[Unless otherwise noted, all quotes are from Bullinger’s Decades and have been lightly adapted.]
For all of us who believe are wedded by faith to our God as to our spouse and husband. If we choose other gods before him or serve them instead of him, if, I say, we leave undone the true good deeds we ought to do in order to follow the shadow of things, vain hopes, and the deceitful pleasures of this world, then we do sin indeed, and we commit fornication against our spouse and husband.
So Bullinger begins on sin. According to him the sermon took over two hours, a time made necessary by the various categories of sin he needed his sheep to understand. Do we understand sin? Do we understand our sin? Are we embarrassed to talk about sin with our unbelieving family, neighbours, colleagues, friends? Are we ashamed to think too deeply or speak too openly about our own sin?
Our world doesn’t believe in sin, not in the abstract anyway. We believe in evil. Terrorist attacks are evil. Racists are evil. Child abusers are evil. But sin and sinners? Not so much. C.S. Lewis wrote in That Hideous Strength that punishment for wrongdoing would go out of fashion, that governments and society would come to see man’s great need as education and rehabilitation. Man is a creature to be improved, and man is the creature to improve him. Scripture gives us a rather different picture of man.
Man is a sinner.
Where does our sin come from? Not the stars. Bullinger quotes Augustine showing that the corruption of our natures doesn’t come from fate. Not merely the devil. Bullinger points to the aftermath in the story of the demon possessed man in the gospels.
For if the devil had no power over a herd of filthy swine, how much less authority does he have over the excellent souls of God’s most excellent creatures!
Sin doesn’t come from how we were raised, at least not only or even primarily. Sin doesn’t come from God, for God cannot be the author of evil. So where does sin come from? Why are all of us, every last one of us, sinners? Why do all humanity sin?
And here we must set before our eyes the fall of our first father Adam, so that by considering this we may be better able to judge the original cause of sin and iniquity.
So where does sin come from? Our first father Adam. Man. We ourselves.
Original sin flows from Adam’s fall in the garden, and it extends to every member of the human race. No one (save Jesus our Saviour) has been born without the corruption of original sin. So to the question, ‘why do we sin?’, the answer is, ‘because we were born sinners into a race of sinners.’
What is the cause of sin?
This evil flows from our first parents to all their descendants, so that at this very day sin doesn’t spring from anything other than ourselves, that is to say, our corrupt judgment, depraved will, and the suggestion of the devil. For the root of evil still remains in our flesh by reason of that first corruption. A corrupt root brings forth a corrupt branch in nature like itself.
Original sin corrupts our nature. It metastasises our DNA, producing a spiritual cancer for which there is no human cure. But not only are we corrupted by original sin, we’re also corrupted by actual sin.
There are two types of sin. The first type of sin is the natural corruption of mankind. The second kind is the action that rises from within man that is opposed to the law of God.
Original sin sets the trajectory for our existence. Actual sin is then the course in which we live and choose to live. We sin because we’re sinners, and because we’re sinners we sin. We live in sin. We’re steeped in sin. The pharisees in John 9.34 weren’t wrong about the man born blind; they were wrong that they had somehow escaped this state themselves.
The cause of actual sin is the very corruption of mankind, which shows itself through corrupt desires and evil affections. Affections entice the will, and the will, being helped with the other faculties in man that work together with it, produces actual sin [sin in our actions]. And that you may understand more clearly what I’m saying, note that our mind has two parts: the understanding or reason/judgment, and the will or appetite. In the reason are the laws of nature, to which we must add the preaching or reading or knowledge of Gods’ word. As good works in man come from two causes: sound judgment well framed by the word of God, and a will consenting to and obeying God’s word… so we can also properly say that actual sin is accomplished when anything is from our set purpose, with true understanding and consent of our will, committed against the law of God.
Our minds, wills, and affections are all involved in our sin. The whole man, the whole soul, the complete person sins. All of who we are…sins. We sin with our whole being.
Not only do we sin, we sin in various ways, some greater than others. Sin can be aggravated by our knowledge, by how deliberate we are in seeking out our sin, if it’s a result of weakness or malice, how inherently grievous the sin itself is, if we stumble upon sin, if we’re ignorant, whether we’re enticed by others or sin out of our own desires. Ignorance, weakness, and stumbling accidentally into sin are no excuses for sin; they’d don’t get us out of the punishment that sin deserves. But choosing to sin deliberately heightens the weight of our guilt and the severity of punishment our sin deserves.
What’s the penalty for our sin? Death. Sin brings death. Sin produces death. Sin results in death.
It is truly not to be doubted that the Lord punishes sinners justly, for he himself is a most just judge. And because it is madness to doubt of the justice, omnipotence, and wisdom of God, it therefore follows that all religious and godly men know certainly that the punishments which God lays upon men are laid upon them by most just judgment…. Let us believe this most steadfastly, that the Lord, when he punishes, does injury to no creature whom he has made.
This is true even for those who have looked to the Saviour and repented of their sins. The punishments we receive are not the just punishment our sins deserve. That has fallen on the Saviour (more on that next time). But we still receive discipline for our sin. As believers we receive this discipline from a loving heavenly Father rather than from an austere and distant Judge, but we still receive discipline.
God forgave Adam his sin, and yet he laid on him both death and innumerable calamities throughout his life. We read of David that the prophet Nathan said, ‘The Lord has taken your sin away;’ and yet immediately after the same prophet adds, ‘The sword shall not depart from your house.’ To this we answer simply that these plagues – which are laid on us before the remission of our sins – are the punishments due our sins; but after the remission of our sins they are conflicts and exercises; it’s not that through these sufferings the faithful make satisfaction for the sins which have already been forgiven by grace in the death of the Son of God; but through these sufferings the faithful are humbled and reminded of our duty, having an occasion given of the greater glory.
I wonder how many of us reach the end of a sermon like Bullinger’s and cry out for mercy. ‘Give us some grace!’ we plead. But have we really understood what our sin is to our Creator and King and God? Have we sat under the weight of the law long enough to even begin to comprehend the extend of our offence against Almighty God? Or do we use the gospel and grace to squirm out from under truths we find too uncomfortable to acknowledge?
There is hope. There is grace. There is mercy. Oh, there is abundant mercy for all who come to Christ in faith. The gospel is rich and deep and full. But we must come to Christ and the gospel as sinners, not as those who wish to evade their sin. Again, more on that next time.
For now, Bullinger’s closing prayer seems the most appropriate way to finish this post.
Therefore, that I may now finish this sermon, let us humbly acknowledge our sins and meekly cry with prayers unto the Lord who sits upon the throne of grace, saying, ‘Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for we have sinned against you and we confess our offences. We are your debtors; forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Amen.
Next, on the gospel of the grace of God