The "Mystery" of Sin

Last week in Theology we discussed the "problem" of sin in the context of a sovereign God. In other words, if God ordains everything, where does sin fit in?

Our professor, Dr. Kelly, said there are three truths we must keep in mind, even though we may have trouble understanding how they fit together.

1. God is not the author of sin.
2. God does not repress the will of human beings.
3. God's plan does not destroy human responsibility, but rather establishes it.

I have some further thoughts about each of these truths that I will post over the next couple days. For now, I'll just say that I dislike the phrase "the 'problem' of sin." When we talk about the problem of sin, we often give the impression that the message of the Bible has some inconsistency, that there is some fatal flaw in the Gospel. May it never be! The problem is not with God or His revelation, but with our understanding. Just because God chooses not to explain something to us, in a way we understand and to a level we expect, doesn't mean that God has no explanation.

Instead of the "problem," I think it would be more helpful for us to talk about "the mystery." We affirm that the Bible does give us some truths about the issue; we acknowledge that we don't understand how these truths relate to each other; and we trust that God does understand. Paul wasn't afraid to call things that were hard to understand "mysteries": the resurrection (1 Cor 15:51), the salvation of Israel (Rom 11), the salvation of the Gentiles (Eph 3:6), God's will (Eph 1:9), and even marriage (Eph 5:32).

Lets follow Paul's example. When we don't understand what the Bible is telling us, when we think we see some contradictions, lets not think of it as a "problem" that needs to be fixed. Instead, lets think of it as a "mystery" that will one day be revealed.