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Rich men are often lean and poor men are often fat. When the sin was sweet the repentance is not so bitter. Of two evils choose the lesser, of two women choose the third.

—Yiddish Proverbs

Inherent Evil or Goodness

Most conservative Christians assume that people are born into sin with an inherently sinful nature. In contrast, Judaism embraces a positive view of human nature, rejecting any notion of original sin. While Adam fails God according to Genesis, his actions do not consign all humanity to an eternally inherent sinful nature. Each person will be judged on their own individual merits; the actions of Adam countless years ago have no bearing on the ontological character of people born into the world today. These two distinct views about the fundamental nature of humanity may also have a dramatic effect on how people view their own moral standing in the world.

Christians and Jews both teach that God created humanity from dust (Gen 2:7). The very name “Adam” (the word for earth is Adamah [אדמה], for the red clay) reminds humanity of this earthy and mundane status. One rabbinic commentary notes God did not create Homo sapiens until the sixth day as a lesson of humility because “even the lowly insect precedes man in the order of creation.”48 At the same time, individuals are invested with the image of God, and are cherished as God’s precious creation. The Divine has placed a divine breath (neshamah [נשמה]) within all mortals. God shares with Adam the task of naming the animals as a way of involving the first human in a “shared” process of creation (Gen 2:20).

God also calls humanity to “rule” as stewards over creation (Gen 1:28–29). The Psalmist exalts that God made humanity “a little lower than God [Elohim]” (Ps 8:5–6). Although there is some debate among modern Jewish scholars about the question of whether humans have such a thing as a “soul” these questions are relatively recent in origin. For most Jews, each person has a soul that makes them responsible for their own moral actions. The soul distinguishes humanity from other animals, who cannot be said to have a sense of moral responsibility but simply live their lives out of a sense of base instinct. For most Jews, this soul, which is a gift from God, is eternal and will one day return to its creator (Eccl 12:7). Therefore, one should engage in a life of soul-searching (Heshbon ha-nefesh [חשבון הנפש]) through devoted prayer and study.

Original Sin

Jewish tradition has taught that, since humanity is created through God’s power, it is essentially good in its basic form. Genesis declares that when God created humanity that it was “very good (Gen 1:31).” It is offensive to Jews to suggest that God created humanity to be inherently evil. They see life as a holy gift from God, even if humans continue to sin. Some Christians, but not all, would also find the suggestion that humanity is created inherently evil to be offensive.

Many Jews have often recited a daily morning prayer: “O God, the soul which you have implanted in me today is a pure one—you created it, you molded it, you breathed it into me, and you will someday take it away from me.”49 This positive view of human nature contrasts dramatically with some Christian views that people are basically sinful and born with a corrupted nature in need of salvation from an eternal fire of damnation. One scholar notes that “even during Biblical times there was no Temple sacrifice that addressed original sin nor did any of the prophets refer to it. For Jews, Christianity offers a solution to a Biblical problem that simply does not exist.”50

A consequence of Jewish ideas about humanity’s goodness is the fact that most Jews have avoided anti-materialist views which saw the body as evil, calling for asceticism free from the sin-generating stains of sexuality as described by St. Augustine and others. When Jewish teachers retell the story of Adam and Eve in Eden, the moral is often that those who rebel against God do so at their own peril. Eden was a time of ideal interactions between God and humanity; it is now an aspiration. The “curse” that came to Adam was not leveled against his soul or spirit but against the nature of his toil and its subsequent difficulty.

Many conservative Christians assume that all humanity was affected by Adam’s sin in Eden (Gen. 3:17–19) because all future generations were irreparably tainted by this decision of one person. In Judaism, sin is a human action for which every individual is responsible. Sin is not an ontological condition but relates to ethical actions and individual choices. For many conservative Christians, apart from Christ, humanity is incapable of reformation or moral goodness. In contrast, Judaism teaches that every command (mitzvah [מצוה]) and the practice of every ritual leads progressively to a more moral life. Even though everyone sins (Eccl. 7:20), humans can also overcome their errors through a life of service and just action.

