Seven Deadly Sins

On this, the last Sunday in January, we will complete our mini-series looking at the four cardinal virtues of justice, courage, self-control and prudence. Between now and Easter we will be considering the Seven Deadly Sins: gluttony, sloth, anger, envy, lust, greed and pride. These seven sins as we know them were formulated by Thomas Aquinas, who revised Pope Gregory the Great’s list of the ‘Seven Principal Vices.’ However, in the Christian tradition the list can be traced back to the Byzantine theologian Evagrius of Pontus (345-399), who enumerated eight thoughts: ‘First is that of gluttony, then impurity, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia [sloth], vainglory, and last of all, pride. It is not in our power to determine whether we are disturbed by these thoughts, but it is up to us to decide if they are to linger within us or not and whether or not they are to stir up our passions,” (Praktikos 6).

Notice that Evagrius talked about ‘thoughts’ rather than ‘sins,’ The ‘seven deadly sins’ are all attitudes rather than actions, and they can be considered deadly because in some ways they are the root cause of sinful behaviour: like Jesus (Mark 7:21-23) and Jeremiah (17:9) before him, Evagrius knew that sin starts in the heart. As a monk, he knew that we can’t stop such thoughts and feelings entering our mind: there is no sin in being tempted. The question is the extent to which we entertain such thoughts and feelings. As Martin Luther put it, "You cannot prevent the birds from flying in the air over your head, but you can certainly prevent them from building a nest in your hair."

Why, though, would I suggest we spend seven weeks thinking about sin? Isn’t it all rather negative? Well, this series will take us through the season of Lent, and some would consider that to be an appropriate time of year to engage in a little soul-searching. After all, if we sign up to the idea that Christ died for our sins, it is arguably worth drilling down beneath our respectable exteriors to examine what lies beneath the surface: not all introspection is unhealthy.

And yet I also want to reassure you that the purpose of the series is not to make anyone feel guilty. I sometimes wonder whether the church does a better job of making people feel guilty than it has of assuring people of God’s forgiveness. So can I invite you to think of it more like an exercise in spiritual gardening? If we learn how to recognise the weeds that grow so easily in our souls, we will be better placed to dig them out before they have a chance to put down deep roots and cause us all sorts of problems in the long term. One way or another, each of these sins is spiritually toxic, and we are much better off without them in our lives.

Where do these sins come from when we find them in our lives? Are they endemic or invasive? Are we naturally self-indulgent, lazy, angry, envious lustful, greedy and proud? We are all shaped and moulded by our genes, our upbringing, our circumstances and our relationships and sometimes the end result is not a pretty sight. All of us are born with the potential for immense goodness or unspeakable evil. And let’s be honest (call it original sin if you like) being good does not come naturally or easily to most of us. Sometimes it can seem as if sin is ingrained within our character. But we have the promise that if anyone is in Christ there is a new creation (2

Corinthians 5:17). The really good news for all of us who are Christians is that these seven sins do not define who we are or how we live: our lives come under a higher power. God knows what we are like and why we are like it. That’s why he sent his Son to redeem us and his Holy Spirit to change us. Theologians may debate whether we are born evil or born good, but in Christ we are born again, from above, and it is God who shapes and moulds our identity and destiny. The seven sins may be deadly, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Hallelujah and Amen to that.

Tim Carter