*Author's Note: This research essay was written for a class on Paul's epsitles. I wanted to explore the nature of sin and its relationship to the human will. Specifically, I wanted to explore how that relationship changes in Christ. You might notice that I assert some things and do not fully expand on them (particularly towards the end). With such a deep subject, I believe I could have written more on this and would like to expand on this essay in the future (if I do, here is the updated essay: ~~).  However, for now, this is what I can say. 

Sin in Romans: Understanding Paul’s Anthropomorphic View on Sin

In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, Paul presents an anthropomorphic framework of sin, by which all of humanity lies on. He then uses this framework to explain how the resurrection of, and one’s baptism into, Jesus Christ results in a dichotomy between mind (desire for righteousness) and flesh (sinfulness), expressed in his exclamation of praise in Romans 7:25: “Grace be to God through Jesus the anointed, our Lord. So then I myself and a slave in mind to God’s Law, and yet in flesh to the law of sin”.

Before trying to understand Paul’s argument, it is necessary to first understand what Paul means when he is talking about sin. In a setting with both Hellenized gentiles and Jews, the concept of sin would not have been new to the audience in Rome. The use of sin (in Greek, some variation of the Greek word ἁμαρτία) was present within Grecco-Roman literature. In his article on the use of sin within Grecco-Roman and Jewish literature, Nijay K. Gupta characterizes Aristotle’s use of the word sin as a “wrongdoing committed with harmful intent” (Gupta 2). He, however, mentions that this would not have necessarily been the most common definition among the Hellenist community. Sin would have been seen more as a “deviation from what is known to be right or proper” (Gupta 2). These views are similar in that they claim some sort of wickedness or perversion of what is “right”, however they also beg for a definition of what “right” is. This clarity on the things that are right and the things that are wrong is necessary to determine if something is a sin or not. Gupta also notes that it is not until we look at the Jewish view of sin that we start to see sin in a religious way. This is where Judaism provides a fuller sense of the right and wrong associated with this concept of sin.

Paul, a “Pharisee” (Phillipians 3:5), as well as the Jewish audience of Romans, would have been very familiar with their notion of sin. A sin in this religious perspective is seen in multiple ways. It is first an act, intentional or unintentional, that goes against the command of God (Lev 4:22;27). These commandments (or Law) of God were established through the Torah, of which the Pharisees and common Jews held in high regard. Similarly, sin was mentioned in Genesis (prior to the Law given to Moses) where sin is seen as an evil action or an offense against someone (Gen 39:9, Gen 42:22). These are significantly different. One appears to be an immutable standard one must keep while the other, a relational faithfulness. Literally, ἁμαρτία has the “meaning ‘to miss the mark’” (Owiredu 3). This can fit with either conception of sin. One misses the mark when they break a law, another misses the mark when they are unfaithful in action. These conceptions of sin, however, make no claim about human nature. In Genesis 4:7, we see a glimpse into the relationship between man and sin. Sin is likened to an animal “lurking at the door”, one that man “must master”. It is with this Hebrew framework that Paul begins his letter to the church in Rome. In Romans, Paul makes constant mention of sin and how it is engrained in human nature. In Romans 5, Paul presents sin more like a cosmic, infectious disease that causes those infected to “miss the mark”. Sin is described as “[entering] into the cosmos through one man, and death” (5:12), a resulting disease from sin. Verse 12 indicates a symbiotic relationship between sin and death. Through the entrance of sin, death came, and as death spread, all became sinner. Hart interprets this verse as the “consequence of death spreading to all human beings is that all became sinners” (Hart 296). From this, we have a proof of Paul’s earlier diagnosis that “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory” (Rom. 3:23).

This both introduces Paul’s use of analogy when referring to sin, but also a foundation for his explanation in man’s relationship to sin. As we continue in Romans, we further see Paul’s use of personification or analogization of sin and death to serve his explanation. We see later in chapter 5 a juxtaposition between sin as a ruler reigning through death and grace and righteousness as a greater, opposing ruler reigning through Jesus the Anointed (5:17, 5:21). As earlier in chapter 5, Paul established that all have this disease of sin and death but did not provide a cure. Instead of providing this, he switches to describe the presence of sin and the presence of Jesus in the Christian’s life as rulers that reign over his life. Boer, in his chapter in Sin and its Remedy in Paul, describes this sin as a “as an intruder and as an alien force, conquering territory that belonged to someone else (God)” (Boer 16). Paul continues with this idea of opposing rulers into chapter 6. In chapter 6, Paul moves from saying one is under the rule of something to say that one is in something. Being in something is being under the rule of it, subjecting oneself to it and identifying with it. This is then quickly switched from being in something to being baptized into something, starting in verse 3. We can equate being in something with baptism by understanding baptism as a state of submersion. If one is baptized into sin, then they live as associated with sin. If one is baptized into Christ, they live as associated with Christ. One associated with Christ is associated with his death and resurrection (6:4). This association of being “co-crucified” (6:6) and resurrection (6:5) connects the death of the identity in sin and the resurrection to the new identity in Christ; becoming a “kindred nature in the similitude of his death” (6:5) “to sin once and for all” (6:10). “For the one who has died is absolved of sin” (6:7). Paul finalizes this point by comparing being in sin to being enslaved to sin and contrasting that enslavement to enslavement to God.

