Theological Theme Of The Old Testament: Sin - Essay Example

The Problem and Solution of Sin: Outline I) The first sin – definition – disobedience II) Cain and Abel – pride III) Evil persists – God destroys the earth IV) Atonement for sins – sacrificial system (Old Testament) V) Atonement for sins (New Testament) – Jesus VI) Atonement theory in literature VII) New covenant vs. Old VIII) Enduring story The Problem and Solution of Sin “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NIV). God created a perfect world, where everything was as it should be. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden, and God told Adam: You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat of from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die (Genesis 2:16-17, NIV). But Adam and Eve did eat from the tree because Satan inhabited a serpent’s body and caused Adam and Eve to question God’s command. Their disobedience of God’s command was the first sin ever committed, and it set the stage for all their descendants after them to be marked with a sin nature – a natural inclination to turn away from God (Augustine, Book 1, Chapter 6; Book 8, Chapter 7). According to Augustine, “[man] bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that [God] dost resist the proud” (Book 1, Chapter 1). This is one of the reasons God refused Cain’s, sacrifice, even as he accepted Abel’s (Genesis 4, NIV). Cain and Abel were brothers – both sons of Adam and Eve. Abel brought God a proper offering, but Cain did not. Cain’s heart was proud, rebellious, and jealous. He took his brother Abel out into a field and killed him (Genesis 4, NIV). This was the first murder in the Bible, and one of the many sins that is described throughout the collection of stories. Because of Cain’s sin, God drove him from the land and cursed him (Genesis 4:11, NIV). As Adam and Eve found out before him, Cain discovered that sin creates a gulf between God and man. This gulf exists because God is holy. A.W. Tozer writes, “to preserve His creation, God must destroy whatever would destroy it” (Tozer 1961, 106). Between the time of Adam and the time of his descendant, Noah, man’s sinful nature turned him more and more away from God. The Bible says that “every inclination of the thoughts of [man’s] heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5, NIV). Because the world was so evil, God decided to destroy it with a widespread flood. Only Noah and his family were going to be saved from death because “Noah did everything just as God commanded him” (Genesis 6:22, NIV). After the floodwaters receded, Noah offered a blood sacrifice, and this was pleasing to God (Genesis 8:21, NIV). From that time on, blood sacrifice became the only acceptable way for man to atone for sin. Once the nation of Israel is established, the sacrificial system becomes much better defined (Got Questions, 2007). God outlines the acceptable way to offer these sacrifices in the first chapter of Leviticus. Only a completely clean animal was to be used. The individual performing the sacrifice had to identify with the animal – in effect, placing his sins onto the animal, and then he was required to kill it. This was how the Israelites were to atone for their personal sins, which are listed in Leviticus (Got Questions, 2007). The nation of Israel also had to undergo corporate sacrifice, through the day of atonement (Leviticus 16, NIV). In this ceremony, the high priest took two goats, killed one, and released the other into the wilderness (Got Questions, 2007). The one that was killed represented forgiveness from sin, while the one that was released represented freedom from the debt of sin (Got Questions, 2007). The animals in these sacrifices took the place of each individual sinner (Got Questions, 2007). Animal sacrifices were not needed anymore once God sent Jesus down to earth to die for men’s sins (John 3:16, NIV). Jesus was the perfect sacrifice who could reconcile man with God. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (NIV). The theological idea of atonement for sin has permeated western popular culture for centuries. Many Christ figures have been created to retell the story of the Crucifixion in such a way as to make it more accessible to the common man. In the Middle Ages, Beowulf was the hero who sacrificed himself for his people (Worsley, 2004, 149). More recently, the movies The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (LOTR) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe portray how the heroic actions of one creature can save everyone else and make things right with the world again. In the LOTR trilogy, Frodo Baggins journeys through Middle Earth to the mountains of Mordor so that he can destroy the One Ring (Jackson, 2004). The One Ring was created by the evil Lord Sauron to control all the other lords of Middle Earth (Jackson, 2004). Sauron loses the ring in battle, and it falls into several different hands over the centuries, corrupting every one it touches when they let the ring master them (Jackson, 2004). Finally, the ring comes into Frodo’s possession, and he leaves his home and everything he holds dear to make sure that the ring cannot harm anyone else ever again (Jackson, 2004). In true savior fashion, Frodo takes the weight of the world onto his little hobbit shoulders. Once his task is complete, light, order, and happiness return to Middle Earth. In the movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the lion, Aslan, turns himself over to the White Witch in Edmund Pevensie’s place (Adamson, 2005). Edmund secretly enters Narnia, meets the White Witch, and conspires with her against his brother and sisters (Adamson, 2005). Then, he has a change of heart and goes over to the other side – with Aslan and the other Pevensies (Adamson, 2005). The White Witch feels that Edmund has betrayed her, and the law of the land requires that traitors die (Adamson, 2005). Aslan, just as Jesus did for all mankind, took Edmund’s place. But, because of his sacrifice of love, Aslan did not really die, and spring was restored to Narnia. The main similarity in these stories based on the Crucifixion atonement is the fact that an innocent individual gives up his life so that the guilty party may live. This is what Jesus did for man’s sins. Jesus is described as: such a high priest [who] meets our needs – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself (Hebrews 7:26-27, NIV). Those who believe in Christ share in his holiness and righteousness. Believers’ sins are washed clean through his blood. He was the ultimate sacrificial lamb. Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection present the only acceptable solution to the problem of sin in the world. Sin still exists, but it is no longer necessary to conduct repetitive sacrifices to atone for it. Jesus set up a new covenant between God and humans – one that “made the first one obsolete” (Hebrews 8:13, NIV). Under the new covenant, Jesus acts as both the sacrificial lamb and the high priest. Believers need only to come before Him in prayer, ask forgiveness for their sins, and turn their thoughts away from sin. The new covenant is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, specifically Jeremiah 31:31-34: “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because they broke my covenant … For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (NIV).” The Bible presents the problem of sin in the Old Testament, and it gives the solution for sin in the New Testament, through the story of Jesus. It is a story that has been replicated, duplicated, and even altered numerous times. Why has the story endured? It is a story of ultimate hope, peace, and reconciliation. It gives man hope the future. Things may be terrible today because of the sin in the world, but eventually you will die and be with God in heaven if you believe in, and accept the price that Jesus paid for your sins. The story of Jesus’ atonement for man’s sins truly is the greatest story ever told. Works Cited Adamson, Andrew. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. DVD. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2005. Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. Confessions & Enchiridion. Trans. and ed. Albert C. Outler. 1955. Dallas, TX: Southern Methodist U. Digitized 1993. http://www.ccel.org/a/augustine/confessions/confessions_enchiridion. txt. GotQuestions.org. “Why did God Require Animal Sacrifices in the Old Testament?” 2002-2007. (10 January 2007). Jackson, Peter. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. DVD set. New Line Home Entertainment, 2004. Tozer, Aiden Wilson The Knowledge of the Holy. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1961. Worsley, Howard. “Popularized Atonement Theory Reflected in Children’s Literature,” Expository Times 115, no. 5 (February 2004): 149-156. Read More

