Do not make the mistake of trying to figure sin out. In one sense, we can describe the pattern of sin and temptation, but we cannot ever make sense of sin. If sin made sense, it wouldn’t be sin.
This means that every sin, no matter how small, is insanity in principle. Every pattern of sin, allowed to go on long enough, results in madness. Sin when allowed to grow produces a harvest, but it is not a substantial harvest. It ends in vapor, in mist, in darkness, in shades, in the outer darkness.
St. Paul in one place refers to the mystery of lawlessness. Although he had a particular thing in mind, in a very real sense, all forms of lawlessness are mysterious, and John the apostle defines sin as lawlessness.
The mystery is this. Why would a man or a woman behave in such a way as to ruin their marriage, knowing the destructiveness of what they were doing? Why would parents harp on and criticize their children, knowing that this does not create security in children. Why would children disobey, when they know that they will be disciplined for it? If it made sense, it wouldn’t be sin.
But it is useless to oppose reason to sin. Reason is contrary to sin, as pointed out, but it is not effectually contrary to it. A drunkard can take another drink, all the while reciting to himself the reasons why his behavior is mindless. Reason has reasons, but no power.
The answer to all sin is another kind of behavior which transcends rationality—grace. The unreason of sin can only be undone by the transreason of grace. If it made sense, it wouldn’t be sin. But if it makes good, sturdy, worldly sense, then it is not grace.
This means that the craziness of sin can only be answered by the craziness of grace. Two things are beyond us—how men in the grip of self-deception can wreck their lives, and how men in the grip of grace can see it all restored.