In the Genesis on which we are reflecting, sin is not described in general as an abstract possibility, but as an action, as the sin of a particular individual – of Adam, who stands at the beginning of the human race and in whom the history of sin has its origin. The account tells us that sin begets sin and that all the sins that mark our human history are therefore interrelated. Theology invented for this state of affairs the certainly misleading and inexact term “original sin”. What does this mean?
Nothing seems to us today more strange, or even more absurd, than to think in terms of original sin, because, to our way of thinking, guilt can only be something very personal. After all, God does not operate a concentration camp in which our ancestors are imprisoned; on the contrary, he is the liberating God of love, who calls each of us by name. What, then, does “original sin” mean when it is interpreted correctly?
To find an answer to this question, nothing less is needed than to acquire a better understanding of men. We must realize anew that no individual is enclosed in himself, that no one can live from or for himself alone. I receive my life not just at the moment of birth, but again each day, from outside myself, from others, from those who are not myself, yet who belong in some way to that self.
Men have their selves not just in themselves but also outside themselves. They live in those they love, in those from whom they live -for whom they are there. Man is relationship; he has his life, himself, only by way of relationship. I alone am not wholly myself; I am myself only in and with a thou. To be truly human means to be related in love, to be from and for. Sin, on the other hand, means the deranging or destruction of that relationship. When I destroy the relationship, then this event -sin- affects the other members of the relationship as well, the whole relationship.
That is why sin is always an offense that involves other persons, that changes and damages the world. Because this is so, it follows that when the network of human relationships is damaged from the very beginning, then every individual enters thereafter into a world that is marked by this relational disurbance.
At the beginning of human existence, which in itself is good, every individual is born into a world that is damaged by sin. Each of us enters a complex in which relationships are disordered. Each of is is therefore, damaged from the beginning in our relationships and we do not realize what they ought to be like. Sin lays hold of us and we yield to it. From this, it is clear that men cannot redeem themselves by their own efforts alone.
The imperfection of human nature consists in the fact that this is precisely what we want to do. But we can be redeemed, that is, free and true, only when we cease wanting to be a god, when the God whom we have renounced comes to us anew and extends his hand to us. Being saved means being love and only the love of God can purify damaged human love and restore the network of relationships that has been fundamentally alienated. We can only be saved, that is, become ourselves, when we receive and accept the proper relationships.
Our interpersonal relationships require that the measure of our creatureliness is everywhere in order, and that is exactly where that the damage lies. Because the relationship with creation has been damaged, only the Creator himself can be our Redeemer.
From: Im Andang schuf Gott, pp. 55-56
