The part of theology that studies salvation is called soteriology, from the Greek sôtêria, “salvation”. To be saved, but from what? Without sin there would be no need for salvation, no good news, no Church. Some Churches now speak only of God’s blessings. It is a good thing to speak of them, but that alone never leads to salvation. So we must address sin.
What is sin?
The Greek verb translated “to sin” means to miss the mark. Sin is any act or any intention to withdraw from the will of God or from his laws. The part of theology that studies it is called hamartiology, from the Greek hamartia, “sin”.
There is nothing shocking about speaking of God’s law. “So the law is holy”, writes Paul (Romans 7:12), and Jesus declares: “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Matthew 5:17). To say that we are no longer under the law means that we are not saved by perfect obedience, of which no one is capable, but by grace. That does not exempt us from obeying.
The first covenant and the first disobedience
You can only miss a mark if a mark has been set. From creation onwards, God makes a covenant with man and gives him a limit (Genesis 2:15-17). We might think of a father who says to his children: “You can live under my roof as long as you respect the rules of the house.” The image is imperfect, but it helps.
God creates Adam and Eve in his image, in a good world (Genesis 1:26-31). In Genesis 3 they disobey. Their first reflex is to hide from God (Genesis 3:8). Even before God drives them out, it is man who flees his presence. The holiness of God and sin cannot coexist.
One sin leads to another. Adam blames Eve, and even God; Eve blames the serpent (Genesis 3:12-13). The text then lists the consequences: shame and fear, the woman’s suffering, the cursing of the ground, toil to obtain food, the death of an animal to clothe them, physical death, expulsion from the garden. To these is added spiritual death, the break with God.
Sin and us
The sin of Adam and Eve was a personal choice. We, for our part, inherit a sinful nature that drives us to sin (Romans 5:12-19). Cain’s murder of Abel shows it from the very next generation (Genesis 4:8). Parents see it: there is no need to teach a child evil, but we must teach them good.
The Bible says it plainly: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). See also 1 John 1:8, 1 Kings 8:46 and Ecclesiastes 7:20.
Where does sin come from?
The Bible does not explain everything. But James is clear: God tempts no one, “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14). Evil already existed before man, since the serpent is there to tempt Eve.
Did God make us imperfect? No. He made us free. This freedom makes it possible to choose good or evil. Why does God leave us so free? The question is difficult. We can answer it with another: would we be anything other than slaves if we had no choice? God knew that we would sin, and yet he created us free, out of love.
Without salvation obtained during this life, the Bible announces a judgement and an eternal separation from God. How, then, can the relationship be restored?
Why a sacrifice?
Hebrews 9 states that there is no forgiveness without sacrifice. The common thread of the Bible is sin and its forgiveness. But why would the death of a living being make it possible to restore a relationship?
Sacrifices appear after the fall, with Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:3-5). God accepts Abel’s offering and not Cain’s: he expects a sacrifice offered in a certain way.
God is both justice and love. He cannot show his love by denying his justice. The means of restoring the relationship therefore had to respect justice. How the death of an animal purifies, the Old Testament does not fully explain; there is an element of mystery here. But blood is closely linked in it to purification and consecration (Leviticus 14:1-7; 8:23-24).
Some key words
- Atonement: making amends for a wrong through a penalty or a sacrifice. Robin Routledge compares it to the payment of a ransom.
- Burnt offering: a sacrifice entirely burnt, offered to atone for sins (Leviticus 1:1-4; Job 1:5) or to turn away God’s anger (2 Chronicles 29:7-8).
- Propitiation: what makes God favourable and turns away his anger.
- Redemption: buying someone back, bringing them back to what is good.
The purification offering was offered at the festivals (Numbers 28 and 29), but above all by people who had sinned unintentionally or had become unclean (Leviticus 4 and 5). The blood was put on the horns of the altar. If the priest or the whole community had sinned, a bull was sacrificed, and some of the blood was sprinkled in front of the curtain of the sanctuary (Leviticus 4:6-7). Deliberate rebellion, however, could not be atoned for in this way (Numbers 15:30-31).
Substitution
Leviticus 1:4 describes a decisive gesture: “He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” By this gesture, the sinner transfers his guilt to the animal. The victim takes his place. This is called substitutionary atonement. It is not simply a gift to ask for forgiveness. The punishment the animal receives is the one the sinner should have received. All this prepares for what God was going to accomplish in Jesus Christ.
Key points
- To sin means “to miss the mark”, it is to withdraw from the will of God.
- The disobedience of Adam and Eve broke the covenant and brought a chain of consequences, even death.
- We inherit a sinful nature, and all human beings have sinned.
- God is not the author of sin, he created us free.
- In the Old Testament, the sacrificed animal took the place of the sinner, this is substitutionary atonement.
To think about
- Why is it still necessary to talk about sin, even if it is not a pleasant subject?
- What does the gesture of laying a hand on the animal’s head in Leviticus 1:4 teach you?
Further reading
- Genesis 3
- Leviticus 1 to 5
- Robin Routledge, Old Testament Theology, A Thematic Approach, Apollos, 2008.