Considering this emphasis on individual, personal responsibility, it is ironic that one of the major critiques of Judaism extended by some is that Jews are too rooted in a communitarian sensibility when thinking about how an individual relates to God. The Jewish view of sin is rooted in intentional choices that make each of us responsible for our own actions and choices. Because individuals are made in God’s image, they brim with the potential for loving acts of kindness (gemilut chasadim [גמילות חסדים]). Any moral act imitates God’s righteous behavior. Just as God covered Adam and Eve after their sin in the Garden of Eden, so should we graciously clothe those who sin with a heart of acceptance and forgiveness. In contrast, some Christians claim that we can do no acts to please God until our basic sin-nature is transformed by Christ.

The two most familiar Hebrew words used to describe what some conservative Christians call “sin” in the Bible are the terms chet (חטא) and avon (עון). The first term speaks of a mistake (Exod 34:7); the second term might better be translated as a “transgression.” Such actions affect our relationship with God and bring dishonor to the divine name.

Obviously, both faiths recognize that evil exists in our world filled with suffering and woe. A traditional Jewish view that humanity is inherently good, however, provides a safeguard against any claim that God is responsible for human evil. God has given all of us free moral agency and a mission in life to be moral and every moment of life offers one the opportunity to practice tikkun olam (תקון עולם)—repairing the world—and to fulfill the mission of being “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (mamlechet kohanim v’goy kadosh [ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש]; Exod 19:6).

Judaism’s ritual calendar reinforces the need to repent for past mistakes and strives to be virtuous in words and actions. Whenever a person repents (teshuvah [תשובה]), they are seeking, in a life-long process, to enter God’s “gates of repentance,” which are always open to those who are sincere and open-hearted. Repentance for mistakes and moral sins is at the heart of the commemoration of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Worshippers ask a God of grace and mercy to forgive them from misdeeds (avon), for deliberate acts of rebellion (pesha [פשע], literally a “crime”), and for mistakes that may have been inadvertent (chet [חטא]).

The experience of forgiveness is also different based on the nature of a specific sin. For those sins that are bein adam l’makom (בין אדם למקום)—“between humans and God”—, such as ritual transgressions or omissions, a person prays directly to God. For sins that are bein adam l’chaveiro (בין אדם לחברו)—“between fellow humans”—however, (such as gossip, theft, etc.), the tradition is that Jews should directly entreat those they have offended before they can proceed to God in worship.

In Judaism, individual sins are usually framed within a communal context of a shared responsibility. The prophets Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah speak of the rottenness of sin in a communitarian sense (see Hos 5:1; Isa 1:15). God judged the entire people of Israel for individual acts of transgression. Such a view dramatically affects any ideas about the role of the Levitical priesthood and teachings about national atonement through sacrifice. Yet, the Bible does not create an artificial barrier between “sin” and “sinners.” Nor is it accurate, as one conservative Christian claimed, that “traditional Judaism has lost” an “essential insight” into the true “sinfulness of sin.”51 The view that sin is both individual and corporate has been consistent throughout Jewish theological interpretation. Professor Jacob Neusner teaches: “Corporate Israel forms a whole that exceeds the sum of its parts. The parts, the individuals, attain individuation only on the terms dictated by the whole, all Israel viewed from God’s perspective.”52

The entire world waits for God’s saving work of redemption (Isa 11:6–11; Hab 2:14). This is also a New Testament theme (see Rom 8:18–25; Eph 1:9–11) that is often de-emphasized by those who stress the individual nature of the sinner before God Almighty. The New Testament passages that affirm these ideas borrow heavily from Genesis 3. It is not accurate, however, for Christians to dismiss the communal dimension of Jewish views about sin as a mere “typological understanding.”53

A Jewish response to those who embrace the concept of original sin as the basis for thinking about interactions between God and humanity is that such a view puts an undue focus on sin instead of ethical and moral obligations to honor God through right living. It must be stressed, however, that those Christians who fixate on sin at the expense of ethical obligation contrast noticeably with other Christians (such as Orthodox and Anabaptist Christians) who note that the Bible says that death—and not sin—was the universal result of Adam’s action (Rom 5:12). This is not a minor distinction. Indeed, the inevitability of our death, according to Orthodoxy, is the reason why people ultimately fall into sin in the first place. Most Evangelicals would agree with Michael Lotker: “Jesus came to solve a singular problem in a singular way. The problem was original sin.”54 This idea also explains, understandably, why Catholicism puts an emphasis on infant baptism. The Catholic tradition sees baptism as essential to the cleansing of sins before God (Rom 6:3–11), and if all children are born affected by original sin then it needs dealing with through baptism. All camps of Christians agree that after we are forgiven of our sins, a person should continue to seek forgiveness for their mistakes (see Matt 5:23–25; Deut 30:1-3). All forgiveness is ultimately rooted in Christ, who offers forgiveness to anyone, even a tax-collector willing to give everything away (see Luke 19:1–10) or a woman caught amid her sin (John 8:1–11).

