Sin is the violation of God’s law not the violation of some aspect of Freudian psychoanalysis (1 John 3:4).

Perhaps one of the most destructive, incapacitating fruits of pietism is the naval-gazing obsession with the war inside of a man. Retreating from his responsibility to mature in God’s law, develop, and fight, the pietist sees no culpability and thus no calling to reform his external environment. Thanks to Freud and Jung, he is too busy looking inward. Not that a man goes without mortifying his flesh! Far be it from me to suggest that sinless perfectionism is a legitimate, orthodox position. To the contrary, a man who is in Christ has what he needs for life and godliness. He has a purpose in the dominion covenant which requires his attention, energy, and creativity. If we truly understood Romans 8:1 and other declarative texts regarding our positional holiness, we would spend less time hand-wringing and more time building. Again, lest I have my Reformed card put on probation, there is a time and a place for mortification of sin and war against inner transgression—but never, I repeat, never at the expense of ignoring what God has given us, and ignoring what God has called us to, especially if it’s not an actual sin according to biblical categories. Maturity knows how to quietly and quickly put those real and actual sins to death while pressing on towards reformation in the world. In short: repent of your pietism and maybe you’ll see the Spirit work more robustly than had you kept spinning in circles on the pietist’s psychological treadmill. Men who have no purpose and energy to pursue the renovation of the church, family, and civil arenas are men who will entertain themselves with inward quests for sin and psychoanalytical speculation. If we do not know God’s law, we cannot love (Romans 13:10). If we do not know God’s law, we will fill the void with man’s law, and this is a recipe for destruction—destruction of self, destruction of families, and certainly destruction of churches.