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Historic evangelicalism has unblinkingly taught robust doctrines of sin and sanctification. It has pronounced each human being born since the Fall of Adam and Eve to be corrupt at heart, bent away from God's will and toward foolish self-interest. Evangelical theology has maintained that, unless God's grace intervenes, each individual person and each group of human beings will subvert and pervert the good order of God's world. And evangelicalism has then gone on—in the face of this dark portrait of original sin—to rejoice that God does intervene. God forgives people's sins, regenerates their hearts, and remakes them. As they cooperate in this difficult work of sanctification, God progressively transforms each one into the image of Christ and joins each to the other in a community of holiness and love.The Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE) has recently completed a major investigation of the history of American evangelical use and abuse of money. These studies—ranging over more than 200 years of church life and conducted by more than two dozen scholars in Canada and the United States—warn us that we are not taking sin seriously enough in financial matters.Our personal and professional financial habits are, in a word, liberal, and in the most superficial sense of the word: we apparently think we're basically OK, and our organizations are basically OK, and our work is basically OK, so we don't need to guard against evil in any important way.Look at what happened with the New Era scandal, a Ponzi scheme that bilked millions of dollars out of evangelical institutions. Few of the organizations involved in this fiasco exercised what lawyers and executives call "due diligence" in making sure that the scheme was legitimate.Fewer still took seriously the Bible's warning that "the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." They didn't probe any further than standard business practice requires to be certain that God's money was going to be used properly.Among the most important dynamics in that mess, in fact, were the interlocking relationships of board members of various Christian and other philanthropic organizations. These relationships naturally fostered respect and trust. In this case, sadly, that trust was sorely misplaced. Yet if the Christians in these positions of influence had taken the Bible's teaching on sin with adequate seriousness, they could not have objected if their fellow Christians had wanted to investigate deeply enough to make sure sin had not infected the New Era venture.Motivational speakers on the business circuit exhort their audiences to "plan to succeed." Inasmuch as this advice helps us to prepare properly for positive outcomes of our efforts, Christians can agree with this advice. But in the light of the whole counsel of God, we should also plan to fail. We can faithfully hope for God's blessing in our ventures, but we should also prudently prepare for the eventual emergence of evil.We need to hear the inspired words of the apostle John about sin and sanctification, and apply them particularly to our financial arrangements at home, at work, and in all our ministries:

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:5–10, NRSV).

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June 12 2000, Vol. 44, No. 7