SEVEN

DEADLY SINS

HISTORY
HOW WE CAME TO UNDERSTAND THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

The construct of the deadly or capital sins emerged from the monastic movement starting in the 3rd Century. That movement emphasized the call to reject the world and its ways in order to pursue righteousness. And yet even within the walls of the monasteries, sin remained. The monks, desiring to reject sin all the more, sought to better articulate what it was they were ghting. In keeping with ancient tradition, lists were made. Though the varieties of sin seemed countless, they noticed that many sins seemed to trace back to several primary types.

Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
Evagrius, a 4th Century monk, listed eight chief sins. One of his disciples, John Cassian of Marseilles, later introduced Evagrius list to the Western world. But it was the 6th Century theologian and pope, Gregory the Great, whose ordering of the vices prevailed over time. Gregory was the rst to pinpoint pride as a category itself one that served as the base of all the others. From Gregory

forward the seven deadly sins came to be viewed as something much more than a topic for monks they were discovered as the normal perils of the soul 1 in the midst of everyday life. Sin. As we ponder the sins in the following pages, we begin to see that the lines of distinction blur: anger bleeds into sloth; sloths loss of appetite for God conjures up appetites gone wrong with gluttony; the lustful look on with greedy eyes. Sin, like its author, is cunning and deceptive. Furthermore, it runs deep. That makes sense because Christianity presents a depth view of sin which ows from an even deeper view of humanity. The idea of sin in general, and of the Seven Deadly Sins in particular, would not have taken so deep or strong a hold if they had not reected a concept of human personality and its potentialities, both for good and for evil, that was being ceaselessly widened and deepened. In order to conceive the terrible destructiveness of sin, it was rst necessary that our whole natures should have been conceived as so rich and intricate that there is something in 2 them that can be terribly destroyed. Terribly destroyed and yet with the hope of being wonderfully renewed too. Throughout these pages we see Gods response to the sin at hand in Christ Jesus. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

COLD SINS
SIN OF THE SPIRIT

PRIDE OR SUPERBIA:
THE SUPERBLY CHRISTIAN SIN

Pride is the most persistent of our sins. The urge to the others may wax and wane, but Pride is a fixture in our natures. It comes early, it has been said, and it stays late.
-Henry Fairlie

Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. ~Genesis 11:4
There is a long history of building towers to make a name for oneself, ones city, or ones people. In Austin, the newest tower is 208 m (683 ft) and reputedly the tallest residential structure west of the Mississippi. Said tower pales next to the Empire State Building, which rises 381 m (1250 ft). Both are dwarfed by the Burj Dubai tower, which rises 818 m (2684 ft) over that middle-eastern boomtown. Biblically speaking, towers serve as indicators, metaphors even, for what Ecclesiasticus refers to as the beginning of all sin, pride. As a friend put it, Dallas (and its towers) stands as a monument to the hubris of man. And really all towers and cities do the same. Its easy to scan the built landscape and begin to think that human pride looks less like sin and more like axle grease, a necessary lubricant to provide for the smooth and upward mobility of mankind. And indeed, without the cross of Christ Jesus, that is exactly what it is. Only a faith that believes that Jesus was the full revelation of God would consider 3 Pride a sin. Karl Barth, 20th c. German theologian, said there is no knowledge of sin except in the light of Christs cross. If Barth is correct, the tower that serves as the truest monument to what resides in the heart of mankind is a rather small tower in terms of physical height, but one that overshadows all other structures and bodies in its message and power. If the Cross of Christ is the chief symbol of the diabolical nature of pride, then it also stands sentinel to the most important truth regarding pride: in Christ Jesus, on his Cross, God put pride to death, through the humble and obedient offering of his Son. Thus, only in Christ, through the power of his resurrection, do we experience the death of pride and the resurrection power of humility of heart. Humble yourselves, therefore, under Gods mighty hand and in due time he will lift you up. Cast all your anxiety upon Him, knowing that he cares for you. ~1 Peter 5:6-7

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ENVY OR INVIDIA:
DESIRING ALL YOU ARE NOT
Envy is riddled with a gnawing fear that, if someone else gains something, it must be losing something, that someone elses good, material or spiritual, must mean its own lessening.
-Henry Fairlie

