Blogging Ottinger (tim)Depravity
The doctrine of depravity is hard to hear. This doctrine is harder to hear the younger you are. It is unbelievable to the youth, and obvious to the elderly.
It certainly is much more pleasant to just think about the more positive side, that we are made in God’s image. It is so very good that there is a spark of the eternal in us, waiting to be fanned to life in Christ. But there is another side, as well. We have it well articulated in Article V, and I won’t suppose to improve upon it, but would like to give my opinion.
Natural man is separated from God. He lives within his own skin, a collection of his fears and desires, unable to see rightly what is right and what is wrong. It is easier to think of what is pleasant and what is unpleasant, what is tasty and what is repulsive. The natural man at birth is innocent, but with his raw ability to reason so hide-bound, sin is inevitable. Indeed, we are born with the nature to sin, without the nature to truly desire holiness above our immediate needs and wants. Indeed all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
A sense of justice exists, based mostly on personal fears and desires, how we would like or dislike to be treated. From this comes the “everyone goes to heaven” and “any loving god would love me as I am, without judgement” and “it’s all about motivation — if you mean well, you aren’t wrong.”
Some manage to do away with even the natural urge to justice, since there is no true bent toward holiness. If such a man robs you, it is your fault for not being sufficiently secure. If he hurts you, it’s your fault for being weak. If he lies to you, it is your fault for being gullible. There are no ethical problems, because there are no ethics.
This is truly sad. The acts of unethical men cause misery. Self-focused men do little to alleviate it. Overall, people become bored with causes and problems and are moved by more personal desires. There are those who do good, again calling on their personal sense of justice (and I thank God for his prevenient grace that men can still do good things).
Are we made in God’s image? Indeed. But we bury this in our own systems of morality and ethics and survival and ultimately our own fears and desires. We are hopeless. Unless God’s favor rests on us, nothing ultimately good can come of us, and we cannot end well.
What is wonderful in a new Christian is that the Lord has begun to peel away the layers, like the old rotten skins that fall away from black walnuts in the fall. The regenerate suddenly connects with his original intent. He touches on a desire for holiness that well surpasses his desires and fears, and is suddenly brave and kind. Love overflows, peace inhabits. There is something more.
It isn’t easy to change from the natural to the regenerate, though. There is much to be unlearned, and one can easily fall back on old fears and new desires. One has to learn to be something different, and to think in a new way (”the renewing of your mind”).
Often people stumble and have setbacks, but they continue on toward holiness. Eventually, they are able to look back and see how they were naturally wrong, not necessarily intentionally wrong.
Still, people we love and respect, children we hold in our arms, neighbors we wave to, coworkers we spend our working hours with, our fellow brothers and sisters are tightly wrapped balls of their own desires and fears, victims of their fears and desires, and ultimately nothing good can come of them. But for the intervention of God, they will ultimately be nothing and less than nothing.
This is the origin of the desire to preach and teach, that we love people and see them not as walking demons to be stopped, but as human creatures who need to be connected to their true origins and true destination. We desire that the peace of God come upon them, and that they grow in grace and wisdom.
It’s hard to understand, and harder if you’ve not moved beyond the fears and desires and hide-bound ethical systems. The system doesn’t make sense, and it can be hard to believe. Thereby sin is able to continue, and not all are saved.
