Foundations for a Christian Worldview: The People of God (2)

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3.6

The reality of sin
We have seen that sin is one of the great unseen realities of life that must be taken seriously if we hope to achieve a worldview grounded in truth and resulting in goodness. We said that sin is a spiritual malady that turns the heart and all the soul away from God and His Law, and that affects the entire creation of God in ways contrary to His good and perfect will. Sin became a condition among the image-bearers of God from very early on.

But how did that happen? What were the effects of sin’s entrance to the human condition? And how did God move to help His people acknowledge and manage the effects of sin in their lives?

People were made in the image and likeness of God. They were without sin at the beginning; but, being creatures and not God, they were not perfect, either in their spiritual or physical aspects. That a threat to the good order and intentions of God lurked in the environs of the garden is clear from God’s commanding Adam not only to develop the good potential of the creatures around him, but to guard the garden from the threat which God understood, and which Adam was expected to recognize if or when it appeared (Gen. 2.15). That should have been easy enough: Anything showing up in the garden that challenged the authority of God, or encouraged action contrary to the revealed will of God, was a threat to be resisted.

But when the serpent arrived in the garden, doing precisely that, Adam and Eve became transfixed with wonder and inflamed with the possibilities suggested by the notion that they might be not only likeGod, but equalto Him, or rather, God themselves(Gen. 3.1-4). Adam stood by and watched as his wife took the lead in believing and acting on the lie; and then he willingly complied in her rebellion against God.

Sin entered the garden because the first image-bearers of God chose to go beyond His revealed Word, to believe what was contrary to His revealed will, and to act in a manner indicating that they preferred themselves, rather than God, as the ultimate arbiters of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and the lie. That one act of rebellion introduced the spiritual blight of sin to the world – not merely to the souls of Adam and Eve, and all the children who would descend from them, but to the entire creation and all its creatures and conditions.

The effects of sin
The far-ranging effects of sin are immediately evident in the image-bearers of God. Let’s note first, that the entrance of sin did not eradicate or destroy the knowledge of God. When God came into the garden to meet with His image-bearers, they knew His Presence, and they feared Him because of the consequences of their behavior (Gen. 3.8-10).

It isn’t that people who are fallen in sin do not know God. They do. They simply choose to escape Him, in the vain belief that they are sufficient unto themselves for whatever role God might play in their lives (cf. Rom. 1.18-32). Sin does not eradicate the knowledge of God in His image-bearers, but it disturbs, mars, and corrupts it terribly, causing us to think wrongly about God and ourselves, and to act accordingly.

A second effect of sin, which we identify in Adam and Eve, is that they became afraid in their nakedness. They saw themselves as having no protection against the world, yet their feeble attempts to cover their vulnerabilities are laughable. Sin injects a misguided sense of fear into the souls of people, a fear that corrupts their understanding of themselves and their relationship to one another and the world, and that leads them to seek ways of alleviating their fears. All such efforts are merely temporary and always insufficient. The fear of death itself haunts the souls of people, and they can never escape it by their own efforts (Heb. 2.15).

Third, sin intrudes a variety of hindrances and obstacles to human relationships, and thus, to life in community. Self-interest, blame-laying, alienation, isolation, mistrust – these are but a few of the corruptions which plague the souls of people, and remain to some extent even among those who are called the people of God.

Pain, sorrow, regret, anguish, turmoil, frustration, anger, depression – all these negative affections, which accompany our relationships, work, and even begetting and raising children – are the result of the separation from God and His Word occasioned by the reality of sin in the human experience. And, as we see in Genesis 4, sin and all its adverse consequences transfer to the offspring of sinful people by some mystery we cannot understand, but cannot deny. All have sinned, because all are sinners.

Even those whom God determines to call to Himself for their blessing and His glory.

Struggling against sin
God did not leave His people to the ruin of their sin. He has not abandoned His original plan for a world filled with goodness, tended, developed, and guarded by a people He has created for Himself and His glory. But God would have to address the issue of sin, since the nature of sin makes it impossible for human beings to prevail over it.

From the beginning, therefore, God promised the overthrow of sin by a “Seed of the woman” Who would destroy the very source of sin and the lie (Gen. 3.15). That promise was long-term. In the interim, God set before His people a raft of precious and very great promises (Gen. 12.1-3, 2 Pet. 1.4), to help them fix their eyes on Him and His blessings, rather than on the deceitful snares of sinful men and the world.

God also gave His people His Law, which sets forth the parameters for living in love for God and neighbor, and therefore indicates that which is to be avoided. The Law helped the people of God to identify sin, and it directed them in the path of righteousness that leads to the promised blessings of God.

But even those redeemed from slavery in Egypt were still sinners, and it would not suffice merely to hold out promises of blessing or to set forth the identifying marks of sin. The people would still sin, and they would need some ways, if only temporary – until the Seed comes – to overcome the consequences and shame of sin and to become right with God and their neighbors once again. The means for this God provided in the judicial and religious statutes of His Law, and the spiritual institutions by which He bound His people to Himself. 

God’s people are sinners, but we do not need to be ruled by sin, and we must take up the daily struggle to resist and overcome it by the good counsel of God and His Word. That was true of the people in Moses’ day, and it is true of the people of God in our own.

For reflection
1. What is sin and how does it disrupt our relationship with God?

2. How can we recognize when sin is trying to deprive us of, or distract us from, the blessings of God?

3. What are the best ways of dealing with sin, when we discover its presence in our lives?

Next steps – Preparation: We cannot know sin apart from the Law of God (Rom. 7.7). What role does the Law have in your relationship with God? How could you improve that, following the teaching of Psalm 1? 

The Christian worldview focuses on Jesus. Do you know Him? Our book, To Know Him, can help you answer that question confidently, and equip you to tell others about Jesus as well. Order your copy by clicking here.

If you value ReVision as a free resource for your walk with the Lord, please consider supporting our work with your gifts and offerings. You can contribute to The Fellowship by clicking the Contribute button at the website or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.