ENVY
The Christian tradition has described envy as the evil eye. Its a sickness of the eyes, a brokenness of sight, that prevents its victims from celebrating anything or anyone else. Dantes Purgatory has the eyelids of the envious sewn shut with iron threads: an afterlife of darkness due to a lifetimes refusal to look in love. Jesus once said, The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. Envys darkness is sorrow over anothers good. Cain knew that darkness. Genesis 4 says that his face fell when he saw Abels offering accepted and his own rejected. How quickly Cains sorrow festered into hatred; then into murder. Envy depends on a comparative and competitive view of life. It insists that

our self worth is only derived from our perceived rank. Its been said that envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that has no fun. It knows no gratication. Lust has its pleasure. Wrath its revenge. Greed its possession. Gluttony its consumption. All envy has is its sorrow. It persists as long as a potential rival exists. The envious life is the joyless life. The envious need new eyes eyes that dont only think in terms of comparison and rank. That is the way of Cain and his descendants. The way of Jesus is entirely different. Jesus, the anti-Cain, gave up his identity for others when he was put to death by the very enemies he sought to make his brothers and sisters out of love. In going to the cross and rising from the dead, Jesus became the elder brother of a new human race characterized by a love for ones neighbor rather than a sorrow over their good. In other words, he gives new eyes eyes that see Another.

And the LORD had regard for Abel and his oering, but for Cain and his oering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. And when they were in the eld, Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. ~Genesis 4:4-5, 8

SLOTH OR ACEDIA:
WHATS SO SAD ABOUT SLOTH?

Sloth is far more than indolence, physical laziness, or a state of couch-potato lethargy. It is a condition of explicitly spiritual dejection that has given up on the pursuit of God, the true, the good, and the beautiful.
-Trinity Forum

The Biblical concept of Sloth, portrayed in Proverbs as the sluggard, calls us to compare and contrast the general thrust of our lives with some of Gods most sedate creatures. Sloths are gentle creatures that literally hang. The metabolic rate of a sloth is one-half that of similarly sized mammals. Two-thirds of a sloths body weight is the content of its stomach which can take more than one month to digest. Sloths hang by their claws, requiring no muscle movement. They eat, sleep, mate, give birth, and die hanging upside-down. Why pick on a creature like that? Hanging out is a phrase that connotes the most congenial of activities and lifestyles. More than being lazy, sloth involves a loss of urgency, purpose, reason, will; and a potentially deadly loss of faith, hope and love. Sloth is the loss of appetite for the things of God, the slowing of our spiritual metabolism to a virtual stand-still. And thus, Sloth begs the question, How does one maintain or even regain appetite? In "Hunger", Anne Lamott chronicles overcoming her adult eating disorder and how at the age of thirty-three I learned to feed myself. It is so wonderful to have learned to eat Im not uncomfortable calling it a small miracle. A friend of mine who does not believe in God says, Maybe not a miracle, but a little improvement, but to that I say, Listen! You must not have heard me right: I couldnt feed myself! So thanks for your input, but I know where I was, and I know where I am now, and you just cant get here from there. Something happened that I had despaired would ever happen learning to eat was about learning to live and deciding to live; and it is one of

The sluggard says, There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets! As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. ~Proverbs 26:13-16
the most radical things Ive ever done. Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies Turning from Sloth is turning toward life, and this action begins with God. God is the Hungry One. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We didnt hunger rst, God did. From the perspective of Sloth, the gospel of Christ Jesus is less the satisfaction of long-held hunger and more the renewal of body and soul, the crucixion of apathy and the resurrection of the whole metabolic process appetite included. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst indeed. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. ~John 6:33

GREED OR AVARITIA:
WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?
Considering the full sweep of the Christian tradition, one would have to conclude that the most profane word we can utter is that word, mine.
-William Willimon

There is a close relationship between the account of Abram and Lots separation and the account of man and Gods separation the original sin. The correlation

