Unbelief as the Anatomy of All Sin

Christ performs a startling act of self-assertion when He identifies the world's rejection of Him as the supreme sin—not the gross evils that visibly corrupt society. The world swarms with 'all unrighteousness and wickedness, lust and immorality, intemperance, cruelty, hatred; all manner of buzzing evils that stink and sting around us.' Yet our Lord 'passes them all by and points to a mere negative thing, to an inward thing, to the attitude of men towards Himself.' He commands: 'If you want to know what sin is, look at that!' Unbelief becomes the anatomical preparation through which all sin's fibres are 'straightened out and made visible.' This is not a peripheral matter of intellectual assent or the colour of one's temperament. Disbelief in Christ reveals the root pathology of human wickedness—the fundamental rebellion against Elohim's self-disclosure in the Incarnate Word. The Spirit's conviction operates through this singular fact: that rejection of Jesus Christ concentrates within itself the essence of what sin truly is. The three convicting facts—unbelief, Christ's ascension, and the judgment of Satan—constitute 'the staple and the strength of the Christian ministry.' Yet these facts 'misapprehend' their purpose unless they drive 'home to our consciences and understandings the triple conviction.' Maclaren's penetrating question echoes still: Have you 'looked these three facts in the face' and 'learned their meaning as it bears on your own character and religious life'? The anatomy lesson awaits.