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Where do all the problems of the world come from? Everyone has their theory. Times can be good, people say, if we have less or more government. Others believe it is lack of food, lack of security, lack of job opportunities, and so on. All of these things can be real problems, to be sure. However, the Bible teaches us that the root of our problems goes beyond these things. It says that our basic problem is the rupture in the relationship between God and human beings.
The word that the Bible generally uses for this problem is sin. Sin is the rupture in the relationship between God and man. It is life that is not the way it’s supposed to be, as theologian Cornelius Plantinga put it. Out of this rupture comes all of our internal struggles and all the injustices and inhumanity of man to man.
When you see this problem, you see why the Bible gives the solution that it does. The solution is that someone needs to bridge the gap, a mediator, a go between. That’s who Jesus is. He is the God-man who has come to bring restoration to a lost world. So, let’s consider the message of the Bible summarized in 1 John 3:1-10. We will see the need for Jesus’ coming, the purpose of Jesus’ coming, and the result of Jesus’ coming.
The Need for Jesus’ Coming
As noted, the reason for Jesus’ coming is because of sin. God is the Lord of the universe, and He has the right to command us. We owe Him all things. To obey Him is to live as we were meant to live in accordance with the way things were meant to be.
Sin is living contrary to the reality of God’s lordship over the world. It is living as if we were a law unto ourselves, as if God did not exist and we were the masters. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). What is the law? That we would love, serve, and worship God and that we would live in harmony with our neighbor in accordance with the order that God has established, living honest, productive, kind, and just lives.
Another word that is used to describe this disorder and disruption between God and man is unrighteousness. To live as a righteous person is to live in a way that seeks the interests of God and the interests of our neighbor. To live in a way that we are concerned about our community in general and the poor and those in need is to live righteously. When we focus on ourselves and what is best only for us and our most immediate concerns, it is unrighteousness.
This sort of living is rampant. It is not only that we do wrong to others, but it is a lack of concern for God and His glory and for the good of others. This is sin as well. It puts us and our own concerns at the center of the universe rather than God and His will.
That people live unrighteous lives is true and obvious all around us. As theologian Reinhold Niebuhr put it, sin is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of Scripture. That doesn’t mean that the others aren’t verifiable. It’s just that we can look around and see it is true.