Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

II. The Essential Character of Sin
Sin is one of the saddest but also one of the most common phenomena of human
life. It is a part of the common experience of mankind, and therefore forces itself upon
the attention of all those who do not deliberately close their eyes to the realities of
human life. Some may for a time dream of the essential goodness of man and speak
indulgently of those separate words and actions that do not measure up to the ethical
standards of good society as mere foibles and weaknesses, for which man is not
responsible, and which readily yield to corrective measures; but as time goes on, and all
measures of external reform fail, and the suppression of one evil merely serves to
release another, such persons are inevitably disillusioned. They become conscious of the
fact that they have merely been fighting the symptoms of some deep-seated malady,
and that they are confronted, not merely with the problem of sins, that is, of separate
sinful deeds, but with the much greater and deeper problem of sin. of an evil that is
inherent in human nature. This is exactly what we are beginning to witness at the
present time. Many Modernists at present do not hesitate to say that the doctrine of
Rousseau respecting the inherent goodness of man has proved to be one of the most
pernicious teachings of the Enlightenment, and now call for a greater measure of
realism in the recognition of sin Thus Walter Horton, who pleads for a realistic theology
and believes that this calls for the acceptance of some Marxian principles, says: “I
believe that orthodox Christianity represents a profound insight into the whole human
predicament. I believe that the basic human difficulty is that perversion of the will, that
betrayal of divine trust, which is called sin; and I believe that sin is in a sense a racial
disease, transmissible from generation to generation In affirming these things the
Christian Fathers and the Protestant Reformers spoke as realists, and could have
assembled masses of empirical evidence to support their views.” 37 In view of the fact
that sin is real and that no man can get away from it in this present life, it is no wonder
that philosophers as well as theologians undertook to grapple with the problem of sin,
though in philosophy it is known as the problem of evil rather than as the problem of
sin. We shall briefly consider some of the most important philosophical theories of evil
before we state the Scriptural doctrine of sin.
37 Realistic Theology, p. 56.
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