I (Fuller) have taught that the Jewish tradition considers all sins to be actions, not simply thoughts or ideas. Of course, people often act on malicious thoughts, but many conservative Christians go one step further and claim that such thoughts confirm that people are evil at the core of their identity. An exploration of these distinctions can generate constructive discussions between Jews and Christians about basic ideas regarding human nature. Some conservative Christians, for example, look to the anguished statement attributed to King David: “In sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps 51:7) to show that the Bible reveals our inherent sin nature. Jewish commentators, in contrast, often reduce this passage to simply being a declaration of frustration on the part of David and not a general statement about the basic condition of human nature.

A Jewish Satan?

Aside from the biblical book of Job, Jewish legends are largely bereft of a “Satan” figure who represents an oppositional power to God. The heavens are not filled with two competing supernatural rivals. Instead of locating evil in a separate satanic being, each person has the capacity within themselves to be either good or evil (see Gen 6:5). A mythological Satan does appear in Jewish legends but he does not have supernatural powers. In the book of Job, “The Satan” (literally, The Adversary) is presented as a being who is a prosecutor and an accuser, whose task was to test those who challenged God. Christian mythology, in contrast, sees a Satan figure in the Garden of Eden story in the form of a conniving serpent who misleads our first ancestors into sin. Jewish renderings of this serpent show a being that has been made by God and sent to Eden to tempt humanity to rebel against the commands of God and not specifically a rebellious fallen angel named Satan.

There is a story in Genesis (6:1–4) in which it states that the “sons of God” had sexual relations with some of the women of the earth. Some rabbis have concluded that this passage refers to “fallen angels” forced to leave the heavenly realms because of carnal instincts. Over time, both Jewish and Christian scholars began to speak more of a Satan who had once been an archangel, but now has the function of tempting people in the world to be disobedient in rebellion to God. Legends in Aggadic writings (and a few times in Halachic writings) spoke of an evil fallen angel who had many underlings, or demons, which did his evil bidding. This creature was said to live in the underworld and cause harm to people who succumbed to various temptations.

This angel of death may well have had more connection with medieval Christian notions of Satan than to historic Jewish teachings. Some scholars have noted that the biblical word satan simply means “adversary” (1 Sam 29:4; 2 Sam 19:23) and that it is possible that God has created Satan to test us as an adversary for our souls. The Bible, some note, also speaks of an angel who is sent by God to obstruct the travels of the prophet Balaam (Num 22:32). Later Jewish literature mentioned a ruler of hell, or a “Prince of Gehenna,” but these descriptions are probably borrowed from Christian sources. It is likely that such notions parallel dualistic ideas about a force of evil as described by Persian Zoroastrianism which were encountered during the Jewish diaspora in Persia. Early Jewish writers were slow to ascribe power to any other supernatural being beside God Almighty; this may explain why some Jewish theologians through the ages have seen notions of a devil and physical demons as instances of a false, dualistic view of divine power.

Living in a Broken World

John T. Pawlikowski claims that one of the “greatest moral challenges of our time comes in the area of ecology” as we become increasingly aware that “the continued destruction of our biosphere may reach the point where any possibility of healing the world has effectively vanished.”55 The pressing environmental crisis that faces our world in these times is an area where sincere and concerned people of all faiths can unite. Both Jewish and Christian faiths provide adherents with ample moral and theological resources to respond thoughtfully and constructively to our world’s increasing environmental challenges. Liturgical traditions that affirm our responsibility to care for the earth, for example, should join with creative expressions of worship and education to underscore God’s call for environmental stewardship.

