We believe that all have sinned and need salvation...

We believe that man was created in the image of God, but fell into sin and is, therefore, lost and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.

The Bible not only reveals the answers to questions about who God is and what He is like, but it also reveals the answers to some very important questions about who man is and what he is like. When people reflect upon their existence, they usually ask such questions as “Who am I, Why am I here, and What’s wrong with the world.” The other day I noticed a young man sitting by the side of a pool and reading a book about Buddhism, and as I observed him reading, I was reminded again of the fact that people intuitively know that something is wrong with themselves and needs to be fixed. Otherwise, why would that young man have begun to seek answers to spiritual questions. The experience of seeking a “higher power” outside of oneself or a “higher consciousness” to adequately answer the questions of life is a universal human phenomenon. Although people do not always come to the same conclusions, everyone seems to be asking the same questions.

Christians believe that God has not hidden the answers to these questions but has revealed His purpose in creating man as well as the nature of man’s relationship to Himself. In searching the Scriptures for the answers to these questions, one discovers that man needs to be saved (delivered) from something and to something.

God’s revealed purpose for creating the first man and woman was that together they would have dominion over the earth. In the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, God declared, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth ” (Genesis 1:26). Thus, one finds the answer to the question, “Why am I here,” in the fact that God created mankind to be in a position of rulership over everything that He created. Unfortunately, the story does not end there. A basic principle seen in the Bible is that God always tests those who would assume positions of rulership and govern within His kingdom. The purpose of this testing is to prove the worthiness of the one who would rule. Therefore, God gave Adam and Eve a test and a warning against disobedience saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam and Eve lived in the perfect situation. They were placed in a position of authority, they did not have to work to produce food, they enjoyed fellowship with their creator, they had no sense of guilt and no knowledge of evil, and as the Bible summarizes their condition, they “were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).

Nevertheless, the paradise over which God created man to rule would soon change. If Adam and Eve had simply believed God and not doubted His word, they would have passed the test and the world would be a very different place. But through his craft and deceit, Satan—a fallen angel—encouraged Adam and Eve to doubt God’s word and promised them that if they ate from the forbidden tree, they would be like God. Adam and Eve were tempted by this proposition, and therefore they ate from the tree and sinned against God. When they sinned, several things changed about their situation.

First, there was a change in their spiritual status. God warned that Adam and Eve would die on the very day they ate from the forbidden tree. Nevertheless, they did not die physically in that day, but continued to live for many more years. Moreover, their souls (consisting of their mind, will, and emotions) did not cease to function either. Consequently, the only part of their being that could have died in that day was their spirit. Just as God exists as a three part being—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—so also man, who is created in God’s image, exists as a three part being. Although some might disagree that man is a three part being, a little reflection on the realm of nature demonstrates the reasonableness of believing that man is a three part being. For instance, plants are living things that have a physical form. Animals likewise have a physical form, but they also possess much more. Animals have feelings, emotions, and desires. Moreover, they are able to make decisions and act upon these feelings, emotions, and desires. In a manner of speaking, animals consist of a body and a “soul.” Like animals, people have both a physical form (body) and feelings, emotions, and desires (soul), but they also possess much more. They are able to think and reflect on matters far beyond the natural realm. Unlike animals, man is able to relate to God and ponder things surrounding the existence of a divine being such as the origin of life, morality, and salvation. This ability of man to relate to God stems from the fact that man alone has a spirit. But when Adam and Eve sinned, their spirit died, meaning they became spiritually separated from God.

Second, this death resulted in a change in their relational status. Whereas before they enjoyed perfect fellowship with God and lived within His presence, they now experienced shame and a sense of separation. This change is witnessed in the fact that Adam and Eve hid themselves from God. The Bible states, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). Another consequence of this change in their relational status is that God cast them out of the garden.

