But for Paul, the problem is not that individuals and communities sin and need forgiveness; in fact, Israel had a system of atonement to deal with sins. The problem is that sin and its henchman death use even God\u2019s good law to hold humanity captive, to deceive and to work death. In Paul\u2019s letters, sin is rarely a verb denoting human action that needs to be forgiven, as if the primary problem were human wickedness. Rather, sin is a power that holds humans captive and lords it over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
We can track this language in Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans, for example. In Romans 2:12, 3:25, 5:12, and 6:15, humans are the active subjects of the verb \u201cto sin.\u201d As such, they accomplish (2:9), \u201cdo\u201d (3:8), and \u201cpractice\u201d (1:32, 2:1\u20133) wrongdoing. But by doing so, they demonstrate that they are \u201cunder sin\u201d (3:9); they are not simply free agents making bad choices. Rather, their sinning demonstrates the reality of sin\u2019s overarching dominance in human history. And in Romans 5:12\u20138:4, Paul reframes the story of humanity\u2019s sinfulness within a larger narrative of bondage to sin as a \u201ccolonizing\u201d power that holds humanity captive, entering human history in tandem with death (5:12), expanding exponentially (5:20), reigning over death (5:21) and in mortal bodies, using bodily members as weapons of unrighteousness (6:12\u201313), and paying out death to its hapless slaves (6:23). Sin now does what human beings did in the earlier narrative, \u201cdoing,\u201d \u201cpracticing,\u201d and \u201caccomplishing\u201d evil (7:15\u201321). If we take this language seriously, we are led to an account of Paul\u2019s gospel in which the good news is more than forgiveness for individual or corporate wrong. It is deliverance from sin as a larger-than-life power that holds both individuals and societies captive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This deliverance is great good news. It speaks into situations that a narrative of guilt and forgiveness simply does not ad\u00address adequately, including addiction, oppression, abuse, cognitive impairment, injustice, and social blindness, just to name a few. Forgiveness certainly has an important part to play in the overall message of the New Testament, particularly in Luke-Acts. But it is not, of itself, adequate to address human suffering in its myriad forms. We need to hear Paul\u2019s distinctive and far-reaching preaching about sin, its lethal use of the law, and Christ\u2019s victory over it. To do so, we must allow his letters to speak on their own, without trying to harmonize them with other parts of scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By using the speeches in Acts to tell us what Paul thought, Wright mutes Paul\u2019s radical diagnosis of the human condition. That diagnosis is far more global than simply viewing Rome as the enemy. In fact, Paul talks very little, if any, about Rome or Caesar. They are not worth his notice, and they are not in view when he uses the language of bondage and freedom. Whereas Wright emphasizes Jewish antipathy to Rome and posits that Paul wanted to plant his gospel of Christ\u2019s lordship in opposition to the imperial claims of Caesar, Paul sets his sights on enemies far greater than any human power or institution. The enemies, as he repeatedly says, are sin and death, and it is the brutal reign of these suprahuman powers that Christ overthrew on the cross, thereby setting humanity free. That is the regime change that truly liberates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Christian Century<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul: A Biography
N. T. Wright\u2019s creative reconstruction of Paul and his world
Wright tells a great story. Would the apostle recognize it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
But for Paul, the problem is not that individuals and communities sin and need forgiveness; in fact, Israel had a system of atonement to deal with sins. The problem is that sin and its henchman<\/p>\n