It is to the condition of the human race that Christ addressed his redemptive plan. Theology refers to the sin condition as depravity. Depravity gives to mankind an inevitable tendency to violate righteousness that God requires for acceptance by his holy nature for his kingdom. Depravity (unsatisfactory human nature) is a spiritual cancer affecting every human life, and may be likened to suffering, or pain, that is a natural part of life as we know it, but absent in spiritual integrity. We do not like spiritual incompetency (a death factor), and may even deny it, but it is an irrefutable factor in biblical theology for every human being. We find ways of meeting suffering and pain through various means including medicine, psychology, even tolerance. The only way to meet the ravaging of depravity is through the mercy of God. God heals the condition if his prescription is invoked. That prescription is born: of penitence (admission of need); of identity with the gospel (the offering of Christ to meet and remove the condition by his offering and intervention); and, of faith to follow him (in ways of obedience and righteousness). This process is managed in the light of the context of the individual. For example, a child may, in the culture of a Christian family, make a commitment of faith that truncates some of the process. My elder daughter does not remember any time in her life when she did not rest her life in a belief in Christ, and I had to rescue her from her concern when an older girl questioned her faith in that she did not remember a time when she did not believe. We forget the point of Jesus that we become as little children in our faith. Faith reaches beyond the confines of natural processes. I would be ecstatic in memory to have never remembered a time when I did not have faith. There have been times when my youthful carnality nagged me.
It is this issue of sin (depravity) that Christ addressed himself as the major purpose of his earthly sojourn and the establishment of the Christian gospel for the world. He made clear that he was an equal opportunity Savior – to the whole-world population. Christianity is a world religion, unrelated to matters of race, gender, age, language, culture, race, government or any other subdivision of the human situation in nature. That condition must be addressed before anything else in gaining approval for persons to be admitted into the benefits of whatever God will provide for those born into his acceptance and approval (justification). Christ offers the benefits of divine grace (heavenly) in redemption, to be incorporated into common grace (earthly) provided to all persons, pagan or devout. This change in condition is noted to Nicodemus in the Gospel of John, Chapter Three, as the new birth. Depravity was introduced into the spiritual DNA of man as found in the story of Adam. Healing of the condition is in spiritual birth (new). In the 2,000 years following the Ascension of Christ and the launching of the church by the Holy Spirit and the Apostles, Christianity has been interpreted in various ways. This distractive tendency was well under way before the death of the Apostle John in the first century, as noted in his observations of the seven Churches early in The Revelation, the last Book of the New Testament. During ensuing centuries distractions have increased in number, so to cloud the world concept of the meaning of depravity, and of Christ’s solution for it to improve the life of mankind on earth and to prepare persons for fulfillment of hope (immortality with God). Dictionaries of Church history show that even Christians included distractions.
Distractions (errors or diversions) include, among numerous exotic practices and concepts imposed, not addressed here – such concepts as: 1) works (that by goodness and human effort one is made acceptable to God); 2) religiosity (that any genuine human perception of God is as good and effective as any other); 3) institutional (that the human groups playing church can invoke salvation for persons following a sectarian theology); and. 4) nationalism (that God honors some cultures over others). The story may be extended. To counter the possibility of error the careful Christian and those willing to know Christian faith as espoused by Christ and commissioned Apostles, the Christian Scripture defines all that is needed. The secret to the effectiveness of Christianity is found in the individual Christian applying the meaning of Scripture to the individual life. Fellowship of biblical Christians tends toward the effective functioning of the Church. Highest performance has been to biblical adherence to application. Jesus made Scripture the divine parable for our lives. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020