Augustine of Hippo has the theory that sin is literally "nothing." What he is arguing is that sin is a privation, a lack of something, a kind of emptiness. He argues that God is the creator of all things that exist. He does not think that God is the creator of that which is evil or depraved and therefore evil cannot have an independent existence. It is, then, literally "nothing." Although Augustine's theory that sin is nothing may only be part of the story of depravity, perhaps he is on to something. People caught in their own depravity will confess to feeling that their lives are empty. In this way they have become less than themselves. Although this is a horrifying example, perhaps in his death Ariel Castro, the Ohio kidnapper and rapist, has become truly what he had made himself: nothing. All of life had been sucked out of him in his wickedness. Suicide simply puts an exclamation point on it. Like the chaff the wind drives him away (Ps 1:4). In our emptiness we have turned in upon ourselves and found that we are but a shell of what God created us to be. We have become like bones with the marrow sucked out of them; truly dry bones (Ez 37:4). It is no wonder, then, that when we humans scrutinize our souls, we must share the confession of Job, 'How much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm' (Job 25:6)!

"'All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made' (Jn 1:3), so as not to imagine that 'not any thing' is something. For many, wrongly understanding 'without him was not any thing made,' imagine that 'nothing' is something. Sin was not made by Him; and it is plain that sin is nothing, and men become nothing when they sin. An idol also was not made by the Word. An idol may appear like a human, but man himself was made by the Word; for the human form in an idol was not made by the Word. It is written, 'An idol has no real existence' (1Co 8:4). Therefore these things were not made by the Word. However, whatever was made in the natural manner, whatever belongs to the creature, everything that is fixed in the sky, that shines from above, that flies under the heavens, and that moves in the natural universe, every creature was made by the Word. I will speak more plainly, that you may understand me; I will say, from an angel even to a worm. Among created things what is more excellent than an angel? What is lower than a worm? He who made the angel made the worm also; but the angel is fit for heaven, the worm for earth. He who created also ordered. If He had placed the worm in heaven, you might have found fault. If He had willed that angels should spring from decaying flesh, you might have found fault. Yet God almost does this, and He is not to be faulted. For all men born of flesh, what are they but worms?

For if the Lord Himself says, 'But I am a worm and not a man' (Ps 22:6) who will hesitate to say what is written also in Job, 'How much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm' (Job 25:6)! First he said, 'Man is a maggot;' and afterwards, 'The son of man is a worm.' Behold what for your sake He was willing to become, who 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (Jn 1:1)! Why did He for your sake become this? That you, who were not able to chew, might suckle.