Response to Croasmun's "The Emergence of Sin"

[Bill Horst]

I want to begin by thanking Matt for his paper. This work demonstrates an uncommon level of creativity, erudition, sophisticated cross-disciplinary innovation, and general cleverness. This is all the more true for his full dissertation, which involves an even broader range of topics, and which I heartily recommend reading. It is easily the most interesting dissertation I have ever read, and Matt deserves congratulations on several counts.

That said, having read Matt’s work, as a student of Paul and a participant in the Vineyard movement, I am left with many substantial questions and reservations that prevent me from finding his proposal satisfying. I will present my critique in the form of a series of questions addressed to Matt, and I will trust him to choose which ones he ought to respond to in this session.

The full paper is attached to this post as a PDF.

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[MiriamJoy]

@Matthew Croasmun  and @Bill Hoard  any answer to this question?

3. Grace. Romans 5:20-21 reads, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so
that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion
through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” If the reign of
Sin is to be understood along the lines you propose, what do we make of the reign of
grace? Is grace an emergent person, as well? If not, what is it that cues you to treat Sin
in particular as an emergent person in Romans?

[Bill Horst]

Matt will probably want to answer more accurately, but if I recall correctly, the idea would be that the reign of grace would be another way of speaking of the reign of the body of Christ, much as the reign of death earlier in the chapter would be another way of speaking of the reign of the body of sin.

[MiriamJoy]

@Bill Horst , thank you, I mistagged, and I appreciate you catching it and responding. That's quite helpful, thanks! And, yikes, the Body of Christ - the church, what a serious undertaking.