The great, great grandaddy of all sins is the denial of sin, the refusal to admit sin. Such refusal is odd because as G. K. Chesterston once observed, sin is the only empirically verifiable item in the entire Christian/Jewish belief system. No one has seen God at any time, but we see sin with our own eyes all the time. And yet denial is commonplace.
Praying with David, who knew a great deal about sin, we soon learn that the remedy for sin is not the extermination of sin, not long training in not-sinning, not a rigorous program conditioning us in a pavlovian revulsion to sin. The only effective remedy for sin is the forgiveness of sin – and only God can forgive sin.
Sin and the effects of sin are not simply matters of the spirit or misdirections of the will or disobedient acts. The whole person is involved. There is no inner and outer matters in sin.
We can no more live a sinless life than we can plant potatoes without getting our hands dirty. Neither do we have to go around all day with dirty hands. There are washbasins well-supplied with soap in our homes and workplaces – and baptismal fonts and baptisteries in our sanctuaries. The way, the only way to deal with sin is through washing, a primary metaphor for forgiveness. And connecting with God’s forgiveness, like washing, requires frequency.
From Eugene Peterson “The Way of Jesus” chapter 4.
