“As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” -Romans 3:10-18
The Bible declares that we are all under sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). What was once considered good by God’s standards has now become corrupted with evil through the sinful act of Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Human life and every living thing, even the earth itself, became subject to death and decay.
Humans were made in the image of God, set apart from all the rest of God’s creation and therefore suffer the most from the effect of sin, most significantly in the area of what is most important to our well-being, our relationship with God and one another. The worst part about it is that we live through most of our lives without being aware that we have a sinful nature. Yet as we go through unpleasant experiences in life and observe evil all around us, our moral conscience will bear witness that this is not how life was meant to be, and without knowing how to heal what has been damaged and broken within ourselves and the world, we become hopeless and despairing.
The way of sin is to corrupt everything that God has made which was originally good. Every part of man has become corrupted, including the mind, will, emotions, conscience, heart, and the spirit of man. All of these aspects of man no longer operate with the motive to glorify God, but instead, to glorify our “self.”1 The result of man’s attempt to live life without God is insufficient to bring it to the fullness of its purpose, causing emotional pain and anguish. Without having purpose in life, it becomes vain and worthless.
The whole world system has become corrupt since it came under the rule of Satan. Jesus came as the “light of the world” to reveal the holiness of God and the ways of His kingdom, in contrast to the darkened condition of this fallen world. But many failed to comprehend the light of truth He demonstrated and preached throughout His life on earth. Humanity has become so darkened in their fallen condition that they crucified our only Savior, God Himself, because of unbelief. When His Son Jesus died on the cross, He was revealing His divine purpose, that it was an offering of atonement for our sins by taking upon Himself the punishment that we deserved for our sins. Only the Son of God could cry out in the midst of excruciating pain “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Those who were worldly minded wanted us to think Jesus was a mere man and were justified in giving this “criminal” His due punishment, making a clear distinction between the corrupted, limited wisdom of the world and the divine wisdom of God.
To make it easier to understand our fallen nature, try to imagine if we had no knowledge or awareness of the existence of God. We would be left to ourselves to determine what is right in our own eyes, there would be no moral standard to use as a guide. It would be like the survival of the fittest, we would thrive on selfishness, greed and being competitive with others.
Even though the events in the Book of Genesis took place in the ancient time period, the character and behavior of the fallen nature of man has not changed since then. Starting in Chapter four, Cain murdered his brother Abel. A few generations later Lamech practices polygamy and later takes pride in murdering someone out of vengeance. After many generations have passed, in chapter six we read how things had come to the point when wickedness and the evil thoughts of men were continuous and the earth was corrupt and filled with violence, grieving the heart of God and bringing Him to the decision to destroy them all except righteous Noah and his family.
Genesis 6:5-8 “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Genesis 6:11 “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
Genesis 6:13 “And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
This is what the world would be like if we were left to ourselves, apart from God’s presence and divine intervention. Even after the flood, when God gave mankind a fresh new start, the evil nature of man indulged in corruption. The Book of Judges gives many examples of the circular behavior of trial and error of the inability of man to avoid being evil without the divine intervention and power of God.
God gradually made His way into making His presence better known on the earth through the Patriarchs such as Abraham and Moses, who were willing to turn from wickedness and trust in God. Through them He was able to establish the chosen people, the Israelites, to be set apart from the wicked ways of the world. They were to be representatives of the Holy nature of God, and of His sovereign plan and determination to provide salvation for all of mankind. Although they were endowed with this special privilege and responsibility of having a personal relationship with God, that was not enough to bring them into full restoration from their sinful condition, for their history has been blemished many times by giving in to sinful ways because of the weakness of the fallen nature. But because God had made covenant promises with them He did not forsake them, but He did discipline them through punishment or exile, and then always brought them back to being restored to walking in His ways. This repetitious lifestyle continued until the eagerly awaited fulfillment of prophecy would finally come to pass through the arrival of His Son upon the earth to take away the sin of the world once and for all.2
Now everyone can come to the awareness of having sinned before God without fear of punishment, unless they enjoy the sinful nature and prefer to be in rebellion against God, and reject His free offering of forgiveness. With so much grace upon grace extended to us, who would refuse God’s love and choose to spend eternity separated from Him in the Lake of Fire?3
Adolph Saphir, a Messianic Jew (1831-1891), has written these comments about the results of the fall:
“And this is one consequence of man’s fall, that he is isolated from the heavenly world; and that his eye rests on the lower horizon, and too often is fixed on the ground, denying his heavenly origin, and forgetful of his heavenly destiny. Sin has separated man not merely from God, but also from heaven; it has introduced not merely strife and discord between man and man, but it has made a rent and a chasm in that one great kingdom, in which all God’s creatures were to dwell in harmony, fulfilling in their various gradations of life and power the will of God, and aiding one another in love and unity. But the object of redemption is to sum up together in one all things in heaven and earth, to restore the lost harmony in a new and more wonderful union through the blood of Christ, in that new joy, which angels feel over pardoned sinners, in that new righteousness and life which the incarnate Son of God gives to His brethren.”4
“Of sin we have no adequate conception. Scripture reveals to us the depths of sin, as offence against God and as a disease – as guilt and pollution. But as the Bible-view of sin far transcends our thought, still more wonderful is the Bible idea of redemption! Take a beautiful vase, a masterpiece of art, and dash it to the ground, so that it shattered into a hundred pieces. Who can restore it? Who can unite the fragments, so that the beauty and harmony of the original shall again show forth the master’s skill and thought? Yet what is this compared to the Fall, when man’s understanding became darkened, his heart alienated from God, his conscience burdened, his will enslaved, his imagination defiled, his soul and mind and affections corrupt; when man became dead in trespasses and sin, so that from the inmost center of his being to the very members of his body sin reigns unto death? And then see how the idea of redemption runs from the very threshold of the Bible in Genesis to the topmost stone of the edifice in Revelation. And such redemption! Full pardon of sin, so that our souls are whiter than snow; enemies are reconciled, and adopted as children of God; condemnation is removed, and the kingdom of heaven is opened; the heart is changed, the will set free, the mind enlightened; in short, as sin abounded unto death, grace doth much more abound unto life!”5
Notes
1. Our ultimate purpose in life is to worship God and enjoy fellowship with Him.
2. As we know, there are not many Jews who believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Chapters 9-11 in the book of Romans describe their present situation with God, especially Rom. 9:30-33; 10:1-4; 11:1; 11:7-10; 11:25-32.
3. Through the power of His resurrection, He can now provide us with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to abstain from the compelling nature of the sinful flesh. We can become regenerated and renewed to live our lives by the Spirit of God for the remaining time we exist on the earth until Jesus comes again. At His first coming Jesus came in humility as the sacrificial Lamb of God. Since then we have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news of our salvation until He comes a second time in glory as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, at which time the righteous and the unrighteous will be resurrected and judged at the throne of God. We are now living in a time of grace, let us seek the Lord while He may be found (Is. 55:6).
4. Christ and the Church by Adolph Saphir, Pgs. 22-23, http://www.onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Saphir%2c%20Adolph%2c%201831-1891
5. Christ and the Scriptures by Adolph Saphir, Pgs. 38-39, http://www.onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Saphir%2c%20Adolph%2c%201831-1891