Mercy before Sin, or Sin before Mercy?
It is foundational to the Christian faith, but is not spoken of nearly enough. That is, if we do not talk about sin and have a clear understanding of the doctrine of sin, the result is a Christian faith that does not make much sense. If we do not talk about or understand sin, what sense does the cross of Christ make? If we do not understand our sinful state, how can we truly understand our need for a Savior from our sin? If we do not understand the gravity of our sin and the effect it has on our natural and spiritual states, how can we truly grasp our need to be saved from sin?
Writing on holiness in the Christian life, J.C. Ryle understood well the importance of placing a priority on sin:
He that wishes to attain right views about Christian holiness, must begin by examining the vast and solemn subject of sin. He must dig down very low if he would build high. A mistake here is most mischievous. Wrong views about holiness are generally traceable to wrong views about human corruption…The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification, are 'words and names' which convey no meaning to the mind. The first thing, therefore, that God does when he makes anyone a new creature in Christ, is to send light into his heart, and show him that he is a guilty sinner. (J.C. Ryle, Holiness. Cambridge: James Clarke, 1952. Page 1)
What Ryle says is of fundamental importance for the Christian life. A biblical understanding of sin is indeed at the root of all saving Christianity. If we make a mistake here, it is impossible to then understand the beauty of the doctrine of justification. A pursuit of holiness is nonsense for the person who doesn’t begin with an examination of sin and its devastating effects.
Sinclair Ferguson came to the same conclusion: “Only as we begin to appreciate what we were before we became Christians (or what we would be naturally were we not Christians), do we begin to sense something of the immense grandeur of being new creatures in Christ." (Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1981. Page 9).
Paul was clear to the Romans: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23). Then he announces the good news of the gospel: “…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:24-25). That is wonderful news! But take away verse 23 and it makes no sense. If the reality of sin is not acknowledged, God’s gift of grace is robbed of its meaning and the gospel of its power to save.
In a recent article in Avvenire, the Roman Catholic Antonio Staglianò wrote an alarming headline: “The challenge: Starting with mercy, not with sin.” In the article Stalianò reflects on the recent development in the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in which Pope Francis gave the okay for the RCC to bless same-sex couples. This blessing is made possible thanks to the RCC elevating the love and mercy of God, and relegating sin to a place of unimportance. As is noted often by the Reformanda Initiative, this is in perfect harmony with the writings and convictions of Pope Francis, who in his 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers), never mentions the word ‘sin’ once, yet declares that we are all brothers and sisters. Francis did not invent this theology, but has only developed what was already implied in Vatican II. Interestingly, Staglianò maintains that the ancient adage Extra ecclesia nulla salus (Outside the Church there is no salvation) remains an essential truth for the RCC. He then notes that Vatican II expanded the understanding of this adage to include those outside of the Catholic Church. It is fair to say that 60 years after the Second Vatican Council concluded, the circle of salvation only continues to grow.
This soteriological expansion is due in large part to the relegation of sin to a place of unimportance in modern-day Roman Catholic teaching and theology. It is due to starting with mercy, and not sin. Theologically and biblically, however, this makes no sense. How can one understand the love and mercy of God apart from his condemnation and hatred of sin? If God's mercy is not a response to his hatred of sin, and if it is not his free gift of grace and redemption through Christ, then what mercy are we talking about? If mercy comes before sin, man must invent his own gospel. Indeed, that is the danger, for that gospel is no gospel at all, and cannot save.
In Genesis 3 sin enters the world, and death comes with it. The consequences of sin were and remain devastating. But in God’s mercy, he immediately proclaims the hope of one to come who will crush the head of the enemy under his foot and who will prevail over sin. That hope is of course the Messiah Jesus Christ. Notice the order. Sin enters the world, and God’s mercy is then declared. It makes no sense, however, to start with mercy if sin is not a reality. That is not the biblical narrative. Indeed, it is contrary to it. Sin before mercy makes the gospel a reality and makes it good news. Mercy before sin obscures the gospel and rewrites the biblical narrative, making it man’s word, and not God’s.