In our Western evangelical tradition, we have a quick answer
to this question: sin. Sin is the problem of humanity. However, what we may not
realize is that we often think about sin only according to one of its many
Scriptural metaphors—that of a legal wrongdoing against God’s law, which puts
us in need of legal satisfaction. Thus, we speak mostly about salvation in
terms of “forgiveness.” While this element of the theology of sin is certainly
present in Scripture, it is not the only way of thinking about mankind’s
problem. In fact, it was not the predominant way of thinking about the human
condition in the early church.
Irenaeus of Lyons: What was God’s original purpose for
humanity?
We tend to assume that God created humanity in its intended
state—that when he created Adam and Eve, their situation represented the ideal
state of the human condition: innocence of wrongdoing and relationship with
God. However, this is merely one interpretation of the Genesis story, and it’s
not the only one. An earlier interpretation comes to us from Irenaeus of Lyons
(c. 200 AD), who interpreted Genesis to say that God created Adam and Eve in a
situation of moral infancy (for instance, no knowledge of right and wrong—Gen.
2:15-17; 3:4-5), and thus God’s original intention was that humanity should
grow towards ever greater moral and spiritual development, and ever deeper
relationship with God. It is a view of humans as being always in progress
towards God, with the Garden of Eden as just the starting point, not the final
ideal.
If this way of thinking about humanity is true, then sin is
not simply a case of “paradise lost” which can be restored by dealing with
sin’s legal debts. Rather, sin must be seen as an obstacle on our path to our
greater growth towards God. Sin, in this conception, is not a legal offense
against God, it is a failure to live up to what God has intended for humanity.
(This is, in fact, the closest literal definition for the Hebrew word for sin:
“missing the mark.”)
The Plot Thickens: The Effects of Sin
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| Irenaeus of Lyons |
1.) First, there is ancestral sin (sometimes called
“original sin”)—the inherent, inborn tendency of all human beings to choose sin
rather than God (Rom. 3:23; 5:12). This is often described by the church
fathers as having the nature of a disease—as such, we need healing from sin
(Ps. 41:4; Mark 2:17; James 5:16; 1 Pet. 2:24).
2.) Second, there is death (Rom. 5:12). There are two
dimensions to this—because of sin we suffer spiritual death, which is
separation from God (John 5:24; 8:51); we also suffer physical death (Gen. 3:19;
Rom. 6:23; 8:10). Physical death is an obstacle to gaining of God’s goal for
us—we cannot be ultimately united with an eternal God if we are not eternal
ourselves. Thus, physical death needs to be overcome. (On the other side of the
coin, though, many early church fathers considered that God’s penalty of
physical death in response to Adam’s sin was actually a mercy—“so that sin
would not be everlasting.”)
3.) Third, there is bondage to Satan—his kingdom is
characterized by rebellion from God, so by choosing our own way instead of
God’s plan, we have essentially transferred our allegiance to Satan’s kingdom.
But to get out from under Satan’s dominion, we need more than a simple transfer
of allegiance—Satan’s kingdom has no citizens, it has only slaves. As such, we
are in need of freedom (Acts 26:17-18).
What Did Jesus Accomplish for Us?
1.) By the mere fact of Mary’s assent to God’s plan (the
reversal of Eve’s rejection of that plan) and the incarnation of the Son of
God, Jesus united human nature and divine nature in his own person (John 1:14),
and opened a way for us to fulfill our ultimate destiny of being raised up into
union with God.
2.) By his teaching and his example of godly living and self-sacrifice,
Jesus taught us how to live so as to grow towards our ultimate goal (Phil.
2:5-6; 2 Pet. 1:3).
3.) By his death on the cross, Jesus became the ultimate
sacrifice for sin (Col. 1:22). In Jesus, the Son of God gave himself up to the penalty
of death—both physical death and, at least for a moment, spiritual separation
from the Father (Mark 15:34).
4.) By his Resurrection from the dead, he defeated death
definitively, shattered the power of Satan’s kingdom, and began the healing of
the human race from sin (Rom. 5:19; 6:9; 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 54-55; Heb. 2:14-15)
5.) By his ascension to the Father’s side, he glorified
human nature into full union with the Father (Heb. 4:14-15); thus, as we become
united to him through the Holy Spirit, we begin to share in the life of God
himself (1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Pet. 1:4).
A Deeper Vision of Salvation
According to the early church, then, forgiveness is only one
part of what God has done for us in salvation. He has begun the healing of our
sin nature, he has defeated the power of death, and he has redeemed us from our
slavery to Satan’s kingdom. Not only do our sins not count against us now, but
we are actually able to continue the journey that God intended for humanity
from the very beginning—to grow progressively deeper in virtue, higher in our
knowledge of God and our practice of love, and, as we grow, to experience more
and more union with God’s own nature. Ultimately, the church fathers believed
that we could grow so close to God that his own nature—his goodness and beauty—would
fill us up in the same way that iron in a forge takes fire’s own nature into
itself. As C. S. Lewis puts it, “Christ became man so that men could become
‘little Christs’.”