Man and Sin by Piet Schoonenberg (1964) 1.7AY

Summary of text [comment] page 52

Does sin affect God?

[Well, we did crucify Him. Would that count as “affecting”?

On the other hand, we only crucified Jesus, “the Person who the Father Recognizes2“. I suspect that upset “the Person who Recognizes2“. But it could not alter “the Person3” who brings “the actuality of God2” into relation with “God’s own Potential1“.

Without Peirce’s three categories, Schoonenberg struggled to describe how our sins do and do not affect God.

If our sins did not affect God, then He would not be in relation with us. We would merely be creatures in a Deist universe.

If our sins could create or destroy gods, our gods would merely be extensions of ourselves.

Peirce’s categories allow us to see how our sins affect God in the realm of actuality, but not in the realms of mediation and potential.

Our sins affect the Father and the Son.]