[Re-Post] There's No Such Thing As Sin

Exploring the Theology of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, pt. 1

Welcome, new readers! I’m so happy you’re here. Check out the archives to see what we’ve been talking about up to this point around Magdalenean theology and the Divine Feminine.

To celebrate all the new folks who have joined the community this week, I’m kicking off a series looking at the big theological teachings of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, the linchpin text of Magdalenean theology.

We’re starting off with a bang:

There’s no such thing as sin.

Jesus said so.

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Peter said to him, “Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this also: What is the sin of the world?”

The Savior said “There is no sin, but it is you who make sin when you do the things that are like the nature of adultery, which is called sin.” - The Gospel of Mary Magdalene 4:25-26

As I’ve shared before, the first six pages of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene are missing from all three known copies. The text we do have picks up in the middle of a conversation between the disciples and a post-resurrection Jesus. The first page starts mid-sentence in a seemingly complex discussion of what will happen to all known matter at the end of time, a common philosophical question in the first century. Then Peter—a known hard-ass and real type A guy—jumps in with an abrupt question about the sin of the world.

Jesus drops an answer that serves as the first groundbreaking theological point of the gospel: Sin doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing.

If you’re like me, you grew up in church, where sin was kind of a big deal. In fact, it was the whole deal. You’ve heard the story, right? Way back at the beginning of time, Eve ate the apple in the garden, which was the first sin. Because of her, every human in history has been born inherently sinful, because of that “original sin.” But after some centuries, God sent his son Jesus to suffer and die for our sins, not so that we can be completely sin-free, but so we can be forgiven of our sins and go to heaven. But we still have to ask for forgiveness of our sins on the regular, just to cover our bases. Religion essentially functions as a sin management program. Also, says the church, don’t forget that you’re a big ol’ sinner and need to worry about the fact that you sin against God all the time. Be sure to feel bad about that.

But here’s this other text, written in the same time and place, by the same people, as the other gospels in the New Testament, that depicts Jesus saying that sin doesn’t exist.

If this is true—if we give this radical little book spiritual authority (which I do)—and sin doesn’t actually exist, what does that mean for us? And what exactly does Jesus mean by this?

Jesus goes on to say that the things we call sin are a type of “adultery,” a sort of betrayal of the love God has for us and the love God wants us to have for ourselves. In this gospel, sin is presented as getting off track from the path of Truth that God wants us to see, both within and outside of ourselves. It’s not some punishable offense, it’s simply missing the mark. And it’s not something for us to feel ashamed of; it’s an opportunity to turn back in the direction we need to go.

There’s a funny little linguistic quirk in the Gospel of Mary Magdalene that ties this whole thing together for me. Wherever the author or one of the speakers might refer to God or the Divine, instead they use the word “Good.” Jesus says that “the Good was sent among you” (referring to himself) to help humans understand the root of things, the love the Divine has for them. When Mary Magdalene teaches the disciples later in the text, the author says that her teachings “turn their hearts to the Good.” In this version of the gospel, God or the Divine is not some judgmental father figure trying to send us to hell. Rather, she is Good, and wants us to see the goodness in ourselves and the world around us. 

In the early part of the text, Jesus makes this point so clearly, saying that the purpose of his teachings is to help humans  “[pursue] the good which belongs to every nature.” Jesus is saying that the nature of all things, including humans, is good. Since this comes on the heels of a discussion of the nature of all matter in the universe, we can infer that Jesus is saying that all matter—all living matter—is good, too. Our basic nature is good. We are the Good.

We don’t have original sin. We have Original Goodness.

I don’t know about you, but this thought feels earth-shattering. If I’m originally good--not originally sinful--then I have nothing to feel ashamed of. I deserve good things in life. If I am originally good, I deserve a good life, and no one has a right to oppress me or make me feel less than. And if all matter and all people are originally good, I don’t have the right to shame or oppress anyone else, either. Originally good people deserve originally good things. An originally good life.

This first theological insight of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is crucial in our study of the text, because it tells us that something different is happening here. This isn’t religious business as usual. We are headed in a unique direction. We need to pay attention to these radical teachings as we walk this spiritual road with Mary Magdalene and her teacher.

And Good things are coming our way.

Thank you so much for reading this post about sin and Original Goodness! I’d love to hear your thoughts. Will you comment below and tell me what you think about the teaching that “there’s no such thing as sin”? Does it change how you think about spirituality, Jesus, or theology in general? Let me know below!