"The LORD looks down from heaven on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned away, all have become corrupt;
there is no one who does good, not even one" (Psalm 14:2-3).
Humans are born at war with God. How did we go from the image of God to enemies of God? The answer is the fall.
In Genesis 2 we learn that God put his humans in a beautiful garden that supplied their every need, then he gave them one rule. In chapter 3 we see them break that one rule. Some people want to deny that those events are literal history, but in some way or another, human beings learned to sin. More than that, they rebelled. And when they did, the image of God was broken.
Nature was designed such that everything reproduces after its kind, and for humans that meant passing on that new, fallen nature. Now, the human heart “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9). So sin comes naturally to us. We don’t have to teach children to sin; they figure that out on their own. It’s often said, we aren’t sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. This is called “original sin” — what GK Chesterton called “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.”1
So what exactly is sin? Erickson defines it as “any lack of conformity, active or passive, to the moral law of God.”2 It is the things we do and the things we don’t do. It can be found in our actions or our intentions. It’s anything in which we deviate from God’s character. And we do it as easily as breathing.
The result of our sin is alienation. We are alienated from nature, from God, from other people, and from ourselves.3 The world is broken because of us; we were cast out of paradise into a world that wants to hurt us. We cannot have peace with other people or even ourselves for very long. And we are at war with God. This is the second truth we have to grasp. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
All of this doesn’t mean that we’re completely wicked. But it does mean that everything about us is tainted. Theologians call it the doctrine of total depravity. It says that there is no part of us that isn’t touched by sin. That doesn’t mean we are only terrible all the time. We can follow God’s law when it seems like a good idea to us. But doing “good” for our own reasons isn’t honoring God; we’re still rebelling. That is why even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags to God (Is 64:6).
It gets worse. When we sin, we join in the devil’s rebellion. We are committing treason. And the penalty for treason is death. When Paul said “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), he wasn’t being melodramatic. Sin introduced death to the human race, spiritual and physical, and eternal death is the just penalty for treason against an infinitely holy God.
These are hard truths, but they are truths we need to embrace. People don’t go to the doctor unless they think they’re sick. But once they know they’re sick, the treatment is precious to them. Human beings are desperately sick, and they need to know it.
But this isn’t just for lost people. Christians are still sinners, and we have the same problem. When we lose sight of our sin, the cross loses its beauty. Meditating on our sinful condition helps us appreciate the gospel. It also yields the humility that the Lord desires in us (Is 57:15). And it makes the cross shine forth in all the glory of the grace of God.4
People have never liked hearing they are sinners, but it’s probably even worse now. We cannot be ashamed of this truth. Refusing to tell a sinner he’s a sinner is no different than a doctor refusing to tell someone with a tumor he has cancer. We have the cure for the disease. They need to know they’re sick.
For more on this topic, I recommend “The Nature and Source of Sin” in Millard Erickson’s Introducing Christian Doctrine.
1 GK Chesteron, Orthodoxy
2 Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine
3 RC Sproul, Everyone’s a Theologian
4 Richard Phillips, What's So Great About Total Depravity?
image credit: Fractured Sand, Brian Williams
Part of Christianity 101
“So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27).
What are human beings? What makes them more valuable than anything else in God’s creation?
Genesis 1 tells us how God created the earth. Again and again God said, “Let there be ...,” and it was. Then God begins to make humans, and things change. The pattern is broken. God says, “Let us make mankind ...” and then “So God created mankind...” (Gen 1:26-27). Gen 2 goes into more detail: “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (2:7). God didn’t speak humanity into existence. He got his “hands” dirty. He crafted humans. No other part of creation receives that kind of attention.
It also says, “God created mankind in his own image.” There is nothing else on earth that is described as being created in God’s image. “When the Creator of the universe wanted to create something ‘in his image,’ something more like himself than all the rest of creation, he made us.”1 Throughout the scriptures, and throughout history, this has been taken to mean that humans, just by virtue of being humans, possess a special dignity. This is why murder is a capital crime (Gen 9:6).
