Sin is about not knowing who we are

Few theological concepts are as mangled and misinterpreted as the concept of sin. Yet we find the subject off-putting. We don’t understand it well because we prefer not to discuss it. Growing up, many of us accrued the wrong notion that sin involves moral peccadillos one commits personally, often having to do with sex or what one consumes. And we were told the Christian life is about achieving moral purity, ascending the ranks of Good Christians by ridding our lives of sins, while simultaneously clinging to sacrificial-atonement Jesus as insurance because “we all have sinned.” Despite its mainstream popularity for the past few hundred years, this circular, simplistic concept is almost too ridiculous to warrant comment.

According to much New Testament teaching and centuries of thoughtful Christian theology, the understanding of sin as moral peccadillos is misleading. This use of sin is found in the tradition and was the view emphasized by moralists throughout the centuries. But a more complete theological view sees moral missteps as symptoms of a disease of the soul, not at all the disease itself. And according to the teachings of Paul especially, sins as moral peccadillos can be quite useful (one reason I like him, despite all). In the way physical symptoms let us know something is off in the body, moral missteps assist us if we pay attention.

The fuller, deeper meaning of sin has to do separation or disconnection from our true identity. Sin is about not knowing who we are. Essentially, sin is a state characterized by being unconscious that we are united with God, that we are imbued with God, that we are one with the ground of all being. We are each and every one a little epiphany, a manifestation of God in creation. When we do not understand this, we operate out of ego and self-protection. And ego and self-protection cause us to make many missteps. But focusing on the missteps misses the point, keeping us fixated on achievement or participation in petty purity contests—when instead we have been invited to a divine, familial love feast.