Shalom Undone: Sin, Death, and the Cycles of Harm that Enslave Us
Beyond Guilt: Recovering a Biblical Vision of Sin
For many, sin is an uncomfortable topic, one that evokes guilt, shame, or even avoidance. Within much of the Christian tradition, sin is often framed as a list of personal moral failings—lying, greed, lust, or anger—reducing it to a running tally of personal mistakes. Salvation, then, is commonly understood as God’s forgiveness for these moral failings and a guarantee of one’s place in heaven after death. For many, this moralistic definition of sin—and corresponding understanding of salvation—feels narrow, even troubling. It reduces faith to a transactional system of guilt and pardon and leaves in its wake unaddressed questions about why, if sin is about the personal misdeeds of individuals, the world is still so very broken.
But what if this individual, moralistic understanding of sin is not only incomplete—but fundamentally at odds with the Bible’s vision of sin and salvation?
A closer look at the biblical picture of sin reveals a more expansive and sobering view: sin is not simply a matter of wrong choices but a condition that shapes our world and our lives. It is something we are caught in—a web of distorted relationships, harmful systems, and inherited patterns of thought and behavior. Sin includes not only our harmful actions but also the ways we are entangled in what is broken, even when we are unaware or passive. It’s not just what we do—it’s the water we swim in, the atmosphere we breathe.
In this light, sin is not merely a personal failing—it is a force that distorts what God created for wholeness. It corrodes God’s shalom/eirene, the just and life-giving peace that God intends for all creation. And this distortion is not just external; it takes root within us, shaping our fears, desires, and relationships.
Jesus helps us see this more clearly. He did not come merely to forgive individual sins, but to confront the forces that enslave and deform human life. He challenged cultural norms, disrupted unjust systems, and exposed the spiritual and social dynamics that keep people trapped in fear, pride, self-preservation, domination, and violence. His life and teaching point toward a much broader vision of salvation—not limited to forgiveness or future rescue, but centered on God’s present, ongoing redemptive work to heal what sin has fractured and liberate creation from all that distorts and destroys God’s abundant life. This is the peace of God’s reign: a world made whole where people and communities flourish in justice, love, and restored relationships.
To explore this more fully, this paper introduces three peacebuilding insights that help reframe our understanding of sin in ways that are both biblically faithful and spiritually liberative:
The Sin Triangle – Sin is not only personal, but also structural (systemic) and cultural (ideological).
The Sin Cycle – Sin functions like a spiral of violence that entraps people and societies in repeated harm.
The Sin-Death-Powers Matrix – Sin is fueled ultimately by our fear of death and our deep desire to survive, remain in control, and be held in high regard.
When we begin to grasp the scale and complexity of sin—not just as personal wrongdoing but as something that entangles individuals, communities, and systems—we also begin to see the broader scope of God’s saving work. It is not merely about freedom from guilt, but the healing of all that sin distorts. This shift clarifies the meaning of Christian discipleship, not as belief for escape, but as training in the way of Jesus—formation to join God’s liberating, peace-restoring mission in the world. It also reshapes our witness, inviting us to participate in announcing and embodying the in-breaking of God’s holistic and just peace.… KEEP READING
