What is the problem?

Let me put this in another way. Sometimes you hear this phrase said: “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” I know what they are getting at when they say that. But the point I want to bring across is that to err is not human, to err is fallen. To err is fallen. We are not being quintessentially human when we make mistakes. Mistakes is an overused word. We are not being quintessentially human when we sin, we are being quintessentially fallen. If sin is of the essence of humanness, not only does that raise real problems for God’s original creation, but it makes me wonder what heaven is going to be like. Sin does not make me more human. It makes me less human. It is not how God originally created me. And to say, “Man’s basic problem resides in the fact that he is finite and God is infinite and this chasm cannot be crossed, we cannot even conceive Him because he is so majestic, so infinite and we are so finite,” is to miss the whole point of Genesis 3. And Barthian theology over and over confuses finiteness and sin. Again, I think I could argue the case. Barth’s problem was not with sin; it was with man. He basically says, “You know what your problem is? Your problem is that you’re not God. Your problem is that you are not infinite.” And that is not the problem the Bible says that we have. Adam was finite. God did not mock him for that. The problem was that Adam rebelled. Sin is the problem. Rebellion is the problem. Not finiteness. We are going to be finite in glory. ~ Ligon Duncan