Salvation, according to the Bible, is from sin. What then is sin?
Contrary to our Western emphasis on personal guilt and individual sinful actions, sin cannot be reduced to a single, simple concept. The Bible employs a variety of terms to describe sin. Though we tend to focus on guilt, the primary term used to describe sin is "missing the mark."
Sin is not simply transgressing God's commands - a prideful overreaching of ourselves. Sin is also underachieving - failing to live fully human lives. Thus, sin is expressed in pride (overreaching) but also in sloth, despair, and apathy (underachieving). Both these expressions are rooted in distrust - a refusal to trust God.
Also, contrary to Western individualism, sin is never just the responsibility of an individual. It is informed by a twisted context and contributes to its further twistedness.
Once sin is committed, it takes a life of its own. Its consequences may exceed the initial "act." Even if forgiven, sin's consequences in God's moral universe can linger: "Sometimes the consequences of an act of wrongdoing are irreversible... Sincerely to repent of one's decision seconds after jumping from a bridge does not prompt God to reverse the effects of gravity" (127).
This book is an outstanding introduction to the Bible's treatment of sin. By refusing to reduce the act of sin to prideful transgression and the consequence of sin to individual guilt, it offers a more robust, realistic, and relevant view of sin and its consequences and our need to be saved from it.
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