R.C. Sproul

The things that I would hear most often in the seminary to explain human sin included three.

One, sin was defined as finitude.

Two, sin was defined as inauthentic existence, the existential failure.

And three, it was seen as a psychological distortion.

I'm not going to go into all of these, but let's look at the top one because this is the one that we hear most frequently to explain why it is that human beings sin.

To be finite means that we are creatures.

There is a limit, an extent to our powers and to our beings.

God is infinite, meaning that he is eternal in time and he's boundless in space and so on.

But finitude goes with anything that is created.

Anything that is created is weaker than that which creates it.

The creator exists by his own power.

You can't exist by your own power.

You are dependent, derived, contingent, fragile.

It's part of just being a creature.

Now, what happens in philosophy and theological things is that evil is regarded as being necessary, a necessary component of finitude.

found this in 19th century liberal philosophy.

We find it in Paul Tillich's existential theology in the 20th century where we sin because we are finite.

Let me just give a brief exposition of that in one of the most important treatments of it in philosophical history, and that's with the philosopher Leibniz.

Have you ever heard of Leibniz?

Some of you have heard of Leibniz, the rational philosopher who's famous for producing a very intriguing theodicy.