Introduction
CHRISTOPHER W. MORGAN AND ROBERT A. PETERSON
Invest in sin? One online investment broker advertises a novel stock portfolio called the “Seven Deadly Sins,” which organizes stocks around the vices of gluttony, sloth, vanity, greed, envy, lust, and wrath. This portfolio is built on the assumption that even in a sagging and unpredictable economy, there is one thing we can always count on—sin:
Even in tough times, consumers continue to partake in things that may not be considered particularly virtuous. From cigarettes to sex, burgers to Botox®—consumer indulgences require products and services from a wide range of publicly traded companies. Some luxuries see reduced demand during tough times. But smokers could keep smoking, drinkers keep drinking, and the lustful keep . . . lusting. Bad habits are hard to break. And when times are rough, who wants to even try? Nobody can predict the markets, but consumers are only human. And economic conditions may not be able to defeat their appetites for sinful stuff. . . .
So the portfolio proposes:
In the past, many investors who were interested in investing in sin, vice, and adult entertainment turned to individual stocks. Now with Motif Investing, you can invest in the Seven Deadly Sins motif, a carefully researched and balanced portfolio of stocks that may give investors diverse exposure to investing in sin, vice, and adult entertainment stocks.1
While we are disgusted by such warped conclusions, their assumption is telling: the inevitability of sin. In a postmodern world in constant change, at least one thing seems constant—sin. Moreover, we agree with Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous remark: “The doctrine of original sin is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of the Christian faith.”2 Obviously, Niebuhr is speaking ironically, but the point stands. Sin unmistakably recurs—in person after person, generation after generation, and society after society around the globe.
But has the world always been characterized by sin? And will it always be? More basically, what is sin? Where did it come from? What effects does it bring? Additionally, how does it relate to God and his purposes? How does it relate to the goodness of creation? And how does it affect humans created in the image of God? What is temptation? How is Satan involved in all this? Most importantly, what does God do about sin? Is there a way to conquer our sins?
These questions are timely and perennial and deserve straightforward answers. The chapters that follow attempt to provide answers based on God’s Word interpreted in the context of the biblical story, taking into consideration the history of the doctrine of sin and attempting to systematize that doctrine, all with a view to applying the doctrine of sin to contemporary life.
Don Carson breaks the ground for this volume with “Sin’s Contemporary Significance.”
The roots of sin run deep in the soil of the biblical story. Paul House uncovers sin in the Old Testament in two chapters: “Sin in the Law” and “Sin in the Former and Latter Prophets and the Writings.” Robert Yarbrough and Douglas Moo dig deep in the New Testament in “Sin in the Gospels, Acts, and Hebrews to Revelation” and “Sin in Paul,” respectively.
From the soil of Scripture springs the plant—the biblical, historical, and systematic theology of sin. Christopher Morgan presents a fresh biblical theology in “Sin in the Biblical Story.” Gerald Bray helpfully surveys “Sin in Historical Theology.” And systematic theologian John Mahony rounds out this section with “A Theology of Sin for Today.”
Next bloom the plant’s flowers, specialized topics and applications of the doctrine of sin. Sydney Page warns us of our Enemy in “Satan, Sin, and Evil.” David Calhoun offers wise counsel and encouragement for struggling believers (all of us at times!) in “Sin and Temptation.” And Bryan Chapell tells of believers’ necessary response to sin in “Repentance That Sings.”
We invite readers to join us in a difficult but important task—to look sin in the face so as to understand its ugliness and to appreciate better its beautiful remedy in Christ.
1 https://www.motifinvesting.com/motifs/seven-deadly-sins#/overview. Accessed October 13, 2012.
2 Henri Blocher, Original Sin: Illuminating the Riddle, NSBT, ed. D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 84. Quoted in Ted Peters, Radical Evil in Soul and Society (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), 326, from Reinhold Neibuhr, Man’s Nature and His Communities (New York: Scribner’s, 1965), 24.