We’re Better than we Think
In our last post, we explored the fact that we are far worse than we think we are. But that picture is incomplete. Today we’ll be looking at things from another angle. It’s true, Genesis 6.5 tells us that every intention of the human heart is always evil. But we must remember that this has come right after Genesis 6.1, which explains that mankind was multiplying on the face of the earth. This shows that they were getting at least part of God’s purpose for them right: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1.28). This shows us a feature of a strong doctrine of creation: there are certain aspects of who we are that just cannot be undone. God has made us certain ways. And though sin does twist and pervert who we are, we are still human.
We’re a church in the Reformed Tradition. Among other things, this means that we agree in large part with the theology of John Calvin. Calvinism is often seen as having a low view of humanity. But that’s just not true, at least not with Calvin, who could write, “We have now to speak of the creation of man, not only because of all the works of God it is the noblest, and most admirable specimen of his justice, wisdom, and goodness, but, as we observed at the outset, we cannot clearly and properly know God unless the knowledge of ourselves be added” (Institutes 1.15.1. See also 1.1.1-3; 1.3.1-3; 1.5.3). Of course, when compared to God, we are quite low. And, of course, sin has brought great ruin to us. But Calvin had an extremely high view of humanity. This highlights the tragedy of the fall. We’re like an ancient ruin: beautiful, yet desolate. Our creation in the imago dei is not undone by sin, but the image is obscured and twisted. There’s nothing wrong with being human. Humanity is wonderful. Sin is bad, not humanity.
This is a far cry from some of the distortions of Calvinism out there, which basically seek to utterly abase humanity and make us feel terrible about ourselves, as though emotional self-flagellation would merit some sort of favor from God. Sin is terrible, and we’re all terrible sinners. But the point of “Total Depravity” (as it’s unhelpfully called) is not to make us feel bad, or to show us how terrible we are. It’s to highlight the wonders of God’s grace, and to teach us to rely on that grace because we certainly can’t make it on our own.
When you address sin in your life, or your church, or the lives of those around you, do you do it to “put people in their place,” or to make them feel bad? Or do you do it so that we’ll more clearly see the wonderful grace of God, heartily embrace it, and find life?
Posted by: Gene Schlesinger
