Mountain Monergism Movement

Isaiah 59: 1-2

1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:

2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

 

If all things are made by God, and all things are controlled by Him, then what about sin? Did God make sin as well as good? The way you answer this question, defines your God.

We all have our own struggles that we fight to overcome. It can range from anger control, to food control. But there are things in each of our lives we wish we could change, yet it seems we just do not have the will power to do so. It is frustrating to admit we have no control in all areas. We often use the excuse after we fail, that no one is perfect. But this does little to help in our struggle to overcome. Will we fail each time we try? We wish we could quit that which we want to quit, but as hard as we may try, victory seems to pass us by with each attempt.

This is true even more when it comes to sin in our life. Why is it, that even the best people sin? Why is it so hard to keep from sinning, and so easy to sin? Where did this struggle begin?

Before we study hamartiology, (the doctrine of sin) I feel we must define a few things. The Bible speaks of sin in two ways, sin as an evil force, and sin as an evil expression.

Sin As A Principle

This idea is found in the Bible as an active force that draws on people to sin. Under hamartiology this is called the sin-principle. The sin-principle is better known as sin nature. The “sin nature” is the wording with the same meaning as sin-principle under another study, that being anthropology. Paul calls this in Romans the “law of sin”.

 

Romans 7:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Romans 8:

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

 

Sin As An Expression

Because, both believers and non-believers have a sin nature in us, we cannot stop sinning. As long as you are on earth you will sin. The sin nature draws us to express sins in our life. Sin expression is what most people talk about when they talk about sin. These expressions are evil actions, thoughts and attitudes that come as fruit of the sin-principle. It is evil deeds, or works as in stealing or lying.

Exodus 20:

15 Thou shalt not steal.

Sin Defined

We still need to define what sin is. This by far is the largest aspect that we could talk about under hamartiology. Sin is called iniquity, disobedience, a transgression, to trespass, to be unrighteousness and of course sin. All of these actions are against God and sometimes man. But it is the action toward God which matters more to us in this study. We could write many long definitions here, but to keep it short I’ll give my own short version. Sin is a “Path away from God’s will.”

Books upon books have been written on each one of the subjects listed above. But it is our goal not to talk so much about sins, where does sin comes from. We want to get to the beginning of the process. Even if you more or less agree with what was defined above, where in the world did sin come from? If God is good, how could He make sin? Here too we have many ideas given as to where sin came from. The limits of one short column will not allow us to look at all of them. But we should look at a few wildly held views.

Yin Yang

Though this idea is mostly known as a Chinese philosophy doctrine, one may be surprised how many Christians hold to this same doctrine. They may not call it Yin Yang, but if you ask them where sin comes from they describe Yin Yang.

This is the scheme of Yin Yang in a nutshell. There have always been two forces that struggle against each other. These are the good and the bad forces. In our case, God and the Devil are the Yin and Yang. The Yin Yang symbol is placed in the graphic above. The black and the white in the symbol, is showing good and evil pushing against each other. According to this scheme, in the end, good will win out, or the battle will never end. I disagree with this proposal altogether. In brief, God is the only Eternal being. It is clear that God made all things going by the Bible, and this includes the Devil, the father of evil.

God Made Sin.

Groups such as hyper-Calvinists hold this idea. In the grand plan of God, God makes sin, and then makes some people sin in order to save them, or makes others sin in order to damn them to hell. In each case this brings God glory. This too, I feel is wrong. To prove this, we need only look back at what sin is. Sin is called disobedience, a transgression toward God. All of these things in this list are in contrast to Gods will. Therefore in this scheme, sin would not be disobedient, but rather part of Gods will. To sin would not be to transgress God, if indeed God made sin.

Sin As A Path

This I feel is the right view of sin. This will help us see where sin comes from as well as what sin is. Sin should not be viewed as a list of things. This listing of dos and don’ts has split many churches, because each one of us has a different list of sins. But does not the Bible tell us we should not do some things? Yes, but this is only the end of that path.. Sin happens before we act it out. Please do not misunderstand me here. I’m not saying there are no wrongs and rights. I’m saying that sin starts way before we hit this list of dos and don’ts. We must deal with the root problem in order to have the right outcome. Looking at a list of sins will not help lead us to the right answers to our problem of sin.

To Illustrate.

To murder is not limited in sinfulness to just the act of murder. Sin starts when we have bad thoughts toward someone and wish harm upon them. If we let these thoughts continue, we will think of ways to bring such harm to that person. This will lead to hate in our heart. Then we may even start to think about killing them. Next as our hate grows, we think of a plan to kill and ways to cover it up the killing. We then act out that plan. We lie, we steal, mislead, hate and then the murder happens. Each one of these steps was a walk down a path. Paths of sin start as a thought and lead us away from God’s will. God’s will is that we not murder. God’s will is that we do not hate others. If you think about it, all sin can be viewed this way.

This only addresses the sin expression and how we sin. What about that sin-principle that draws us down this path?

Let’s look back to the Garden of Eden. A short review of creation we will remember that being that God is Creator, He alone made the world, the skies above, and all that is in our world. God also made man and placed him in the garden. God told Adam he could do anything he wanted in this wonderful garden made for Adam’s pleasure except one thing. God said, do anything Adam, but do not eat from that one tree. What God was saying is clear. Adam, do you want your own will, or do you want to follow my will. The choice was laid before Adam. Adam chose his will over God’s will. This too, is clearly a path away from God’s will. This is the first time man sinned and is known as “the fall of man”. This sin opened the eyes of man to the sin path. Before sin came, all that man knew was good, or God’s will.

Genesis 3

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

But one may state, “The Devil was there pulling Adam and his mate into sin”. Indeed this is true. We must go back and look at Satan’s story as well. Some of this will be speculation on our part, because the details are not found in the Bible. But I think we have enough of the story to paint a picture of what went on.

Satan was also made good, just as man. God gave Satan a choice just as he did man. When God gave Satan this choice, God was asking the same thing of Satan as he later asked of Adam. God was asking, “Satan, do you want me as your God, where you follow God and worship God and God only or would you rather follow yourself? Notice in the passage below, Satan relies from the choice given him…”I will…I will…..I will” Satan wanted his own will over God’s will. Satan took the path away from God. This path is sin. This pathway was started by Satan and Satan is now active in this sin-principle, pulling man to follow him rather than God.

Isaiah 14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Sin was not always around for only God is everlasting to everlasting. Nor did God make sin. He is not the author of sin, but rather, God is the author of the Law, which is a picture of who God is. God is holy and set apart from sin.

Why can’t we stop sinning? We sin because we desire something in the sin. But just as we make a choice at the ice cream shop, we always pick what we see as the best choice for us. We sin, for we like something that we see in sin. You cannot blame others, when it is our choice. Sin comes from within. For those wishing to stop, the bad news is that we can never fully overcome this will to sin. It is built into our nature. The good news is that in Christ we are given the Holy Spirit to help control it. God can change the good that we see in sin, into something that we no longer desire.

All choices have consequences that go beyond that good we first see in them. Do not sacrifice tomorrow for the pleasure of the moment. Sin has its delights to the eyes. Sin will fool us into thinking that we can control it and stop at any moment. Yet in the end, sin will control us.

Sin is anything that leads us away from God. Sin is the rejection of God’s ways. Therefore, we have two paths placed before us. These paths are there each day. Will it be God, or no God? God’s will, or our own will. We cannot follow both paths. If we follow our will, we will take a path away from God’s will. If we follow God’s will, we will need to deny our own will.

What path will you take?