In Judaism, Genesis describes the creation and foundations of the natural world as inherently good. One can see in this affirming claim the heart of Jewish ideas about the promotion of environmental justice. Adam and Eve were called to carefully guard and preserve the Garden of Eden through their work and were not given a license to plunder it carelessly for their own selfish benefit. An individual cannot fulfill God’s charge to preserve the earth’s resources while at the same time relentlessly disregarding, abusing, exploiting, or destroying those resources. The scriptures, for example, command that farmers should leave their properties fallow every seventh year and that they should not immediately eat the fruit of certain trees but rather wait several years (Exod 23:11). The Bible also contains many verses that speak of protection for animals (e.g., Deut 25:4; 5:14; Exod 20:10).

The lesson of the Tower of Babel is that trouble ensues when humans go beyond their role in the natural order of things. Creative and innovative abilities, gifts of God to humanity, should not become tools for callous exploitation or self-aggrandizement. The most glaring example of this is in Deuteronomy 20:19, where it states that one is not allowed to destroy (lo-tashchit) fruit-bearing trees in order to lay siege against a city. Even in the most life-threatening situations of war, one is forbidden to use trees for weapons or to waste them on the creation of weapons of warfare. If such is the prohibition during a stressful time like war, how much the more so is it forbidden during times of peace? This phrase is the source text for almost all the environmental laws expounded by scholars who study the Talmud.

Humans should derive pleasure from the blessings of the physical world, made for our nurture and enjoyment. Some Jews have even claimed it is a sin when any individual does not fully embrace all the pleasures that the Almighty has provided for all of humanity to enjoy. Food, and all other sensual pleasures, are pathways to worship, not as evils to be avoided, except in unhealthy excess. When a person “blesses” bread and wine at a table (or numerous other encounters in nature), they are simply acknowledging with gratitude to God its inherent characteristics, as opposed to bestowing on it some magical power such as a transfer of goodness. One student said that the idea of tikkun olam seemed to counter what she had learned about how humanity was to “take dominion” over the earth (Gen 1:28):

Because Christians believe the earth is only temporary, their goal on this earth is to get to heaven. That is why in the past, taking care of the environment was not the focus of Christianity. Growing up in a Pentecostal community, I was brought up not to pay too much attention to the world and my own body because the world and my body were only the temporary address for my soul. Now environmentalism is becoming very prevalent in various Christian communities. Even my own views about the environment and my own body have changed.56

No Jewish Hair-Shirts

A fundamentally different view about our human nature also leads to two distinct views on asceticism—rarely practiced in the long history of Judaism. Rabbis have long explained that God has given everything within our lives to be celebrated; nothing that God has created for our use is to be understood outside of the active presence of God’s love (Ps 16:8) . Humans are commanded to multiply (Gen 1:28), thus making celibacy rarely practiced (except for a time during the Second Temple period) in Jewish history.

When individuals choose to fast, it is better that such efforts result in blessings for others (Isa 58:6–8) and are not done only for personal, spiritual gain. Material self-denial is expressly forbidden on the Sabbath and during times of feasting. The Nazirites, who made a vow (Num 6:1–21) to God not to cut their hair or drink wine, also had to bring a sin offering to the altar for their choice of seeking to know the Divine apart from the standard practices of the larger community. What is their sin? Perhaps it is that they are choosing not to enjoy some of the blessings that the Almighty has put on earth for their benefit.

Christianity has been heavily influenced by Greek and Roman ideas about the inherently inferior nature of the physical world. St. Augustine brought the ideas of a dichotomous and fallen world into the heart of the Catholic tradition with his teachings on the superiority of the spiritual over the physical. It is possible that Christ had some ascetic practices, in keeping with John the Baptist and others who stressed fasting and denial much more than other Jewish teachers of his time. When Jesus, for example, condemns the rich man and claims that a rich man cannot enter heaven easily (Luke 18:25), such words could also have been proclaimed by those Hebrew prophets who condemned those choosing a life of comfort instead of generosity.