What does it mean to be made “in God’s image?” Theologians debate whether it means that humans are created with certain characteristics that make us like God or whether we were created to be God’s special representatives on earth. I think it’s probably both. RC Sproul says, “The image is a unique ability to mirror the character of God such that the rest of the world should be able to look at humans and say, ‘That gives us an idea of what God is like.’”2 We were meant to oversee this planet as God’s regents in a way that reflects him.
But we weren’t just made to represent him; we were made to know him. In Genesis 3 we find that God visits his humans in the evening after their work is done. Again and again in the scriptures we see that God desires intimacy with the people he has made. God did not make us to be pets or employees; he made us to be friends.
So the first truth we need to grasp is that humans are very valuable to God. We are special in a way that nothing else on earth is special. God cares for all of earth’s creatures, be we alone are made in his image. We alone were made for fellowship with God.
There are some implications we need to make clear.
First, all humans are made in God’s image. All humans are descended from these first two. There is no human being who is not of inestimable value. All of the artificial divisions we have created in the human race, all of the “us versus them” fighting, is a result of sin and losing sight of this truth. In the same way, “male and female” are both made in God’s image. There was never supposed to be one human who was less “the image of God” than another, and everyone you meet should be treated like an image bearer.
Second, “because humans are God’s creation, they cannot discover their real meaning by regarding themselves and their happiness as the highest of all values, nor can they find happiness, fulfillment, or satisfaction by going out in search of it. Their value has been conferred upon them by a higher source, and they are fulfilled only when serving and loving that higher being.”3 Or, as Augustine said in his Confessions, God has made us for himself, and our hearts are restless until they can find rest in him.
Finally, we have already seen that God exists in community, so it shouldn’t surprise us that, when the man was made first in the image of God, it was “not good” that the man was alone (Gen 2:18). We were never meant to be solitary creatures because we were made like the triune God. Not everyone is called to be married and raise a family, but everyone needs other people.
Spend some time reflecting on this: You were created to represent, resemble, and know the God of the universe. You are immensely valuable to him simply because of how he made you.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)
Yet the God who measures the heavens with his hands, who calls the stars each by name, cares deeply about you.
1 Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, emphasis in original
2 RC Sproul, Everyone's a Theologian
3 Millard Erickson, Introducing Christian Doctrine
image credit: Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel
Part of Christianity 101
I believe in the sovereignty of God. Except when I'm in traffic. When I'm stuck behind someone going 40 in a 55 on a country road where it's impossible to pass, or when I'm caught in stop and go traffic on the freeway, it's easy to forget that I believe that God is in control. My frustration over my schedule, where I want to be, or just how fast I want to go can distract me from the truth.
We believe that God's control extends to everything, no matter how small. We believe that God has a plan that he is working out. The scriptures say that God leads kings where he wants them to go and manages the diets of sparrows. Nothing is too big or too small for God's sovereignty.
In case you hadn't noticed, there's an election coming up. Lately it seems like every election is billed as "the most important election in history," but the stakes will be high in this one. Not only are very different viewpoints vying for control, but, since politics has devolved to the control of the Supreme Court, and since there are at least two justices not likely to serve for another four years, the next president will get to shape the nation for decades to come.
It's easy to feel anxious about that. The stakes are high, emotions are high, and the world is crazy. It's hard to predict how next weekend will work out, much less an election. It's easy to be distracted by all the drama.
When you feel anxious about the election — or anything else — take a deep breath and tell yourself that God is in control.
That doesn't mean that God will do what you want him to. God sometimes gives us the things we don't want. And the scriptures are clear that sometimes he gives us exactly the harmful thing that we do want. Our society is sick, and sometimes people want bad things. God may give it to them (cf, Rom 1:18-32).
What do we do? Pray and trust God (Phil 4:4-9). Pray that God will not give us the leaders we deserve but leaders that will lead us toward righteousness. Also pray that, however the election works out, people will be respectful and peaceful toward one another.
