BP 85 - Sin and Sinfulness
The whole concept of sin and sinfulness can be confusing.
Our sinfulness is a condition of being that’s commensurate with our being sinful (that is, filled with sin). Adam and Eve became sinful (that is, they were stricken with the disease of sinfulness) when they committed their first sin in The Garden of Eden. This is historically (and commonly) referred to as “original sin.” A sin is a specific act or instance of falling short of God’s Glory (that is, falling short of being fully alive and Fueled by The Abundant Life of God).
When Adam and Eve committed that first sin, they immediately contracted the sickness of sinfulness. Because they really had no idea what was happening to them, they were, in a very real sense, raped (or molested) by sin/evil/sinfulness/evilness. A sinful person is a sick person, who has the disease of sin (aka sinfulness). A sinful person behaves sinfully and cannot help but behave sinfully. That person is, quite rightly, “a sinner”—by identity.
When I was conceived, I inherited the sickness and disease of sin (aka sinfulness) and the commensurate propensity to sin and to do so often and, in many ways, uncontrollably. The sickness of sinfulness breeds the repeated and ongoing commission of sin and causes the disease of sinfulness to progress (uncontrollably) and to propagate (also uncontrollably).
One’s sinfulness is a chronic condition; it’s also an active, progressively degenerative condition. It infects every aspects of one’s life, and it pollutes one’s human nature (that is, the fundamental dispositions and traits characteristic of all humans). In fact, human nature becomes so polluted by the disease of sinfulness that one’s human nature is, in a sense, transformed into what we typically personify as “the fallen nature.” The fallen nature is human nature under the corrupting spell and rule of the disease of sinfulness. While sinfulness is not really an entity or creature (that is, sin CANNOT be a creature, because it was not created by God), it can, though, behave [see Ga 5:17], stalk [see Ge 4:7], plague [see Ro 7], and rule [see Ro 6:14] you as though it were a creature.
Our sinfulness is a condition of being that’s commensurate with our being sinful (that is, filled with sin). Adam and Eve became sinful (that is, they were stricken with the disease of sinfulness) when they committed their first sin in The Garden of Eden. This is historically (and commonly) referred to as “original sin.” A sin is a specific act or instance of falling short of God’s Glory (that is, falling short of being fully alive and Fueled by The Abundant Life of God).
When Adam and Eve committed that first sin, they immediately contracted the sickness of sinfulness. Because they really had no idea what was happening to them, they were, in a very real sense, raped (or molested) by sin/evil/sinfulness/evilness. A sinful person is a sick person, who has the disease of sin (aka sinfulness). A sinful person behaves sinfully and cannot help but behave sinfully. That person is, quite rightly, “a sinner”—by identity.
When I was conceived, I inherited the sickness and disease of sin (aka sinfulness) and the commensurate propensity to sin and to do so often and, in many ways, uncontrollably. The sickness of sinfulness breeds the repeated and ongoing commission of sin and causes the disease of sinfulness to progress (uncontrollably) and to propagate (also uncontrollably).
One’s sinfulness is a chronic condition; it’s also an active, progressively degenerative condition. It infects every aspects of one’s life, and it pollutes one’s human nature (that is, the fundamental dispositions and traits characteristic of all humans). In fact, human nature becomes so polluted by the disease of sinfulness that one’s human nature is, in a sense, transformed into what we typically personify as “the fallen nature.” The fallen nature is human nature under the corrupting spell and rule of the disease of sinfulness. While sinfulness is not really an entity or creature (that is, sin CANNOT be a creature, because it was not created by God), it can, though, behave [see Ga 5:17], stalk [see Ge 4:7], plague [see Ro 7], and rule [see Ro 6:14] you as though it were a creature.
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