Frankly, I would much rather talk about justice, love and inclusion than about sin, but we need to be comfortable about talking about what sin is—and what it isn’t.
In Matthew 4, Jesus is seen fasting in the wilderness for 40 days, and while he is fasting he is tempted by the devil three times. Each time the devil encourages him to exercise his divine power and privilege to break with the solemnity and self-sacrifice of the fast. He’s encouraged to turn the stones around him into bread so that he would not go hungry. He’s told that if he throws himself off a mountain, angels will surely catch him—an act that if true would certainly cement his notoriety. He’s finally told that he could have dominion over all of the kingdoms of the world if he would simply worship the devil. He refuses each temptation, saying at the end, “Away with you, Satan, for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”
In each opportunity Jesus had to choose himself at the cost of forsaking God and others, he chose to model what he left us as the greatest commandment: to love God with all that we are and all that we have, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
In the story of Adam and Eve, the sin that brought their downfall was selfishly seeking to be like God, with God-like power. That is the root of the evils of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and all of the other ways we dehumanize each other. We too often focus on sex and sexuality, which are not in and of themselves sinful, and miss the self-centeredness of the heart and soul that corrupts sex and sexuality.
Unfortunately, we, unlike Jesus, can’t go into the wilderness for 40 days and, by triumphing over three temptations, completely rid ourselves of the failure of Adam and Eve. What we can do is accept and live in the grace of Jesus Christ, who died so that we might have redemption. “For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.” (Romans 5:15)