And remember that God is in control. In human terms, after a presidential election, one of two people will be the next president. The numerous minor parties have no chance of actually winning. But the God who parts the sea, who leads kings around by the nose can put whomever he pleases into office. Trust God can and will do as he sees fit.
But whether we get what we think is good or what we think is bad, a good God is in control. He is working everything out according to his holy, loving, just plan. When your party loses the election, when your kids are giving you trouble, when a pandemic is raging, and when you're stuck in traffic, remind yourself God is on his throne, and he wants what is best for you.
May I suggest spending some time meditating on Psalm 104 and Isaiah 45?
Image credit: Daniel R. Blume
"My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken" (Psalm 62:1-2).
There is no religion with a higher view of humanity than Christianity, but to get it right you have to consider three important truths.
I said we were going to use the Apostles' Creed as the organizing principle for this project, but that left me with a quandary: Where do I put Anthropology (ie, the doctrine of humanity)? There really isn't much in the Apostles' Creed about mankind. The Nicene Creed, the next in the line of creeds from the early church, answered the question. It says that the Lord Jesus
"For us and for our salvation,
came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin..."
And that makes sense to me, to consider why Jesus had to come for us before we go into detail about his nature and work.
So we're going to look at what God intended us to be, where we went wrong, and what God wants us to become. Then we'll be ready to talk about what God did to address our problem.
Part of Christianity 101
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations ... and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy” (Deut 7:1-2).
A lot of people read the Bible and decide God — if he exists at all — is a horrible, horrible person. Some today decide the God in the Old Testament must be different from God the Father of Jesus in the New Testament, just like the early heretic Marcion, because the two seem to act so differently. In The God Delusion, “new atheist” Richard Dawkins famously summed up the complaint:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty, ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
The most frequent example they offer is the “genocide” of the Canaanites. (Here “Canaanites” is a short-hand referring to the people who lived in the land given to Israel before them, “the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites”.) YHWH told Israel “destroy them totally” as quoted above. They weren’t supposed to conquer them. They were supposed to wipe them out. Is that cruel? Is that evil?
To answer that, we have to remember who we’re dealing with. This is the God who made heaven and earth. He is the owner of everything and everyone. God decides when everyone dies; no one dies before God decides they will, and no one dies after God says they will. He is also the Lawgiver; he has standards by which he expects people to live. And he is the Judge when they fail to do so.
What does all of that have to do with this question? The Canaanites were horrible, horrible people. Everyone’s a sinner, but some people are wicked beyond belief. Some revel in immorality to such an extent that it turns the stomach of even immoral people.
One of the many gods the Canaanites worshiped was the “detestable god” (1Kings 11:5) Molech (aka Moloch or Molek). Molech was worshiped by child sacrifice. And they didn’t just kill their children. They were burned alive.
Because of this and other immoral things they did, God was giving Israel their land and requiring their execution. God told them, “It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you” (Deut 9:5). God didn’t just want to take the land away. If they were left alive “they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God” (Deut 20:18). (Which is exactly what happened, cf, Judg 3:5-7, 1Kings 11:5-6.)
So this was not a case of “a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak” calling for an ethnic cleansing. This was capital punishment.
And, yes, God did other things like this: the Flood, the plagues in Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, and, eventually, Israel. God punishes wickedness. But that’s not his preference:
“Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ez 18:31).
You remember the story of Jonah, the prophet who didn’t want to preach to Nineveh. Remember why: He knew if they would repent, God would forgive.
“Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (Jonah 4:2).
God wants people to repent. He gave the people before the Flood 120 years to repent (Gen 6:3). He gave the Canaanites 400 years to repent (Gen 15:13-16). He sent a prophet to Nineveh, and we know how he pleaded with Israel:
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD:
“though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Is 1:18).
And that sounds very much like the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you’d like to read more about the Canaanite question, here’s a link to Clay Jones, “We Don’t Hate Sin so We don’t Understand What Happened to the Canaanites: An Addendum to ’Divine Genocide’ Arguments,” Philosophia Christi n.s. 11 (2009): 53-72.
image credit: "Offering to Molech", illustration from the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster
Part of Christianity 101