After the floodwaters receded, Noah offered a blood sacrifice, and this was pleasing to God (Genesis 8:21, NIV). From that time on, blood sacrifice became the only acceptable way for man to atone for sin. Once the nation of Israel is established, the sacrificial system becomes much better defined (Got Questions, 2007). God outlines the acceptable way to offer these sacrifices in the first chapter of Leviticus. Only a completely clean animal was to be used. The individual performing the sacrifice had to identify with the animal – in effect, placing his sins onto the animal, and then he was required to kill it.

This was how the Israelites were to atone for their personal sins, which are listed in Leviticus (Got Questions, 2007). The nation of Israel also had to undergo corporate sacrifice, through the day of atonement (Leviticus 16, NIV). In this ceremony, the high priest took two goats, killed one, and released the other into the wilderness (Got Questions, 2007). The one that was killed represented forgiveness from sin, while the one that was released represented freedom from the debt of sin (Got Questions, 2007).

The animals in these sacrifices took the place of each individual sinner (Got Questions, 2007). Animal sacrifices were not needed anymore once God sent Jesus down to earth to die for men’s sins (John 3:16, NIV). Jesus was the perfect sacrifice who could reconcile man with God. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (NIV). The theological idea of atonement for sin has permeated western popular culture for centuries.

Many Christ figures have been created to retell the story of the Crucifixion in such a way as to make it more accessible to the common man. In the Middle Ages, Beowulf was the hero who sacrificed himself for his people (Worsley, 2004, 149). More recently, the movies The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (LOTR) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe portray how the heroic actions of one creature can save everyone else and make things right with the world again. In the LOTR trilogy, Frodo Baggins journeys through Middle Earth to the mountains of Mordor so that he can destroy the One Ring (Jackson, 2004).

The One Ring was created by the evil Lord Sauron to control all the other lords of Middle Earth (Jackson, 2004). Sauron loses the ring in battle, and it falls into several different hands over the centuries, corrupting every one it touches when they let the ring master them (Jackson, 2004). Finally, the ring comes into Frodo’s possession, and he leaves his home and everything he holds dear to make sure that the ring cannot harm anyone else ever again (Jackson, 2004). In true savior fashion, Frodo takes the weight of the world onto his little hobbit shoulders.

Once his task is complete, light, order, and happiness return to Middle Earth. In the movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the lion, Aslan, turns himself over to the White Witch in Edmund Pevensie’s place (Adamson, 2005). Edmund secretly enters Narnia, meets the White Witch, and conspires with her against his brother and sisters (Adamson, 2005). Then, he has a change of heart and goes over to the other side – with Aslan and the other Pevensies (Adamson, 2005). The White Witch feels that Edmund has betrayed her, and the law of the land requires that traitors die (Adamson, 2005).

Aslan, just as Jesus did for all mankind, took Edmund’s place. But, because of his sacrifice of love, Aslan did not really die, and spring was restored to Narnia. The main similarity in these stories based on the Crucifixion atonement is the fact that an innocent individual gives up his life so that the guilty party may live. This is what Jesus did for man’s sins. Jesus is described as: such a high priest [who] meets our needs – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people.

Read More