THE HUMAN CONDITION
THE POWER OF SIN - SEPARATION FROM GOD AND ETERNAL DEATH
Introduction
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth". These are the opening words of the word of God, the bible. God created everything that exists and that includes each one of us. Man's origins are firmly rooted in God and man will not rest until he rediscovers his origins and becomes united once again to God. St. Augustine once wrote: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you". Man was created in harmony with the rest of creation. There was harmony within himself, in his relations with others and with the environment. All of this was bound together by the relationship he had with God. That vital harmony that man enjoyed with God, with self, with others and with the environment was broken by man. The collapse of man's relationship with God and consequent separation from him undermined man's other relationships. The destructive force of sin entered he world and is still wreaking havoc. We have a problem.
Man's Condition at Birth
With this falling apart, this collapse of the relationship between man and God, humanity entered into a state of separation from he who is eternal, and therefore separated from eternal life.
This condition of separation created a gap between God and man that man could not bridge. Man was created in the image and likeness of God but after the collapse of the relationship with God things changed. We read in Genesis:
When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived for 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth (Genesis 5:1-3).
The descendants of Adam are in the image and likeness of fallen Adam. In the chapters of Genesis following the fall of man we have countless references to mortality, ageing, violence, killing, death. We have the breakdown of society. Isn't this somewhat similar to society today?
As man transmitted, throughout countless generations, his own nature he also transmitted that separation between himself and God and the collapse of personal and social relationships that comes with it. This is the condition into which every man is born. The technical term for the cause of all of this is 'original sin', the initial act of rebellion against God's plan of well-being for mankind, for you and I. There is no human solution to this dilemma
With the separation between man and the source of life, death and mortality came into the world.
The world, conditioned by this separation from God, is called the kingdom of darkness, as opposed to the kingdom of light, as God is light
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son (Colossians 1:13, 14).
This is the kingdom into which we are born, the kingdom of the enemy of God. At birth we are under the overwhelming power of sin, under the power of the enemy of God and man.
There is no human solution to the dilemma man has created for himself. Jesus, true God and true man came to restore the vital relationship between the human and the divine, between man and God because this union exists within the very person of Jesus himself. Man has a second and final chance to find his union with God and his essential integration of spirit, soul and body, with which he can relate to others and establish healthy relationships.
Man is a Sinner
Before we start blaming those who preceded us let us bear in mind that there is no difference between them and us. We are all in the same boat. Romans 3, 23 clearly tells us that we have all sinned "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" We have all rebelled against God's plan for us; we have all sinned and continue to do so. We are all in captivity, in the chains of sin.
All men have sinned and therefore deserve death. Some are convinced that they are not sinners. However, they do not see themselves as God sees them and therefore cannot know the forgiveness of God. Christ did not come for those who already feel self-sufficient and sinless but for those who know they need his forgiveness and his mercy. Therefore the first step necessary is to be aware of our condition as sinners, separated from God and in need of his mercy as revealed in Christ. If, by any chance, some of us are not convinced of this let us put ourselves to the test and ask ourselves a few questions in the light of the word of God.
The greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbour as ourselves as we read in the gospel of Matthew:
'Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?' Jesus said to him, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets too.' (Matthew 22, 36-40).
So let us put ourselves to the test. Only by not loving God and our neighbour we are guilty of transgressing the most important laws of God. (Who knows how many times we have transgressed this law!) Jesus said that anyone who has even the mere thought of doing evil is as though he had already committed it (Matthew 5, 21-48). How many times have we neglected to love our neighbour? How often did we have the chance to help others and have not done so? How many times have I thought badly of someone? Shall we make a quick count? Shall we say three times a day? Then in a year I have transgressed the second important law of God a thousand times. Even if we were to live till the age of sixty I will have accumulated over 60,000 sins or transgressions and we have taken into account only one law or commandment of God, to love one's neighbour.
And what about all the times I neglected to love God? All the times that I have not even thought of him? All the times I would have preferred he did not even exist so as not to be held responsible to anyone for my actions? And all those times that I almost convinced myself that he did not exist? And, finally, every time I have completely ignored him? Is this the kind of behaviour that I have for those I love or or for those I hate? How many thousands of sins will I have accumulated at the age of sixty? I do not want to trivialise things by making such calculations but it does give us an idea of what we are talking about.
At the end of my life can I truly say that I deserve heaven and eternal life? This would be the most terrible illusion of my life! There is only one verdict that any jury can come to: guilty and the sentence, eternal death. Thank God for he has promised us the gift of eternal life.
In civil society the transgression of only one law is enough to be branded a criminal, to be brought to justice and to be condemned. So also for the law of God:
You see, anyone who keeps the whole of the Law but trips up on a single point, is still guilty of breaking it all. (James 2: 10)
There is no escaping the fact: we are all transgressors of the law (sinners) in the eyes of God and we are all in the same boat.
From a human point of view some people are better than others, they have more human kindness, more human patience etc. yet we all are in the same situation as far as God is concerned. We have all experienced separation from him because we have all sinned. There is nothing we can do to overcome this infinite gap between us and God. It would be like trying to jump from one bank of the River Thames to the other. God is on one side and we on the other. Those who are good at jumping will manage to jump further than those who are less able. However, no one can ever jump as far as to the other side so all will eventually be overwhelmed by the current of the river and perish. Man cannot reach God on the other side of the river by his own means; there needs to be some other means that can take him to the other side of the river. It is God who must reach out to man and he has done so in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the bridge that allows us to pass from one river bank to the other. He is the bridge. Jesus did not say 'I shall show you the way', he said 'I am' the way.
Bye the way, this is the bad news, the good news will follow, so don't let us get too depressed! We do not need to remain in that state of separation, there is hope, all is not lost.
It is said that man forgets 90% of his misdeeds. If man were to remember everything he would be psychologically overwhelmed by a sense of guilt. Man does not like to think badly of himself, he does not want to confess his sin, his pride prevents him from doing this. This is why we need all the power of the Holy Spirit to convince us of sin (John 16: 8). Man cannot save himself because God demands perfection in order to be in his presence (Galatians 3:10). Despite our pride no one would dare to think himself perfect.
A thousand good acts of a person could never compensate one single sin against God and man. How can a single sin be forgiven unless by God (Mark 2:7, 9)
Who can forgive sins but God alone?.... the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins
How can we even ask for forgiveness from God if we are not aware of our sinful nature? How can we possibly ask for and receive forgiveness if we do not accept the only means possible, Jesus Christ?
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Next: Jesus Came to Restore Relationships Part 2
Introduction to the Christian Faith - Index
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