Circle of death

Evil entered our world in Eden. Now someone has to deal with it. Signs editor Lee Dunstan explains.

Into a pristine, sinless world, Eden, stepped sin. First, Eve took the piece of forbidden fruit, then offered it to Adam, no doubt repeating Satan’s half-truth that together they would find a higher consciousness—they’d know both good and evil—in the first selfishly misguided act of humankind. And not wanting to be ever parted from his beautiful, beguiling wife, Adam ate also.

We tend to blame for Eve for the entrance of sin, although she was tricked by the devil. But Adam’s act was a conscious, deliberate act. (You can read the account of the demise of humankind in Genesis 2:16, 17; 3:6ff.) Since that time, everyone has participated in Adam’s action, no matter how holy their life appears, for the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In fact, the apostle Paul says, “No-one will be declared righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20). That is not to say we shouldn’t bother living by the law, the Ten Commandments (something we do rather imperfectly), only that we need something external to ourselves in order to be saved from sin.

This external is called saving grace, and it comes in the form of a gift from God, for, “a man is justified [put right with God] by faith apart from the observing the law” (Romans 3:28) Paul says.

In order to receive God’s generosity—an eternal life with Him—every one of us needs a Saviour. And that is Jesus. It is He who provides the “goodness” or “righteousness” denied us by inheritance.

Jesus takes our place: He lived on earth, sinless, then died in our place. He “appeared once and for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” says the book of Hebrews (9:26). “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many” (9:28), it concludes, bringing them salvation.

To repent means to be abjectly and genuinely sorry for the evil in your life

It’s because of this incredible gift that the murdering thief on the cross next to Jesus was able to die forgiven and redeemed (see Luke 23:42, 43). In fact, it was for just such people that Christ came to earth: “I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32), He told the accusing Pharisees.

So it doesn’t matter what your life is or has been, Jesus is willing to save you. And like the thief, all we have to do is ask Him.

While we don’t earn His saving grace (it is a gift, remember), it does come with an obligation. Paul tells us that in crediting His righteousness—His gift—to us, we are to accept His way of living and presence in our person. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,” he cautions, “but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).

This transformation is something that God somehow works in us when we accept His gift of salvation. He transforms us mentally, emotionally and spiritually, a process the apostle John calls being “born again” (John 3:3). People who experience this think and behave differently in contrast to their previous lives.

“Repent and be baptised” was the message that the born-again, on-fire apostles preached in the weeks following Christ’s ascension (see Acts 2:38).

To repent means to be abjectly and genuinely sorry for the evil in your life, whether in action or merely in thought. It also means giving it up, something that for many is accomplished only with the aid of the Holy Spirit. A lifetime habit of swearing and blasphemy, for example, isn’t changed by willpower alone; rather, it is only by God’s power. God promises to not only “forgive us our sins,” He says He will “purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

For everyone feeling the need to change their life’s direction; for everyone who is suffering from sin—their own life or others; for everyone endeavouriing to live a life of purity in an effort to earn their salvation (and or for anyone who thinks they have, for that matter), Jesus is there.

Jesus is unwilling that anyone should have to die as a result of sin, and so calls us all to repentance, to accept His gift of death in our place, and a place in His earth made new where there is no sin, no tears—no death or mourning or pain—just as it was in Eden.

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