, we learn the story of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and their fall from grace. Original sin is “the reverse side” of the Good News. The ultimate truth is the Good News of our faith: Salvation comes in and through Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Let’s take a few moments to clarify what we mean by sin before we look to the Good News of the Gospel to learn a remedy for sin. First, we have to start with original sin. So, what exactly is original sin? We read in the Catechism that original sin is, ultimately, lack of trust in the Creator and abuse of the great gift of free will which was given to us from God our Father (CCC 397).

In the sin of choosing to disobey the one thing that the Creator had asked our first parents to do — namely, to refrain from eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve forgot their place in the universe. They forgot that God is Creator and that they are creatures. They who were called to be “like God” suddenly decided that they wanted to be “without God, before God and not in accordance with God” (CCC 398). They who were created in the image and likeness of God began to reflect a distorted likeness (CCC 400), almost like the images in a funhouse mirror.

Everything was put into disarray and all their relationships were thrown asunder.

In human relationships, the human being is divided. In himself and in his thoughts, he is torn between two things. He knows in the deepest part of his soul that he is created to know, serve and love God in this life and to be with Him in the next. But if he’s honest, he also knows he really wants to serve himself first. His focus is on the things of this world, not on his true home, Heaven. The human being’s relationship with the world is — due to original sin — disordered.

As the Catechism reminds us, “visible creation has become alien and hostile to man” and relationships with fellow humans have become difficult. Even the most primordial relationship, that of man and woman, is “subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination” (CCC 400). We see the bad fruits of sin: a threefold alienation of the human being from God, others and self. And we see the true wages of sin: death.

Sin is the flip side of the Good News. But we must focus not on the sickness of sin but on the cure for the illness, namely, repentance and holiness of life. And the only one who can cure us is the Divine Physician — Jesus our Lord.

At its root, sin is a threefold alienation from God, others and my own self. What we need then to battle this alienation is a threefold reconciliation that can only come from one who is like us in all things but sin — and who is also fully divine. It can only come in and through the Lord Jesus, true man and true God.

Our lack of basic integrity has to be healed. Jesus opens His arms wide on the cross in an embrace of love for you and me. Through His action of total self-giving, He conquers sin and death to bring us to new life. Praise God for this gift!