“Augustine defined sin as any word, deed, or desire against eternal law.” [1] How are these eternal laws expressed? Most of those that come immediately to mind are negative. Consider the Ten Commandments. Only two are positive. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy and honor thy father and mother. The other eight tell us not to do something—“thou shalt not”. Why is so much of the Bible negative—don’t do this, don’t do that? What kind of person is God if he is someone who just tells us what we cannot do?
However, the eternal laws given in the Bible are not all negative. The Golden Rule is positive–“Do unto others. . .” The Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 are all positive—Blessed are those who. . .” In Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God and the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Both are positive.
We Christians tend to be negative about our beliefs because of our emphasis on the necessity of believing in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. In order to be saved we must acknowledge that we are sinners, that we did what is wrong. However, the good news is that the forgiveness of our sins has been dealt with in the past; it has already been accomplished; it is a done deal. So why is our emphasis on the past?
What our emphasis should be on our future; it should be on the new life God has planned for us; it should be on the type of person we God wants us to be; it should be on the new creation God wants us to become (II Corinthians 5:17). Our focus should be on what we are to be or do instead of what we should not be or do.
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[1] Timothy McDermott, editor, St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, Norte Dame, IN: Christian Classics, 1989, p. 250.