And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ~Genesis 13:8
is captured in the concept of eye-hand coordination. Eye-hand coordination involves the ability to connect physically with whatever one takes in visually; our visual input guiding our grasping. If it looks good, take it. The Scriptures warn us against living by eye-hand coordination alone. The serpent

suggests that because the fruit looks good, Eve should gaze upon it, reach and take, eat make it mine. He elevates instinct over instruction from God. Following her gut leads to her (and our) alienation from God, man (Adam), self, and creation. Death. Lots dealing with Abram is a classic act of eye-hand coordination in the tradition of Eve. He lifts his eyes to the east (of Eden) to see a well-watered and garden-like terrain reminiscent of the land of Egypt. It looks too good not to take a bite. There is no need to seek wise counsel, inquire about the neighbors, the schools, the churches Lot is upwardly mobile. It looks and feels like a long-due promotion to him. The audience, Israel, hears clearly: In light of our hungry hearts, how are we going to resist the urges that, unchecked, will place us right back into bondage? How in the world do we not live eye-to-hand, hand-to-mouth? Its so second nature. And now we can appreciate the power of Jesus, who in the face of Satans temptation responded, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. How do we resist the temptation to live via sensory perception? In Christ alone. So, how might we begin? It is noteworthy that Abram presents the King of Righteousness (just in from victory over the King of Sodom) a tithe. Could tithing even in the midst of our own cultural milieu be a symbol not only of our heart allegiance, but a means of guarding our hearts against greed; a grace which regularly plants the ag of freedom in the land given to us by God? Could tithing be a practical key to lling, subduing and enjoying Gods gifts of creation?

ANGER OR IRA:
THE SIN THAT CAN BE A VIRTUE
Anger is the fluid that love bleeds when you cut it.
~C.S. Lewis

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. ~Psalm 4:4
The Scriptures never accuse God of greed or sloth or lust, but anger is a different matter. To be sure God doesnt have a quick temper The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6) as does the fool of Ecclesiastes 7:9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools. But he does get angry a righteous anger. According to Dick Keyes, there are three characteristics of righteous anger. First of all, righteous anger springs from a wrong done to someone else. When nailed on the cross Jesus responded, not with anger, but with prayer for his tormentors. Second, righteous anger is never expressed irrationally or uncontrollably. Third, righteous anger works to correct what inspires it. These characteristics make sense only if anger is an expression of love. The best symbol of righteous anger is the cross of Christ. Aquinas distinguished anger the passion (natural and good) from anger the vice (sinful and misdirected). Indeed, the opposite of anger the virtue is not unrighteous anger, but a complete lack of passion apathy or, classically, sloth: the sin which believes nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, nds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive only because there is nothing it would die for. Here the Christian tradition differs from the Stoic tradition in which anger was condemned because of its passion. Passion isnt the problem. The problem arises in how we express that passion. Unrighteous anger springs most often from something done to us. It often doesnt feel like a choice at all, but a mere reex. In Genesis 27 Esau imagines murdering his brother, because Jacob had offended his pride and his pocketbook. In II Samuel 12 David loses his temper and his grip on justice until he realizes that Nathans sheepstealing tale was about him. The chief goal of unrighteous anger is not redemption. Instead, it seeks the destruction of the offender. Thus, unrighteous anger isnt an expression of love. It springs from pride, and the Scriptures are emphatic in their condemnation of it. In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul wrote Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Instead we are to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another Why? Because God in Christ forgave you.

WARM SINS
SIN OF THE FLESH

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LUST OR LUXURIA:
CONSTANCY AVERTED
Contrary to Mrs. Grundy, sex is not sin. Contrary to Hugh Hefner, its not salvation either. Like nitroglycerin, it can be used either to blow up bridges or heal hearts.
-Frederich Buechner

LUST
Rebecca DeYoung hones lust down to this: Lust is a vice because it does not honor the fullness of sex, and it alienates people from each other just when they are supposed to be experiencing 4 intimate union. Its a shortcut, a sign of impatience, a lack of courage, an unwillingness to follow through or participate fully in all to which relationship calls us. Henry Fairlie delves deeper: The trouble with sexual indelity is that it directs the constancy of our attention to someone else. We remove a part of our gaze, and turn it elsewhere. In fact we remove a part of ourselves and give it elsewhere. This is why any sensitive person is intuitively aware when the other is being unfaithful. He or she knows almost at once that something has been withdrawn, that there is something that the other is unable to bring and share. If a mere sexual act were all that is involved, unfaithfulness would not be such an everlasting problem. But even if it is possible to have sex (the phrase is revealing) with someone else without loving that person, the fact that no love has been bestowed elsewhere does not mean that none has been withdrawn. It is rarely that unfaithfulness does its damage in a single affair. Its danger is that it erodes. Piecemeal it chips away at a relationship, not only at the constancy of our love, but at last our capacity to love. If not in the beginning, in the end

