I was asked recently if I could write on some words or concepts that are commonly invoked , but perhaps little understood. I thought it was a good idea. I was going to write on each separately, but this being the Advent season, and these words are pertinent, I decided to tackle them together.

First “Sin.”
The essential nature of sin is to act deliberately against the will of God or against moral principles. There have long been distinctions made between ‘venial sins’ and ‘deadly sins’. The former are the little ones like fibbing, ‘borrowing’ permanently, and other supposed petty acts. The latter are the ones that are on everyone’s list of the big ones: murder, mayhem, treachery, etc. To Jesus there was little distinction; just ways we try to cope with the guilt of our shortcomings. Sin is sin is sin… Classic moral theology even distinguishes between sins which we are conscious of and those of which we aren’t or can’t be aware. The real matter is that any and all sin separates us from God and from others. And we are incapable of repairing the rift on our own, not completely. And we seem to be incapable of living completely without any sin. It would be unbearable if there were no solution. We either have to pretend there is no sin or it doesn’t matter.

“Righteousness”
“Righteousness” is what we are missing. Right – ness you see. And not by our standards which are all over the map of possibilities, but by God’s standards alone. We would like to think that there is a Great Ledger in which our Good Deeds are registered against the list of our Sins. When we have more of one than the other we want to count ourselves ‘Good’ or ‘Bad.’ But it just doesn’t work that way. We may be more inclined toward one or the other, but that doesn’t solve the problem. While some people are aware that they violate social standards, many moralists and psychologists believe that no one truly chooses evil; we all think we are doing the right thing by our own lights. No, righteousness is not a relative term, but a condition of being “Right” with God.

Then, there is “Grace”
Grace is the saving help. God isn’t satisfied with our separation. Rather he wants our redemption, our life with him in perfect harmony. We can’t make it happen, so God does through the salvific act of Christ on the Cross. Grace is the gift of God, undeserved, motivated by perfect love. Grace is godly, pure and unconditional, the way God bridges the gap that sin creates. In that way the sinner is counted as righteous.