So then, do those who are baptized into Christ, set free from the enslavement to sin, are they no longer able to sin? Paul first establishes two new human characteristics directly associated with sin: the flesh and the body. He connects the body directly to sin as the medium in which sin reigns (6:6, 6:12, 6:13). In a similar manner, the flesh is associated with its members (like with the body (6:13)) being slaves to impurity and lawlessness as well as sinful passions (6:19, 7:5). Body, flesh, and members establish a corporeal link between one’s physical body and his proclivity to sin (7:14). According to Schnelle, while one may have “really died to sin, … sin is not dead” (Schnelle 496). While one may have been released from the enslavement of sin in their mind, he is still enslaved to his body and flesh. While the mind has been crucified and resurrected, the body has not yet been. Paul then records this internal conflict between the spiritual and the flesh. He “do[es] not do the good [he] wish[es], instead the evil [he] do[es] not wish, this [he] do[es]” (7:19). Paul expands on this with the sinful reaction the flesh has to the Law. The Law, which was given to Moses, was “given as a supplement” (Gal. 3:19) to reveal transgression (Rom. 5:20, Rom 7: 7) due to the number of offenses present in that age. However, despite the holiness of the Law (Rom. 7:7), sin as a ruler takes hold and deceives into disobeying the commandments. This ultimately leads to Paul’s self-analysis, representative of the Christian, that two forces are at play within oneself: the force of sin and the force of God’s Law (7:23). Paul’s resolution of this conflict is that “grace to God through Jesus the Anointed, our Lord” (7:25) is in order. Even though one would be a slave in the mind to God’s Law and a slave in the flesh to the force of sin (7:25), there will be “no condemnation for those in the Anointed One, Jesus” (8:1). This soteriological conclusion establishes the physical fulfillment of Paul’s anthropomorphic description of a pre-resurrection Christian.

Chapter 8 of Romans explores how one would “put the deeds of the body to death” (8:13) but, in terms of Paul’s anthropomorphic framework, the living Christian is still stuck between living in the flesh and living in the mind (or Spirit (8:9) or by faith (14:23)). However, Paul does not leave the Christian without hope. In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul likens his fleshly body to an earthly tent where he is abides naked and his future body to clothes that he longs to put on (2 Cor. 5:1-5). In this, Paul is referencing the story of Adam and Even in Genesis. In that story, after they transgress, they realize they are naked and hide in shame. This realization is a realization that they have sinned and have incurred judgement (being found naked or without anything to cover them). In the same way, Paul is relating his sins and transgressions with that of Adam and how he too is found guilty of transgressing. Yet, in the same way that God had clothed Adam and Eve, Paul is waiting anxiously for him to be clothed by God and to be in the dwelling of heaven. Paul presents an anthropomorphic framework that establishes how man is “sold into subjection to sin” (Rom. 8:14) in the flesh but awaits a new body, clothed by God. While living, baptized into Christ, putting to death the deeds of the flesh.

Works Cited

de Boer, Martinus C. “Sin and Soteriology in Romans.” Sin and Its Remedy in Paul, edited by Nijay K. Gupta and John K. Goodrich, The Lutterworth Press, 2020, pp. 14–32. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2v88fxj.7. Accessed 13 June 2024.

Gupta, Nijay K. “Sin in Context: Ἁμαρτία in Greco-Roman and Jewish Literature.” Sin and Its Remedy in Paul, edited by Nijay K. Gupta and John K. Goodrich, The Lutterworth Press, 2020, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2v88fxj.6. Accessed 13 June 2024.

Hart, David Bentley. The New Testament: A Translation. Yale University Press, 2017. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvqc6g69. Accessed 13 June 2024.

Owiredu, Charles. “SIN IS A PERSON: SOME ONTOLOGICAL METAPHORS IN THE BIBLE.” Acta Thologica, vol. 41, no. 1, June 2021.

Schnelle, Udo. Apostle Paul His Life and Theology. MTM, 2013.