Third, there was a change in their legal status. The man and woman were previously sinless and therefore innocent. When they sinned against God, however, they became guilty before Him and came under the penalty of sin. As stated above, the penalty for sin was death, and although they did not die physically in that day, their spiritual death cut them off from the source of life. Their bodies were made to live forever, but after their fall into sin, their bodies began the slow journey toward physical death. Their experience can be likened to what happens to a rose when a person cuts it from a rose bush and places it in water. The rose looks very much alive even though it has been separated from its source of life and is in the process of dying. So too, Adam and Eve had been cut from their source of life and began the process of dying physically. They were under the guilt and penalty of sin which resulted in their spiritual separation from God, the process of physically dying, and additionally, a proclivity for their souls to sin against God. Sin corrupted their entire being: spirit, soul, and body, and without a change in their legal status, they were doomed to be separated from God forever.

What’s more, the earth itself came under a curse, for God rebuked Adam saying, “Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you shall eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You shall eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17-19). The nature of this curse can also be discerned from prophecies pertaining to the lifting of this curse such as Isaiah 11:6-9 which declares, “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze; Their young will lie down together; And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” Death, destruction, and disease were never meant to occupy such prominent places in the world. These things entered the world as the result of man’s sin against God.

All of these consequences which resulted from the original sin may seem a bit extreme, but that is because people rarely stop to view sin from God’s perspective. The appropriate response is not to ask, “Why was God so extreme?” but to conclude that sin, even a little sin, must be an utter abomination to the character and nature of God. People have a way of minimizing their sin and justifying their behavior so as to prevent themselves from looking bad. For example, people euphemistically call adultery “fooling around,” or “having an affair,” thus making it sound more acceptable. To better understand how adultery (and sin in general) looks in the eyes of God, however, imagine your spouse coming home early with a bouquet of flowers—hoping to surprise you and brimming with excitement—only to catch you in bed with his or her best friend. If you can imagine the shame that you would feel, then you can begin to understand how sin looks from God’s perspective. As awful as that experience of betrayal would be for your spouse, it pales in comparison to the perspective of a holy and righteous God who is incapable of sin. The bottom line is that sin is an abomination to God, and that is why the consequences were so severe.

Moreover, since the time of Adam and Eve’s original sin, sin and its consequences have spread to the whole world. Consequently, everyone that has ever lived is born spiritually dead, separated from fellowship with God, and legally guilty. In describing this fact, the apostle Paul declared to the church at Rome, “Therefore, … through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Although many people in our society today have hardened consciences and act in an evil manner without remorse, it is not difficult for most people to understand that they have sinned against God. Anyone who has ever lied or twisted the truth has sinned. Anyone who has ever acted rudely or selfishly has sinned. Anyone who has ever cheated on an exam, stolen something from a store, gossiped, exploded in a fit of rage, become dependent on some substance for comfort (e.g. alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, food) or engaged in sexual acts outside the confines of marriage, has sinned. Those of you with kids know that you do not have to teach them how to be selfish, to lie, or to disobey mom and dad. It comes naturally.

Therefore, the answer to the questions “What’s wrong with the world” and “What’s wrong with me” is that people today are living in a fallen state and in a fallen world. Because of sin, mankind is separated spiritually from God, fallen from its originally created position, and subject to experience the disease and destruction of a fallen world. It is this condition in which man currently finds himself and from which he must be saved. As stated from the outset, mankind needs to be saved from something and to something. The something from which mankind must be saved is sin and its penalty. The something to which man must be saved is His originally created position of fellowship with God and rulership within His kingdom. Apart from this fellowship with God, people will continue to seek in vain for fulfillment and satisfaction in life. They have, as it were, a God-sized vacuum within themselves which only God can fill, and apart from a relationship with Him, that sense within that something is wrong can not be subdued. And because the penalty for sin is death, and death is separation from God, man has no way of paying the penalty for his sins and yet still living for God. His penalty is a life-sentence. But praise be to God that though man could not save Himself, God provided a way for salvation.