A learned lady from a sophisticated denomination came upon the notion that we all fell in Adam and are born with a fallen nature which needs regeneration by the Holy Spirit. She promptly dismissed this entire doctrine as "some simple minded theology about our diseased spiritual DNA." What does the Bible say? * * * Good sister, some of the deepest and most profound thinkers through the centuries have confirmed what you so easily dismiss as "simple-minded." I invite you honestly to consider whether any aspect of your own personhood is unaffected by the pride which puts self in place of God, or … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber asks whether Adam "infected" his descendants with the spiritual disease of sin or merely "exposed" his posterity to that fatal malady. * * * I understand Scripture to teach that Adam did both those things. Certainly he exposed all humankind to sin. God originally created a sinless world and if Adam had not sinned, his descendants would have been born that world without sin. However, Adam did sin and all his descendants have entered a world filled with sin instead. "Sin came into the world through one man" (Rom. 5:12). In a manner of speaking, Adam also infected his … [Read more...]

A gracEmail subscriber in the Northwest asks why God made humans if he knew in advance that they would rebel against him. * * * Scripture does not answer this question directly, although it suggests that God's endowment of human beings with the ability to reject him demonstrates the extent of his desire for loving relationship -- a reality which requires choice (by humans) and risk (by their Maker). What we do know is that humans, quite unaided, are completely able to reject the Creator who gives them existence. This is also our universal experience, since every one of us rebels against God … [Read more...]

A believer on-line in the Northwest asks, "If God made man, to what extent is the Creator liable for the creature's behavior? Didn't God know before making humans that they would rebel against him?" * * * You ask something to which I do not find in Scripture a clear explanation. I can only affirm what I do see repeatedly taught there, namely, that humans, quite unaided, are completely free to reject the Creator who gives them existence. "Why" or "how" this is true, I simply cannot explain. Yet our universal experience confirms what we cannot logically comprehend, since every one of us rebels … [Read more...]

"What is sin, anyway?" asks a inquirer in cyberspace. To which another reader responds: "It is when people hurt themselves and destroy others." * * * The Bible speaks of sin in a variety of ways. It is proper to say that sin means acting contrary to the character of God, who made us to live in fellowship and harmony with himself. Sin also consists of coming short of God's standards and goals for the human creature,or violating the boundaries God has set for human beings. Sin is at once the outward act, the inner rebellion against God which prompted the act, and the power inherent in our … [Read more...]

"What is sin, anyway?" asks a inquirer in cyberspace. To which another reader responds: "It is when people hurt themselves and destroy others." * * * That is a comment about sin, not a definition, and it is true as far as it goes. The stories contained in Genesis 1-7 reveal more fully the reality of moral darkness, in light of who we are -- both in ourselves and in relation to our Creator. The creation stories tell us that we are creatures formed of earthly elements, yet made in the image of God (Gen. 1-2). This double truth about our nature creates an internal tension. Because we are made … [Read more...]