Christianity 101- Part 3: Man

Man is a sinner due to his fallen nature. Scripture points this out beginning in Genesis and continuing through Revelation. Paul paints the picture extensively from Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20 and empirical evidence confirms biblical teaching on the sinfulness of human beings. The Bible reveals there is no one righteous and that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God’s standard of righteousness is perfection (Matthew 5:48) and not man’s erroneous worldly standard of being a basically good person. Perfection means that man cannot meet this standard and, as a result, man cannot save himself from the wrath of God by his good works (Romans 3:20 and Gal. 2:16). Since God does not grade on a curve, but on an absolute scale of perfection, being ‘basically good’ will not be sufficient on judgment day. Isaiah tells us that even man’s best works are like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6).

In Luke 18:25-27 Jesus confirms that it is impossible for man to save himself, “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." In this passage Jesus not only states that it is impossible for men to save themselves, but also gives the fantastic news that God can solve the problem and save sinners. Romans 6:23 gives the bad news for sinners in the first part of the verse and the good news in the second half of the verse where it says, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is the great fantastic news of the gospel. But what about man’s sin that God must punish? Does God simply reduce the penalty? Do all men universally receive the gift of eternal life? What does Jesus Christ have to do with solving this dilemma?

Next in Part 4 we will look at how God solved the problem that men are incapable of solving.