Biology of Sin (Matthew Stanford)
I quit a pack-a-day smoking addiction several years ago. I brought my problem before God with fasting and prayer, and relied on Him heavily for the first excruciating weeks and months. I am quite certain that my success is owed to Christ’s power in me.
Strangely, however, the second most helpful source of encouragement and strength came in a small pamphlet on how to quit smoking packaged with my nicotine patches. The pamphlet very succinctly explained what was going to happen in my brain and body over the next few months, such as the feeling that I would die if I didn’t inhale a good lung-full of smoke. But it also told me that these Stalinesque demands from my body and brain would soon pass, and with time they would decrease in frequency and fury. While seemingly trivial and commonsense, this knowledge bolstered my morale during the darkest moments.
I have found Matthew Stanford’s The Biology of Sin (IVP, 2012) to be similarly helpful in understanding the biological effects of both sin and sanctification. Stanford’s stated purpose is to resolve the conflict between what Christianity terms “sinful behavior,” and science, “behavioral disorders.” However, he also provides life-lines for believers to grasp when they are struggling with their body’s biological responses to the fundamental spiritual and behavioral changes inherent in sanctification.
He begins by explaining that our brains are trained to behave sinfully as a result of the Fall—at least, until we become Christians. He then details the biological systems that specific sins affect, and how those same systems were created to behave. Let’s look further into what Stanford says concerning both of these and their relevance to Joe-layman.
What If God Really Meant “Death” in the Garden of Eden?
Before addressing specific sins, Stanford diagnoses the origin of sin in the garden. “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘From every tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die’” (Gen. 2:16-17). When God punished man with death after the Fall, He meant physical and spiritual death. Yes, our physical bodies die, but more importantly, we enter this life spiritually dead. This death began with Adam and Eve and has been passed down to us. Our only hope for life is through redemption by the saving power of Christ.
When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, their spiritual lives were immediately severed, and they pioneered the abyss of spiritual death [1]. As Stanford states it, “Existence from this point forward would be a constant struggle to try to meet unfulfilled needs and uncontrollable wants…To be physically alive but spiritually dead, separated from the life-giver, is death” [2]. We too were spiritually separated from God in that moment.
Regardless of the view one adopts about how the sinful nature is imparted, we all fell with Adam and Eve in the garden. We are guilty of original sin before a holy God (Rom. 5:12). However, we did not merely fall under condemnation, but as Stanford says, “We have also inherited from Adam, our biological father, a physical aspect of sin, what I like to call ‘sinful DNA’” [3]. We inherited a physical predilection for sinful behavior. Our guiding life principle is pleasure [4].
Because we nurture this principle when we are unregenerate, the changes that occur when we are saved by faith in Christ are drastic and often painful, especially in the physical. C.S. Lewis illustrates this principle beautifully in Mere Christianity when he references a George MacDonald parable:
Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself [5].
When we are spiritually born again, our physical bodies require recalibrating to this new life. When we read Paul’s words in Romans 12:2 concerning transformation by the renewing of our minds, we must realize that this also has a physical aspect. When we are saved and begin the journey aspect of sanctification, we are literally transforming our spiritual and physical minds. We had previously trained our physical brains to behave in one manner (sinful), and now we must physically (as well as spiritually) renew or retrain them. Of course, this is all very nice in theory, but what is the application process like?
The Physical Aspect of Spiritual Battles
After laying this foundation, Stanford proceeds by discussing individual sins. For example, in chapter 4, he addresses lust and adultery, explaining that God designed humanity’s biological process of choosing and maintaining a monogamous relationship with a person of the opposite sex. When all things work as they are intended, people find a solitary mate with whom they will “multiply” and “fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28).
However, sin has corrupted our desires and physical responses. If we indulge these sinful desires, we train our brains to expect as normal that which is abnormal. Stanford explains the biological changes that occur in dopamine, oxytocin, and norepinephrine levels during both sinful and godly expressions of sexuality.
He encourages believers who struggle with sexual sin to cultivate their fear of God and to realize the consequences of their actions. But they should also realize that God loves them, and that they are a new creation no longer subject to the bondage of their fleshly desires. Finally, he encourages believers, not only to spend serious time in prayer and study of Scripture, but to seek out true accountability from others.
To give another example, in chapter 3 Stanford explains the brain activity involved with rage. He shows that rage can be a sign of a malfunctioning Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) or even a result of brain trauma. But he is also clear to distinguish rage from a godly expression of anger. His suggestion for believers struggling with rage is to see if there is a need for pharmacological help with abnormal brain activity, and to realize their freedom from sin in Christ.
Stanford also addresses the sins of lying and stealing, addiction, and homosexuality—giving a whole chapter to each sin. While I won’t summarize the content of each chapter, these examples give a general flavor of how he approaches the subject.
Paul the Biologist
Stanford clearly shows in The Biology of Sin that biblical sanctification involves the spiritual mind and the physical brain. When we become Christians, God is faithful to give us a new heart that is no longer enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:14; Eph. 2:10; 4:22-24). The rest of our lives are a recalibration of our wills and physical desires to match Christ’s. As Romans 12: 1-2 states, “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God…And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (emphasis mine).
Clearly Paul desires that we fundamentally change the way we think and act. In so doing, we must also recalibrate our physical brain’s expectations for pleasure. For example, instead of meeting the brain’s desire for extreme amounts of dopamine and norepinephrine through pornography and casual sex, we must retrain ourselves. We must become satisfied with the proper levels from the God-intended source found in biblical marriage. This is not an easy process and stumbling occurs. However, knowing the biological processes that accompany sanctification helps us to understand why the body is so resistant to these changes and so apt to tempt us.
Conclusion
It can be difficult to be both informative and emotionally invested. However, Matthew Stanford accomplishes both of these in The Biology of Sin. He gives the science behind the human struggle with sin compassionately, knowing that it is not just biology at work here but also spirituality. It’s easy for Christians to simply see these behaviors as sin, and for scientists to view them simply as physical responses to stimuli. However, they are both. Our spiritual changes at conversion entail difficult and gradual biological changes, and the responses of our bodies to stimuli always have a moral and spiritual aspect.
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[1] This moment is poignantly captured in Genesis 3:7, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”
[2] Matthew S. Stanford, PhD, The Biology of Sin: Grace, Hope, and Healing for Those Who Feel Trapped (Colorado Springs: Biblica Publishing, 2010), 20.
[3] Ibid, 8.
[4] Ibid, 22.
[5] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1943, 1945, 1952), 174.
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