Reverend Martin Adhikary

Man is alienated from God due to sin. It lies behind human depravity, better say, total or pervasive depravity. Man cannot, on his own, approach holy God. Sin adversely impacts man’s will, personality, emotion and intelligence, rendering him unable to stand before God. But God is just and loving. He hates sin but loves man. How could God reconcile his justice and holiness to his love? He gave his only begotten sinless Son Jesus Christ to mankind to pay the ransom-price for sin and thereby make the way for reconciliation with himself. Sin is punished in the vicarious sacrifice of the sinless life of Christ.  Because of Sin and Fall of Adam, the first Man of all mankind is born with a sin-nature, with the potency to sin. The guilt and pollution of the Original sin pervades all humanity. It is the total depravity of man and it is the universal human state of inherent sinfulness. Every member of the human race shares this sin-nature and suffers from this as a result of the defect tarnishing the ‘image of God’ in man. The Bible abounds in teaching this truth about human predicament or disposition.

Genesis 6:5-6 says, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become and, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” Scriptures like 1 Kings 8:46; 2 Chronicles 6:36; Psalm 14:3, 103:15-16; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 40: 6-7, 53:6; Jeremiah 17:9 are some of the scriptures echoing the same idea about man. Apostle John wrote in his letter to Christians thus: “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he (i.e. God) is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:8-10).

Saint Paul Said, “There is no difference, for all have sinned. . . “(Romans 3:23).

Paul called said that because of sin we, humans are God’s enemies; we are spiritually dead because of our propensity to sin. No human person is immune from the proclivity, the presence, power and penalty for sin. This pervasive depravity implies that : i. the consequence of the original sin permeates the human person in its entirety—body, mind, should will, attitude, desire and so on, and, ii. Man himself does not or cannot have any inclination, far from love, towards God. However, this does not mean that every man is as evil as he possibly can be.

God is so kind and loving that he has his eternal plan to get back his Crown of Creation set free from the bondage of Satan and sin. God’s eternal purpose and decree is to save mankind from eternal punishment of death and as such to reconcile repentant man to himself. In his grace God accomplishes this in and through the vicarious suffering and death of his sinless Son, Christ. This Gospel of God’s salvation required the offering of the only acceptable offering of Christ’s sinless life for the salvation of Man from eternal damnation. No man can free himself from the slavery of sin. Therefore, God in his grace and mercy took the responsibility to rescue man from that slavery. This is not something that man can earn with anything that is or may be his. This is entirely a divine gift for man to be received only in faith in what God has done in Christ. This message of God’s gospel runs throughout the Bible. And Jesus Christ came to the world for this mission in the fullness of time, The Mosaic Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament pointed to him. God, through his ancient prophets prophesied this with his call to people to repent of their sins and turn to him for his salvation. One such scripture is found in Ezekiel 33:11:”Say to them, surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD. I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! from your evil ways! . . .”. Paul wrote to Christians in Ephesus: “But because of his great love, for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions---it is by grace you have been saved ... For it is by grace you have been saved through faith--- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Because of his love God saves us not because of what we are, but in spite of what are!

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The writer is a Christian Theology teacher and a Church leader