Christians should appreciate how differing views of sin and the idea of an inherent sin nature affect varying Jewish and Christian considerations about the nature of the afterlife. A theological focus within Judaism on the inherent goodness of humanity has also played a role in why Jews seem far less concerned with grim and punishing visions of hell than some conservative Christians. These topics, of course, are mentioned, but with far less frequency in synagogues than in churches. Jews are encouraged to use the gift of time on this earth to sanctify this life and not to fixate on their eventual, possible status in the world beyond. Every day is a gift given by a God of love and mercy for our nurture and enhancement. One cannot escape living in this life by dreaming about the promise and hope of an ideal, future heaven.

Teaching Circumcision

The ritual of circumcision is a familial reaffirmation of faith before God and the entire Jewish community. God commanded that Father Abraham first administer this rite to himself, and then to his son Isaac on the eighth day after birth (Gen 17:10–12). It is not merely a surgical operation but an act of obedience to a divine command, and some Jews throughout history have chosen to die rather than cease to practice this ritual. Some rabbis have even claimed that the divine command to circumcise male children is more meaningful than any other commandment.

Rashi, an eleventh-century commentator on the Torah and the Talmud, imagined a story illustrating the centrality of circumcision. He wrote that Kind David himself, who was physically fit, had just finished competing in his generation’s equivalent of the athletic Olympics. Since that kind of time and effort in athleticism and shaving the body was contrary to Jewish practice, David sitting in the bathhouse relaxing began to feel guilty that he was indiscernible from his non-Jewish competitors. When he looked down and saw his circumcision, he was comforted in remembering that he had not completely abandoned his commitment to his people.

Adherents of both traditions accept that actions in the physical realm, such as circumcision, are related to an unseen spiritual dimension. The Passover meal and the ritual of the Eucharist (for Christians) are also material ceremonies that point to a higher spiritual meaning. All of life is to be united, not divided between that which belongs to God and to the realm of the physical.

Conclusion

Various Jewish rituals are practiced as concrete reminders of how the faithful should perceive the world. At the heart of many rituals is an emphasis on the daily responsibility that individuals have for their own ethical choices. Even emotions must conform to a commitment to relate to other Jews worldwide as they struggle to serve God despite pressing obstacles and difficult circumstances. One of the reasons why Jewish newlyweds smash a glass on their wedding day is to remind themselves—in their greatest joy—that individuals within their cherished community have suffered (and continue to suffer) as they remain faithfully devoted to the faith.

The Jewish mandate for peace—shalom (שלום)—is a call for wholeness deeply rooted in this tradition of individual responsibility for moral actions and intentions. The message of tikkun olam is a call to bring justice and peace through good deeds into all our relationships in a world filled with evil and injustice. While conservative Christians celebrate the redemptive work of Jesus as Messiah on their behalf, Judaism teaches that individuals cannot stand by with passivity and expect God to forgive their sins through the whims of unmerited, divine actions. Jews, of course, believe that God is merciful and forgiving and has done (and will continue to do) many miracles on their behalf, but there is no understanding that salvation from sin is realized through the shedding of a divine savior’s holy blood. Some Christians use the story of Leviticus and the practice of the ancient sacrificial system to confirm their views that God’s eternal plan for salvation was to be expressed in a blood sacrifice. In contrast, Jewish teachers have called the community to live as a faithful people before God and to serve others with love and justice as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exod 19:6). When Jews live in such a way, they will not live only for their own good but to meet the needs of others. They trust that—as it relates to their eternal destiny—the “God of all the earth will do right” (Gen 18:25).

The central focus of Jewish moral teaching is the command for ethical actions expressed in right relationships with others. Martin Buber explains that God is both the “wholly other” and the “wholly present” who is the “mystery of the obvious that is closer to me than my own I.”57 One knows God through knowing the divine creation, and one shows love to God through loving one’s fellow humanity. While all of us aspire to personal spiritual and moral growth, none of us can do this independent of others because we are all interrelated, and all share the mark of our common creation in the image of God Almighty.

In contrast, some conservative Christian pastors preach that—while ethics is important and many even speak of the “fruits” of a genuine believer (“by their fruits ye shall know them” [Matt 7:16])—it is not ethical action that is at the heart of God’s eternal plan of salvation. God in Christ is the perfect sacrifice, which erases the blot of all human sinfulness inherent at birth in all sinners, and only the acceptance of a divine blood-sacrifice can appease the demand of a righteous and Holy God for moral purity and perfection.