Was Sin Inevitable?
May 1, 2009 Blogs by: Tim Jennings, M.D.
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Please don’t take this as a “loaded question,” but was sin inevitable? …it seems to me sin really was inevitable if it took the full revelation-of-God to solve it, to never rise up again? So far the best I can do with it is to realize the nature of this thought is the evidence we are truly free. If you have anything beyond what I conclude, that will be great.

G. Wrangell, Alaska.


Thanks for your question. From my understanding sin was not inevitable, but possible.

The possibility of sin existed, because God grants His intelligent creatures genuine freedom, which means freedom to rebel against Him. But sin was not inevitable as there is no reason that any creature should ever rebel against God as God is perfect, loving, giving, kind, and gracious in all His dealings. There was no flaw or defect in any of God’s actions and thus no reason for sin to exist. In fact, if a reason could be found, then sin could be justified.

The reason it has taken the full revelation of God to solve the sin problem is because of the basis for the rebellion. Satan’s rebellion is based on lies about God. When the lies about God are believed trust in God is broken and rebellion incited. The only way to win trust is by the revelation of truth. Trust cannot be won by the exercise of coercive power or threats. Therefore, once Satan did rebel and told lies about God the only way to resolve the problem was to meet those lies by the full revelation of truth.

The revelation of truth was all that was needed to secure unfallen beings in their loyalty to God. However, once Adam and Eve sinned the very nature of mankind was changed and the revelation of truth alone was not sufficient to resolve mankind’s sin problem.

For mankind the revelation of truth was only the first step needed to win us to trust, which of course is essential. But the human condition had to be remedied. The nature of mankind had to be restored to God’s original design protocols of perfect, other-centered love. Another way to say it is:  God’s law of love had to be perfectly restored into the heart of mankind. Revealing truth about God alone would not do this. Jesus Christ therefore became a human being in order to restore God’s law of love back into the human species. In the God-man Jesus Christ a human brain was developed in which perfect love was fully lived out. Thus “once he was made perfect, he became the source of salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:8).

It is through Jesus Christ that mankind is again reconnected with God and receives, in trust, the restoration of God’s perfect love into the heart, thus healing, restoring, regenerating, recreating us back into God’s ideal, and reuniting us back to oneness with God, also known as at-one-ment (Heb 8:10).

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Tim Jennings, M.D. Timothy R. Jennings, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist, master psychopharmacologist, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Fellow of the Southern Psychiatric Association, and an international speaker. He served as president of the Southern and Tennessee Psychiatric Associations and is president and founder of Come and Reason Ministries. Dr. Jennings has authored many books, including The God-Shaped Brain, The God-Shaped Heart, and The Aging Brain.
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