“Our view of the nature of God influences our understanding of sin. If God is a very high, pure, and exacting being who expects all humans to be as he is, then the slightest deviation from his lofty standard is sin and the human condition is very serious. If, on the other hand, God is himself rather imperfect, or if he is an indulgent, grandfatherly type of being and perhaps a bit senile so that he is unaware of much that is going on, then the human condition is not so serious. Thus, in a real sense, our doctrine of sin will reflect our doctrine of God.” – Erickson^1a

One of the current characteristics of our postmodern society, at least in the West, is humanism. Here, humanity is situated at the center of the universe and takes preeminence. The theory of evolution did not help solve this delusion, and instead gave humanity the illusion of an escape hatch just, as it were, to the left of where Christ hangs on the cross, through a small doorway called “there is no God.” In an instant, the problem of God is solved, so long as one continues to successfully travel through that doorway without looking back. The introduction of evolution, then solves the problem of a demanding holy God who is looking down on sinners. Humans are now able to evolve out of sinful and animalistic natures, as Frederick Tennant poses.¹ In such a worldview, how can sin truly be understood?

Yet, how obviously faulty this illusion is, as the continuing plight of humanity continues to prove. Even the justice systems of society continuously bend back and forth to accommodate the antichrist imaginations of the world. In Athanasius’ work, “Against the Heathen,” the gods are shown to be modeled after depraved humans.² In our postmodern society, those middle-man gods are essentially removed and there is now a full on, blatant exaltation of humanity above God. Yet, for sin to be taken seriously, according the biblical standards, God and his Christ must be understood as preeminent above all created order. Hence, if mankind determines who God is and what he is like, as humanism ultimately seeks to establish, then much of what is truly evil becomes good and much of what is truly good becomes evil. As the laws and cultures of the nations convey, this humanistic reasoning continues to bend according to the most current demanding desires of the flesh. In this postmodern society, with the infiltration of humanism and evolution, sin, for the majority of people, cannot be taken seriously outside of a radical revelation of God.

On the other hand, sin can only be defined by first starting with the right knowledge and fear of God, as Millard demonstrates.³ God, merely by being who He is as holy and perfect, free of any form of sin or darkness, has by his being set a standard of holiness for his entire created order to abide by. By virtue of having a creator, humanity, who is made to reflect God’s holy image, abides under a heavy responsibility to holiness. This great weight of accountability to the holy, all-seeing God is, in the best of circumstances, effectively avoided by the irreverence and ignorance of Christians. At worst, it is avoided through blatant hypocrisy and rebellion. In any case, humanity’s responsibility to holiness stands and ways of aversion must come under another door that sits at the foot of the cross: repentance and the fear of the Lord. As Tertullian writes in “On Repentance,” to continue in repentance, and not turn back to sin, is the fruit of faithfulness to God and the means to continue in holiness.⁴ If these willful and unknowing aversions of holiness is the case, and rampantly so, in the church, who has not gone through the doorway of “there is no God,” how much less will sin be taken seriously in the world? The church must maintain an ever correct worship of a God who is holy to lead our postmodern world back to the foot of the cross. To do otherwise, is to effectively find yet another doorway of escape from responsibility to the Creator.

1. a-1. Erickson, Millard J., Christian Theology. (Baker Academic, 2013), 606-627. E-book accessed on 18 January 2024 from ProQuest Ebook Central.
2. Against the heathen. CHURCH FATHERS: Against the Heathen (Athanasius). (n.d.). https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2801.htm
3. Erickson, Millard J., Christian Theology. (Baker Academic, 2013), 603-606. E-book accessed on 18 January 2024 from ProQuest Ebook Central.
4. On repentance. CHURCH FATHERS: On Repentance (Tertullian). (n.d.). https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0320.htm