¹⁰ As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one;¹¹there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.¹² All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” ¹³ “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”¹⁴“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” ¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood;¹⁶ ruin and misery mark their ways,¹⁷ and the way of peace they do not know.” ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” –Romans 3.10-18

There is a pervasive belief in the churches that the reality noted by the Apostle Paul (under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) isn’t quite as drastic as it sounds. But if you read it in the Greek, you’ll understand the translation is just the same. In other words, there is no waffle-room on what is communicated here. It is straightforward and unambiguous. But we don’t like to think of ourselves this way. We like to maintain the pedestrian idea that people, in the main, are generally ‘good,’ it’s just that there are some rotten apples out there. We aren’t good in any way, though. Jesus said in Mark that ‘God alone is good’; we aren’t God; therefore we are not good. If human beings are born outside of a right relationship with God, who alone is Holy, then we are in the state that Paul describes. We don’t even have the capacity in ourselves to seek after God. If it wasn’t for God’s free choice to seek after, and find us in the humanity of Jesus Christ we’d die in our sins with no remedy; and God would still be just.

It is important to think about the depth of our sinful status from the only source that genuinely provides knowledge of God and self; from Jesus Christ. As such, we are not in a position to actually know what God alone knows about us. We are reliant on what He chooses to reveal to us in Christ. This holds true for ascertaining the depth of our sinful state. We can infer from what it took for God to reach into our hearts, and redeem us, just how deep our desperately evil and wicked hearts run. When it takes the Triune God, the God who spoke the heavens and the earth into existence, the God who continuously holds the cosmos together by the Word of His Power, to assume human flesh and die on the cross; we know that we are dealing with something more pernicious than we can even begin to fathom. The depth of our sin is as deep as God become flesh and shedding His own blood on a Roman cross for us. This should cause us to shudder, not rationalize; or to lull ourselves into a fantasy that we aren’t really that bad—“I mean look at Joe-Bob, now he’s bad!” We will only understand the depth of our sin insofar as we look at Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. If we attempt to compare ourselves against others or if we lazily come to think that our experience of sin isn’t all that bad; we will most surely fool ourselves into a sin of idolatry that denudes the cross of Jesus Christ of its actual power in our lives. We need to come to appreciate just how sinful we are, and this doesn’t come from the Law, but, ironically it comes from the Gospel. This is what I am arguing; that the Gospel, that God’s Word of Grace for us in Jesus Christ reveals to us just how reprobate and depraved we actually are in ourselves.

I could get us into some historical discussion by referring to Augustine and Pelagius; or Luther and the Papacy; or Calvin and Pighius; or Barth and Schleiermacher. But I want to keep this as straightforward as possible. What I am hoping to press home is just how wicked we actually are. The Church has seemingly fallen into the devil’s trap of compromising on just how radical the Gospel message is. I write all of this based on a scientific study I have been conducting over the last 45 years. I’ve come to see patterns of sin in my heart, patterns of activity that assure me that I am really and ravenously sinful. I have a rippling impulse that runs through my veins that compels me to sin. Thank God I have the Spirit of Christ who, over against this impulse, has recreated me in the new and singular humanity of Jesus Christ; such that I can engage in warfare with the sinful orientation I continue to live with (simul justus et peccator). Because of God’s choice to assume my depraved humanity, I have now become a slave of righteousness and co-heir with Jesus Christ; and have been given the Spirit by whom I cry out ‘Abba Father.’ But even with all of this I continue to have this strong urge to sin; and I often do sin.

There is more going on than just me though. We are in a battle, as the Apostle Paul also says: “. . . our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This devilish reality, the reality of satan seeks to manipulate our fallen and remaining natures to thwart the work of God in our lives; the work of God in the world and cosmos. But even though he desires to sift us like wheat, the Son has prayed for us; we have this great and enduring hope. Even so, if we are not vigilant in recognizing our foes we will fall prey to a lackadaisical attitude that leads us to think that we aren’t really all that bad. We must remain vigilant and prayerful before the Father; asking Him to keep us close to Him. It is only in this ‘closeness,’ again, that the darkness of our fallen souls can remain open to the overwhelming Light of Christ. Indeed, being vigilant requires the resurrection energy of Jesus Christ. Without that our sinful selves will simply reassert themselves and attempt to thwart the work of God in our lives; in the world.

I am not sure I am really getting across the sense of urgency I am hoping to with this. As Calvin has said ‘our hearts are like idol factories’ (my paraphrase); apart from union and participation with the humanity of Jesus Christ we are doomed to a failed life even as Christians. It is possible to fail grievously as Christians, and insofar as we are not in the fight, so to speak, we most definitely will be swallowed up by this world and culture. This culture has collapsed what it perceives as divinity into itself (Gen 3). It seductively invites us to its banqueting table. Based upon the status of the churches, particularly in North America and the Western world, it seems all too clear to me that, by and large, the churches have not been vigilant. I am not naively attempting to pretend that the Church will attain perfection on this side of beatific vision. But I am urging us onto the love and good works of aiming for the perfection and holiness that God has called us to in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We are in a battle; we are called soldiers for Christ for a reason. The ancient church understood the Church on earth as ‘the Church Militant’ (juxtaposed with the Church Triumphant in eternity) because they knew that the personal devil would like nothing more but to snuff out the Holy Work of God on the face of the redeemed creation. They knew that God considers humans as His ‘very good work,’ and that satan would like nothing better but to wreck this for God. So, they understood that this necessarily entails a spiritual warfare of the sort that will cost us our very lives as we fight for what lasts rather than what is burned up (i.e. satan’s fate).

Our primary tool for engaging in this battle is the ‘sword of the Spirit,’ or the Word of God. We see Jesus in Matthew 4, as he recapitulates Israel’s wandering wilderness experience, defeating the devil by using Holy Scripture with its contextual force. If Jesus used Scripture to destroy the inklings of the evil one, how much more ought we see our need to do so! This requires a prayerful approach to the Word of God; one that will make Scripture memorable and powerful insofar as we come to see its instrumental power as that finds its ultimate reality in Jesus Christ. If we read Scripture prayerfully (i.e. dialogically), and understand it within that sort of filial relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we will be positioned in such a way that Scripture simply becomes a weapon of preemption more of reaction. In other words, if Scripture becomes so internalized in our lives that it becomes the genuine love language we come to communicate with God through, we will have the weapons of our warfare at hand moment by moment. Indeed, these weapons will be so indwelt with the Power of God, that the enemy won’t have a chance at toppling the work that God has begun in us in Christ; we will truly be working out our salvation with fear and trembling at the feet of God’s Holy Word. Let’s be Bible reading zealots for the Kingdom of Christ. Herein the power of God will know no boundaries; indeed He will abound as a well spring unto eternal life in our daily lives. The gates of hell will not prevail, not because of us but because of God’s Word, Jesus Christ. We can participate in His Word as Christians, or not. If we don’t joyfully participate we will continuously experience defeat and be vanquished in our daily lives; saved, but as by fire. There is victory coming, the parousia of God is ever at hand, constantly in-breaking into our lives and this broader world; but can we see it, can we ‘feel’ it? If we are to see and experience God’s Power and work in our lives and the world, we must be attuned to Him. This tuning into God’s life for the world, for us, comes as we indwell Holy Scripture; you see Holy Scripture has its very reality and being in Jesus Christ. This is the holy ground God has provided for us to meet and sup with Him over and again. Will there actually be faith on earth when He comes again though? I don’t know.