For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight, His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. (Alexander Pope).
Commentary (Anon?) on "You are Accepted”, which is Chapter 19 in Paul Tillich’s book of sermons The Shaking of the Foundations (1948).
In this sermon (based on Verse 5:20 from Paul’s letter to the Romans) Tillich probes the meaning of sin and grace. He suggests that sin is best understood as something deeper than moral violations. It is an estrangement or separation from others, from ourselves, and from the Ground of our being. Grace is described as reunion, a reunion with the Ground of our being that leads to reunion with others and with ourselves.
What does Tillich means by mystery, depth, and greatness. Reality is a mystery. The Ground of our being is a mystery. We do not have scientific or religious or moral knowledge in our possession that can fulfill our desire for absolute certainty. Thinking we know is the estrangement Tillich is talking about. Believing that the Bible’s statements or our churches statements are absolute certainties is estrangment from the Mystery.
On the topic of depth, we find ourselves living on the surface. Human life is deeper than any depth we have seen so far. Most people make it their pattern to avoid exploring the depths of their own lives. Our conversations at parties or even with best friends are shallow. Our religious services are shallow. Our willingness to endure doubt or engage real questions is shallow. This is what it means to be estranged from the depths.
And as for “greatness,” our self depreciation is more common than our boastfulness. And most of our boastfulness is a cover for our sense of inadequacy, deficiency, incompetence, and even worthlessness. The plain truth is that 14 billion years of cosmic emergence and three and a half billion years of evolution has gone into producing we human beings. The plain truth is that we humans are the self-awareness component of this amazing planet. The plain truth is that underneath all our self depreciation and minimized responsibility each of us is a very capable and powerful being with amazing potentiality for aliveness, compassion, justice, and so on. But as Tillich says in his conclusion, “we rebel against it, try to escape its urgency, and will not accept its promise.” This rebellion, this estrangement from the Ground of our being, is what Tillich defines as sin.