Sin: What Is It And Where Does It Come From?Sample

THE FALL OF MAN AND "TOTAL DEPRAVITY" The Christian Gospel isn’t meant to be a “downer.” It’s good news. At the heart of this good news is God’s desire to transform every believer into a creature of holiness. Even now we have the promise that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the foundation of our self-image as believers in Jesus. We know that God loves us, that He has created us in His image, and that He is in the process of re-making us after the pattern of grace and glory revealed to us in His Son. That said, it’s important to concede that the concept of “human depravity” does occupy a crucial place in the message of Scripture. In fact, we can’t fully experience the joy of new life in Christ unless we understand this teaching correctly. Let’s take a closer look. As we have already seen, Adam and Eve damaged their relationship with God in the Garden of Eden by choosing to disregard His instructions. In effect, they turned away from Him and decided to follow their own path. This is where evil entered the world. This is what sin is all about. The Scripture teaches us that man is a fallen creature in a fallen world. But in spite of its assertion that men and women have fallen from grace, the Bible does not teach that human beings are totally evil. It doesn’t even claim that man is as bad as he can possibly be. Instead, it says that all aspects of human nature – mind and spirit, soul and body, reason, affections, emotions, and will – have been equally infected with sin. Man continues to bear the image of God in spite of the fall. Nevertheless, the image has been marred. It’s like a mirror with a great big crack right down the middle. We dare not miss the significance of this point. If we downplay the seriousness of the crack in the mirror, we risk minimizing the desperateness of the human situation. And if we minimize the desperateness of the human situation, we discount the necessity of Christ’s incarnation and death. Jesus didn’t go to the cross simply to wipe away a small “smudge” from the surface of the human soul. His mission was nothing less than bringing the dead back to life. As Paul tells the believers in Ephesus, “You were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). In another place he expresses the same thought by saying, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Romans 3:10-12; see also Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3). The dead can’t raise themselves. In the same way, there is nothing fallen man can do to save himself. He is absolutely helpless. His mind is useless in helping him overcome moral and spiritual corruption. His thoughts, like his will and emotions, are not naturally inclined toward God. Theologically speaking, he is “totally depraved.” He bears the stain of sin in every part of his being. It should be clear, then, that our only hope is in the redeeming grace of God. Only by the power of Christ’s blood can the power of sin be broken in our lives. This is what the apostle means when he says, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” (Romans 7:18). It’s vital to keep these thoughts in mind whenever we find ourselves engaged in a battle with “the sin that so easily entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1).