it is a form of Lust: not so much for the obvious reason that we wish to engage in sexual relations with other people, but because it nally is another way of emptying ourselves of our ability to express and use our whole natures in a relationship 5 that commands our allegiance.

Fairlies insights can help turn us from a stance of dont do this to What might this look like? Imagine a lifestyle characterized by constancy of attention. Our esh (and culture) chafes at constancy. If freedom means options, then what place has constancy in a free life, especially the kind of constancy that is

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. ~Song of Solomon 1:2
binding? Such delity would mean saying no to supposed options and yes to till death do us part. Perhaps the chief sticking point is that constancy of attention toward another means just that taking another as seriously as myself. The Christian scriptures have a term for constancy Love. It is the only antidote to lust. And the Christian tradition states simply and emphatically that Love is a Person God. The Cross of Christ is the ultimate expression of constancy. It is God loving us as himself. In Christ, God and man are wed forever; delity in the face of indelity. Take me to you, imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free, nor chaste, except you ravish me. ~The Holy Sonnets #14

GLUTTONY OR GULA:
THE LAST SIN STANDING
What's a little Lust among friends, and Pride can be, as we have noted, downright attractive, but Gluttony? Unforgiveable."
-William Willimon

How is one to eat these days? Conveniently? Slowly? Quickly? Organically? Locally? Many small meals? Fewer big meals? However we respond, theres more to our answer than just an approach to food. Our responses (and, more tellingly, our behaviors) turn out to be windows into our entire philosophy of life. We noted that sloth is a loss of appetite for God (and, in turn, truth, goodness, beauty). Gluttony represents a different twist: it is the use of appetite to keep God at bay. We know what it means to love to eat. But, what does it look like to eat, to live, out of love?

We must remember that monastics lived very simply, eating only what was necessary. Part of the reason for this was to develop self-control, which everyone needs, but the main purpose was so that they would have more to share, particularly with the unemployed in cities and with widows and orphans... To limit oneself to necessities, therefore, had the great 6 value of being able to help those in need. Were foodies. And why not? We eat to live. And food is not just for survival, it tastes good. Cooking is part of the cultural mandate: Fill the earth and subdue it! Yet, when does eating become part of an overall mentality and practice of consumption? When does eating and drinking fail not only to satisfy, but also to truly nourish? When does intake become self-consumption, being so taken with food, and other goods, that the denial of self that always accompanies love of neighbor becomes impossible? Its been noted that anyone who is a glutton for food, is actually consumed with his or her body. And persons consumed with the body (and who is not in this air-brushed world) are consumed with virility, youthfulness, life. And yet, gluttons for life are always eating, exercising, and in constant motion for a reason. They are running from death. John D. Rockefellers doctor told him he was going to live to be 100 because, among other things, he always left the table hungry. A little hunger really can be good for you. What could it look like to live hungry? After all, Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be lled.

The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone. ~Luke 4:3-4
The desert monastics of the 4th Century, the very ones who began cataloging the Seven Deadly Sins, offer a clue:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the esh. For the desires of the esh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the esh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the esh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, ts of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucied the esh with its passions and desires. ~GALATIANS 5

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satised. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ~MATTHEW 5

WORKS CITED
1. Guinness, O & Mooney, V. (2000). Steering Through Chaos: Vice and Virtue in an Age of Moral Confusion. Colorado: Nav Press 2. Fairlie, H. (1979). Seven Deadly Sins Today. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press 3. Willimon, W. (2005). Sinning Like a Christian: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins.Tennessee: Abingdon Press 4. DeYoung, R. (2009). Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies. Michigan: Brazos Press 5. Fairlie, H. (1979). Seven Deadly Sins Today. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press 6. Allen, D. (1997). Spiritual Theology. Massachusetts: Cowley Publications