Theologians describe the corruption of our minds as “the noetic effects of sin.” Because of sin, human beings are not able to properly and fully know and understand God, themselves, or the world. Sin distorts reality and blinds us to the truth, preventing us from experiencing the fullness of God’s blessing in Christ.

In his helpful book, Christians Get Depressed Too, David Murray writes, “There are three simplistic extremes that we should avoid when considering the cause of depression: first, that it is all physical; second, that it is all spiritual; third, that it is all mental.” Murray’s advice needs to be heeded, and I would even apply it more broadly to those suffering with anxiety and other mental illnesses as well.

Murray wrote his book in 2010 because he was deeply concerned over the tendency of Christians to load false guilt on those suffering with depression. He convincingly showed that a lot of depression is not caused by sin, and he wisely and compassionately sought to free sufferers from the added burden of shame.

However, in the fifteen years since Murray wrote his book, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. The dominant view today, even among many in the church, is that mental suffering is caused exclusively by trauma or by other forces completely outside the sufferer’s control. A graduate student in clinical mental health counseling recently described his professors as teaching a theory “that all mental anguish is caused by oppression, and if we can dismantle the systems of oppression then we can relieve the distress.”

Considering this rapid cultural shift, I believe that Christians today need to reclaim sin as a major cause of anxiety and depression even as we affirm Murray’s thesis that it is not the only cause of mental health struggles. It may not even be the most prevalent cause. Nonetheless, we have valid theological reasons to expect a person living in unrepentant sin to feel depressed and anxious. When we experience symptoms of mental illness, we need to consider sin as a possible explanation.

Every human being is guilty of sin. We do not love God with all our hearts, nor do we love our neighbor as ourselves.

Read More