Alongside Inc.

Counselor's Commentary: Humanity and the Nature of Sin

     Human beings are sinners by birth. Whether they want to sin or not, they do. And even at a given moment when one is not actively sinning in thought, word, or deed, one is still a sinner, for that is simply a fact of human identity since Eden.

There are many definitions of sin. One that seems quite comprehensive is the one found in Romans 3:23—that is, falling short of God’s glory. Humankind was created to reflect God’s glory, and any failure to do so adequately, “misses the mark” (i.e., is sin). The doctrine of depravity teaches that humankind is “bent” rather than “straight” morally and functionally in every aspect of being and that humankind is incapable of “straightening” on its own. Since humankind is physiologically “bent,” the best basketball player in the world cannot hit 100% from the free-throw line. Since humankind is “bent” intellectually, the greatest geniuses of all time sometimes make intellectual errors—even in their field of specialty! Since humankind is “bent” emotionally, even emotionally healthy people act in irrational or inappropriate or petty ways at times. Human beings are incapable of reversing this condition of bentness on their own. Moral and functional bentness must be lived with as a fact of life. 

 For the person who has accepted Christ as Savior, there is forgiveness for sin and there is grace, which conforms the believer increasingly to the image of Christ. God graciously gives freedom from guilt in forgiveness, but forgiveness does not necessarily bring freedom from the pain that so often results from sin. 

The other side of the coin is living among other sinners and often being sinned against. The whole of creation experiences the anguish of fallenness and groans under the weight and pain of it all (Romans 8:20). How much more human beings, who were created in God’s own image!

     Furthermore, often when a person is sinned against, the person ends up sinning against another out of the pain he feels. Then he is confused, feeling that his response was understandable and justified on the one hand, but at the same time feeling guilty over whatever part of the response was sinful. It is hard to sort out one’s feelings in such a situation. Not to respond in anger seems somehow less than human in some way, inconsistent with the emotional make-up that is part of being a God-imager righteously angry at injustice. Yet a person senses deeply within that the anger that he feels is less than fully righteous; that it is tainted in some way by sin. The person experiences anger, guilt, and confusion.

     It is just such a sinner/sinned-against person who is in pain (and often guilt) for whom Christ died. And His intention is to restore wholeness. Such a believer is described well by the biblical phrase “broken reed.” The person is fragile—not wanting to be a sinner, but being unable to be otherwise; not wanting to be sinned against, yet suffering because of others’ sin. The person feels powerless, trapped in his own sin and that of others. This is the pain of being human between Eden and Eternity, even after Calvary. But Scripture assures people trapped and hurt by sin (whether their own sin or the sin of others) that “a bruised reed He [Jesus] will not break” (Mt. 12:20). The passage makes clear that such a broken person will be handled with gentleness, compassion, and under-standing, not harshness, by our Lord.

Sin brings consequences, both in one’s own life and in the lives of others. Sin begets more sin, often creating a spiraling effect as those sinned against thrash about blindly in their pain in ways that sin against others. Sin produces further brokenness and pain. Sin brings patterns of behavioral dysfunction which become pathological. Sin brings on pathology, directly and indirectly, in a variety of realms—physical, emotional, spiritual, interpersonal, psychological. And pathology, in turn, often leads to more sin or more pathology or both in self and/or others. Thus sin, pain, and psychopathology are integrally woven together in the everyday life of human beings.

     In the midst of the inter-related sin, pain, and pathology, where does the counselor intervene? Where there is a strong sense of guilt based on an awareness of sin, probably the best place to begin is with confession, repentance, and forgiveness. But where there is great pain, perhaps the best place to begin is with emotional healing. A child may disobey a parent and run into the street, getting badly hurt by a car. The child’s first need is not for a spanking! The first need is for comfort and medical attention, to be followed later by instruction about disobedience and its consequences. Likewise a person in great emotional pain may need comfort and healing before being able to benefit from confrontation of sin. In the inter-relatedness of sin and pain and psychopathology, a person needs both confrontation for sin and healing for pain, and both in keeping with the example of our Lord: “A bruised reed He will not break.” May His compassion permeate our counseling as we both comfort pain and confront sin.

Jeanne L. Jensma, M.R.E., Ph.D., Director of Counseling