Orthodox understanding of Sin
Fundamental understanding of Sin - Missing
the mark and not being centered on God and His will. When we Sin and yet remain
unrepentant, we begin to experience God’s love as fear and wrath. This is
because we have changed our relation to, and therefore our experience of God,
as God does not change His love for us. The scriptures and the Church
understand that it is not the absence or exclusion of God that makes hell, but
rather His Very Presence to those who choose not to obey.
We
do not believe in the teaching of Original Sin, which explains that because of the
disobedience to God, we were marked with sin by an angry God and only a
sacrifice could appease or pay off some debt. God gave us the warning not to
eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil out of love for Adam as Adam was
like an infant. If Adam had been obedient, the fruits of knowledge and life
would have been given when man was ready. St. Gregory the Theologian states
that the Fall of man points out how loving is our father. He provides a benefit
- death which cuts off sin so that evil may not be everlasting. Thus, it
becomes an act of mercy. Adam prepared death for himself through his withdrawal
from God. God did not create death, but we brought it upon ourselves by our
wicked purpose. God’s plan for His children was always to be in communion with
Him, and our fall from paradise initially resulted in death which separated us
from the source of all life.
After the fall, we are predisposed to
self-centered choices directed by passions rather than
choices based on agape (sacrificial love).
These passions turn us away from God to focus on
what we want. Theosis can only happen if we
heal the passions of our soul. Sin is an illness or infirmity. Pride makes us
forget our sins but the remembrance of them leads to humility. While Sin
removes from communion with God, but salvation can be ours to accept the Love
of God.
St. John Chrysostom, “Do you commit sin? Enter the Church and repent for your sin; for
here is the physician, not the judge; here one is not investigated, one receives
remission of sins”
The Church is often compared to a hospital,
and Christ as the physician to show how the Church understands the effect of
sin needs healing. Healing takes place in Holy Baptism, Holy Confession, Holy
Unction, and by receiving Holy Communion. With healing we are restored to our
former condition, to be what we were created for. Theosis not only means being
enlivened with the fire of God’s warmth and light but being in communion with
one another.
In summary, Orthodox Christian teaches that
sin is a matter of the will and not the nature of man. It is a choice of that
which is not God, for that which is not-life and light and being, however much
it might appear desirable. Adam was created naturally mortal and corruptible
but given at his creation a gift of divine life, the indwelling Holy Spirit
which would have preserved him in immortality and incorruptibility. When he
sinned he lost this gift and divine life, which remained as a spark, and he
found himself immediately mortal, separated from God, and without any moral or
spiritual constancy or strength. We inherit this state of mortality and
separation from God, but we are not born sinful in any sense, or guilty of any
sin. Indeed, an infant is not able to sin, since sin is a matter of reason and
will. Nevertheless, all of us need the mercy and grace of God, because even if
we never sin, we are still in this state of death. But Orthodoxy is convinced
that God is love, and in love he has acted to restore the intimate relationship
which Adam once enjoyed and which he call us all to participate in.
Reference
Grade IX Chapter 4 –Sunday School Text book
and summary notes from South West Diocese in North America of Malankara
Orthodox Church
Potential reflection points:
1.
If missing the mark is Sin,
then we must certainly be conscious and look with all seriousness on mark that
mankind missed out in Adam. For, God created and saw all as good and made Man unique
created in the image and likeness as His overseer, His presence over all
Creation. (Genesis 1)
2.
Man disobeyed and the
consequence of Sin is death leaving each of us without any help, if not for the
eternal love of God. If we are serious in our faith, we are obliged to make the
attempt to know the Church’s teaching on Christ’s Incarnation, avail of the
potential resources within it and live it out ourselves like those Orthodox
Christians before us within it and not lead astray and look outside it.
3.
It is our faith that the Holy
Spirit in its fullness dwells in the Church and the Church continues the
restoration of Creation with each of us. We can notice this if we pay
attention. Example: Koodosh Etho and Hoodosh Etho (Sanctification and Dedication)
Sunday Scripture Readings and Liturgical Hymns, Holy Qurbana first hymn by St.
Severus drawing of veil proclaiming the Incarnation of Christ trampling down
Death by Death
4.
We need to humble ourselves that each of us
with the tendency to lose the way and recollect on the mercy of God
“The Christian life is union with God in the
heart by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the beginning of our experience of
Paradise and the Resurrection already. It requires that we seek union with God
above all things, and this union is found by choosing God, choosing life and
light, seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit at all times.”
November 10, 2018 Church School Lesson
