July 3, 2011
Doctrine & Life
Who is Jesus, and why should he be worshipped? Was his death merely an example of self-sacrifice, or did he actually atone for the sins of the world? These are crucial doctrinal questions, yet many Christians in our time say they are not interested in theology or doctrine, but prefer instead to focus on what Jesus can do for us in our lives today. Is it possible to be a faithful Christian without being concerned about doctrine? (Originally broadcast June 11, 2006
Doctrine & Life: The White Horse Inn
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4 comments:
If Jesus is God and God is omnipotent then why does He need anything from you or me?
If God made us then why did He botch the job and make us imperfect?
Why would God (a loving God at that) punish His own imperfect creations?
Your first question is easy to answer. God is eternally self-existent and is not dependent on His creation or His creatures for anything whatsoever. He needs absolutely nothing from you or me. The opposite is true. We need God since everything we are and have comes from Him. "In Him we live and move and have our being..." Acts 17:28.
Second question. God did not botch anything. He created everything good, perfect and upright. Evil is simply a perversion of what God created. And evil itself was permitted by God's divine decree or it would not exist in the first place. As Augustine said, "God willing permits that which is against His will." Man brought the curse upon himself by disobeying God's moral law in the Garden of Eden. The Heidelberg Catechism answer that question well:
Lord’s Day 3
6. Did God create man thus, wicked and perverse?
No, but God created man good[1] and after His own image,[2] that is, in righteousness and true holiness,[3] that he might rightly know God his Creator,[4] heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify Him.[5]
[1] Gen 1:31; [2] Gen 1:26-27; [3] Eph 4:24; 2 Cor 3:18; [4] Col 3:10; [5] Ps 8
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7. From where, then, does this depraved nature of man come?
From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise,[1] whereby our nature became so corrupt[2] that we are all conceived and born in sin.[3]
[1] Gen 3; [2] Rom 5:12, 18-19; [3] Ps 14:2-3, 51:5
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8. But are we so depraved that we are completely incapable of any good and prone to all evil?
Yes,[1] unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.[2]
[1] Gen 6:5, 8:21; Job 14:4; Isa 53:6; Jer 17:9; Jn 3:6; Rom 7:18 [2] Jn 3:3-5
And the third question is easy to answer as well. Since Adam represented all humankind, God is perfectly just in cursing Adam and Eve and all humankind on the basis of Adam's original sin and on the basis of the fact that all humans sin from birth (see above). God did not create Adam imperfect. Read Genesis 1 and 2. Clearly God created the whole creation as good, including Adam. If sin cannot be justly imputed to Adam's entire progeny, then it follows that righteousness cannot be legally imputed to those who believe either. (Romans 5:18-19).
I should add that God is much more than love (1 John 4:7-8). God is also holy and just. (Isaiah 6:1-5; Amos 5:24). God is just in sending natural disasters and calamities as well (Isaiah 45:7). It is rather foolish to accuse God of unrighteousness (Isaiah 45:9).
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