G 00 - CHAPTER VII The Nature
CHAPTER VII THE NATURE OF SIN.
There is no subject on which it is of greater importance that we should have just views than the subject of sin, its nature, its source, and its guilt. By our views on this subject all our views of the Christian system will be modified. According as we regard sin shall we regard deliverance from sin, and the proper method by which that deliverance is to be effected.
If we err on the first of these points, we can hardly fail to err also on the others. The mind does not willingly retain doctrines as parts of the same system which do not fundamentally agree.
If an error be adopted and retained on one point, it will be almost sure to insinuate its poison so as to corrupt all that surrounds ib. And especially if we adopt an error on any point which comes first in order in a connected series of opinions, there is hardly a possibility of escaping error on subsequent points in the series. Hence, in point of fact, wrong conceptions of the nature of sin will be found to lie at the basis both of infidel systems and of those false forms of Christianity which affect the vital doctrines of religion; whereas, on the other hand, a sound evangelical theology has always had its root in a just and scriptural view of the nature of sin. Nor is this merely a question of theoretical interest; it has also an intimate bearing on the practical interests of Chris tianity. The religion of Jesus Christ is a scheme for destroy ing sin, first in the individual, and then through him in the race. To those who embrace it the great duty of their life comes to be to fight against sin and seek its destruction in themselves and others. Sin is their great antagonist, which they are by all means to resist and to overcome and to keep under. But how shall they effectually do this if they do not understand aright what sin is? What soldier can contend successfully if he know not the kind of enemy he has to deal with? or what can be expected but disaster, and it may be defeat, to the general who is misled by wrong, by partial, or by unfounded intelligence respecting the resources, arrange ments, and designs of his antagonist? If, then, the practical Christian would prove himself a good soldier of Jesus Christ, he must begin by ascertaining aright what is the nature and qualities of sin that great adversary from which Christ came to deliver man, and against which he as a follower of Christ has to contend.