No Good Thing (The Reality of the Human Condition)

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately on the nature of man, particularly in regards to morality. This especially has seemed to have come up a lot lately with the recent atrocities in the media. Many think it unfathomable that a normal human being could do such acts. For those outside the Christian faith, it is unthinkable, completely outside their worldview. In essence, all other major religions, atheists included, hold that mankind is basically good or that man can fix himself. Sin and evil are described as a condition from without that is dragging man down, but he can overcome it. We see this mentality even in Christianity today, at least here in our Western culture.  We are so focused on self improvement, that even our understanding of the Gospel is seen through this lens. The Gospel is seen as a way to make us a little bit better than we already are so we can meet God's standards. As long as you live a moral life, pray, go to church, you are well off.

This, however, is not reality. The frightening reality, which is made clear, I believe, in scripture is that man is desperately wicked, and there is nothing good about him. So, we should not be surprised by those who commit these terrible acts, because we have the same potential inside each of us. Each of us are desperately fallen, wicked creatures, living in rebellion against God. Despite the fronts and attempts at morality we put up on the outside, the reality is that on the inside, we are dead; filled with wickedness.

The Apostle Paul realized this, and makes an excellent case on the condition of man kind in Romans 1-7. In Romans 3:10-12, he writes that " There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away: all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one." (All scriptures quoted are from the HCSB unless noted otherwise). Notice the use of "All" and "no one". It seems very clear that no one is exempt. Not even Paul is exempt, as he later admits in Romans 7:18, "For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh." There is literally no good thing in us. Scripture is clear, and if we are brutally honest with ourselves, we can see that there is no good thing, no clean thing about us. We may not have committed evil acts that all can see, but likely we have evil thoughts. There is no escaping from this human condition

Those who hold to Calvinist theology refer to this concept as the "Total Depravity" of man. I think that is a good way of understanding this. Even in Christian circles, we think that we just need to be good. The sad reality is, however, that being good in the truest sense of the word is impossible for us, and therefore there is absolutely nothing we can do about our condition. Over and over, Scripture is clear- we are dead in our sins.  Jeremiah speaks of our heart being deceitful and wicked. (17:9) Paul's agony in Romans 7:24 speaks of our condition "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?"

Why discuss this? My purpose is twofold: first, to show and remind us just how much we have been saved. Paul finishes his thought in Romans 7:25 by declaring the victory in Christ. This is the beauty of the Gospel. This is the message of Good News- We were desperately wicked without  any hope of redemption, and utterly despicable before God, but He does something we could never do and puts to death our flesh, our sin natures. This is the triumph of the Gospel. It is important we realize just how great the cost was for us to be transformed. By realizing the extent of how far we are separated from God, we realize the great power and cost of His grace; it is no sappy hug from God to bring us into His family. It is a costly love to give up everything He had to save wretched creatures who have rejected Him

My second purpose is to remind us of the vivid contrast Christ's lordship should make in our lives. We were once dead in our transgressions and sins, and now we are alive in Christ and in His righteousness. There is no better way to show the contrast between the human condition, and Christ's answer. This imagery of the New Man appears several times in the NT for good reason: to remind us that as we have a new nature, we also have a new master. He has raised us to life to follow and serve Him.

It is simply wishful thinking to think that Christ only came to show us how to be good- we have no ability to do so. It is only through Christ's grace we are saved. There is a deadly myth that going to Church and leading a moral life will lead to eternal salvation. This is simply not true. There is nothing good in us! We can not fix ourselves! David Platt notes on this, "The modern day gospel says, 'God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Therefore follow these steps and you can be saved.' Meanwhile the biblical gospel says, 'You are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less cause yourself to come to life. Therefore you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.'" (Radical, 2010, pg 32.)  It is only through Christ that salvation comes, and this is why it is so important to remember where we came from, and remember that we have no real part in our salvation other than our repentance and placing Christ as Lord of our lives. He is the one who saved us.  His Grace is what gives us the chance to be remade in His image. He is the one that pulled us out, and gave us a chance to follow Him.

Just telling someone to accept Jesus is not adequate. That implies that you are just adding His grace to your goodness. Instead, when we talk to others about salvation, it must be transparently clear that all are dead and wicked, and there is absolutely no hope of life outside of ourselves. It is only be a complete repentance by God's Grace, and a decision to follow Him that we can be rescued from our bondage, and remade in to a new creation. Therefore, He deserves our praise and adoration for doing what no one else could do, and completely transform us. Also, the hope in that is this:"Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).