No, I don’t know exactly what this ‘original sin’ thing is except to say, ‘something went very wrong in the relationship between humanity and God. I’m not even sure there was a literal, historic Adam and Eve. But I do think they represent a humanity that chose their own will over the love of God. Augustine was the first to use the term and he might have gotten the notion from the Apostle Paul who wrote that sin entered the world through one man, Adam.

But – and this is important – Christ took upon himself the sin of the world. The Baptist, John, referred to Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’ John 1:29. It may be no accident that John uses ‘sin’ in the singular. Whether sin or sins, the point is that the death of Christ dealt a stunning defeat to sin. His death removed its consequences for everyone so that all people would have the hardness removed from their hearts in order to hear the call of Christ to return to

God’s love.

And here’s the most pertinent scripture in this piece: ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.’ 2Cor. 5:19 (NIV)

And this is the same use of the Greek word for ‘not counting’ that we read in 1Cor. 13:5, ‘Love keeps no account of wrongs.’ (My translation.) Check out the Greek for yourself.

So original sin is not in our consideration anymore. The way is cleared now for God’s love to be most alive and apparent to the world. When I think of it this way, it sure changes my approach to sharing the Good News. Repentance is not getting rid of particular sins but rather turning around to see life in a different way. Probably asking forgiveness from God is simply saying to God, “I took my eyes and my mind off you. I want to get back to being loved and loving.”

Yes. God so loved the world.