At the time that John Calvin was forced out of Geneva by the city council, he was in the midst of preaching through the Bible. On his return three years later, he returned to the pulpit and picked up preaching at the exact spot he had left off. It hasn’t been (quite) three years, but it has been awhile so let me pick up where I left off with the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q. Did God create people so wicked and perverse?
A. No. God created them good and in his own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love him with all their heart, and live with him in eternal happiness for his praise and glory.
Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners – corrupt from conception on.
Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?
A. Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.
This set of questions deal with the sharp reality of the brokenness of this world. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who stated that the sin – our depravity – is the only scientifically verifiable doctrine. We all recognize that the world is “not the way it is supposed to be (a title of Calvin Seminary president Neal Plantinga’s classic work on sin). We know it globally as we hear of wars and rumors of wars; we know it as we hear of the human destruction caused by earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. We know it personally as well – unfulfilled desires at work, relationships broken and distorted, families torn apart. (Just survey the headlines briefly to get a sense of the brokenness of the world: http://news.bbc.co.uk.)
Living in such a broken world begs the question asked in this Q&A: Did God create people (and the world) so wicked and perverse? No. God created them good…
When we get a sense of the “goodness” of God’s creation and then realize the vast gap between the created “goodness” and the way things really are a deep sense of longing should rise up within us. The Contemporary Testimony (a contemporary statement of faith of the Christian Reformed Church) captures this tension of celebrating the goodness of creation and yet living in the brokenness.
“We rejoice in the goodness of God, renounce the works of darkness, and dedicate ourselves to holy living. … With tempered impatience, eager to see injustice ended, we expect the Day of the Lord. And we are confident that the light which shines in the present darkness will fill the earth when Christ appears. Come, Lord Jesus!”
And later in the Testimony: With the whole creation we wait for the purifying fire of judgment. For then we will see the Lord face to face. He will heal our hurts, end our wars, and make the crooked straight. Then we will join in the new song to the Lamb without blemish who made us a kingdom and priests. God will be all in all, righteousness and peace will flourish, everything will be made new, and every eye will see at last that our world belongs to God! Hallelujah! Come, Lord Jesus.”
An interesting exercise to capture this sense of the created goodness, the corruption caused by sin, and the future wholeness established by the work of Jesus is to read the first two chapters of the Bible (Genesis 1 – 2) and reflect on the goodness of creation. Afterwards, read the third chapter (Genesis 3) and reflect on the ramifications of sin on all of creation. And then turn to the last two chapters of the Bible (Revelation 21 – 22) and contemplate the restored and glorified creation because of the redemption brought in Jesus Christ!
Praise be to God.
