Greetings and welcome to our blog! This article explores the biblical view of humans. Many of the teachings in the Bible have had a profound impact on how people understand themselves and their place in the world. The purpose of this discussion is to examine some key biblical passages that speak to this question and to explore the significance of these passages in Christian thought.
We live in a miserable world
The true joy of Christianity can only be experienced after you have tasted misery.
M. Lloyd Jones
Relationships make up the world. Relationships are God’s plans. However, human crime broke the relationship. As a result of sin, man’s relationship with God broke first, then man’s relationship with nature broke. There is evidence of this in the recent earthquake disaster in Turkey. According to theologian Graham Goldsworthy.
All things were created to relate to one another and to God as God has decided. It means that the world has been built in an orderly manner. Due to the confusion caused by sin, we cannot see enough of the full nature of this order now. In the Bible, death refers to the disorder caused by sin. Jesus Christ, however, restores all relationships in order to restore life. Looking at God’s response to the problems in the Gospel helps us understand the nature of the problems. The Gospel shows us that all of these broken relationships in the world are a result of broken relationships between God and mankind.
We live in a miserable world, according to Calvin. Having been stripped of our divine costume, Calvin describes it as an indecent act. Our inherent sin, our actual sin, and God’s wrath are the main causes of our misery, according to Arthur Pink.
『The Heidelberg Catechism』 says,
Misery encompasses both the evils of guilt and punishment, which makes it more comprehensive than the term sin. As for guilt and punishment, the evil of guilt refers to all sin, the evil of punishment refers to all suffering, the destruction of our rational nature, and the sins that occur as punishment.
Theologian David Wells says that punishment and guilt are inherent in human nature.
We are guilty of violating standards worthy of God’s character when we violate the gospel’s law. It is an objective nature of guilt. It is not whether we feel condemned in front of God, or guilt in the modern sense, but whether we deserve to be condemned in front of God.
However, it’s not uncommon for humans to realize their misery. It is clear, however, that God allows us to choose the land where humans can receive grace. It is a story that Jonathan Edwards has said.
In a natural state, a person cannot see his sins and misery through this divine and spiritual light. The punishment he has received for his sins, as well as the wrath of God and the sense of God’s judgment, can be understood by a person in a natural state. There are some sinners who understand their guilt and misery more clearly than others, and they know the truth better than others.
God makes people realize their misery and worthlessness
Jonathan Edwards says, “God makes people realize their misery and worthlessness before he gives them compassion and love.”
God breaks it down before he builds us up. It must be lowered before it can be raised. The instructor can also stop thinking for the sake of the learner’s learning.
Before humans are saved, why must they realize their misery? Reverend Jonathan Edwards has a good way of explaining things.
Especially before he shows your people amazing compassion and love, God humbles them in a very special way. As a result, they realize their hardships, that they have no power, and that they are worthless and despicable. It’s God’s usual way of doing things. By making them realize their own valuelessness and meanness through the touch of the Holy Spirit, you first lower them through a providential experience.
Additionally, it is a means of achieving spiritual salvation. In the beginning, God makes people think about and realize their sins. It is humility through full awareness of sin that must precede God’s grace and compassion inside the saints before they can receive His grace and compassion.
In order to accomplish this, God sometimes uses evil for good. According to Edwards, sinners are unaware of the sin they are committing. This hidden sin is revealed by the law. In addition to making the sinner realize what he or she has done, God also makes the sinner realize the terrifying danger they face as a result of their sins. The Lord allows us to see their sins and realize how frightening their sins are in relation to their misery.
In one of these ways, he realizes that he is unpleasant in front of God. Seeing God’s wrath for his sins, the other realizes he is facing God’s wrath.
Their sins and dangers were revealed to them before God showed them the covenant of grace. There are two elements to guilt. It is aware of sin, of the connection between sin and punishment.
This makes us realize that the light that acts on sinners is appropriate for our own hell, and shows us God’s greatness. As John Calvin points out, knowing ourselves not only helps us find God but also guides us as if we turned it off manually.
Grace leads to the pursuit of God
Considering human misery in the context of general grace leads to the pursuit of God, the wisdom gained from the pursuit of God produces awe of God, and the fruit of awe of God is reverence.
In Christianity, the teaching is that a person who lives in reverence is a believer, and that person should live a life that pleases God.
So Modern spirituality makes one major mistake. Despite his infinite compassion, love, and grace, God is also holy and just being who should be feared for his holiness and justice.
This is what Professor David Wells said.
Since we don’t believe in a solemn, pure God, we cannot accept responsibility. Without the moral sense that we’re facing God in this way, if we don’t think that we’re facing the ultimate good and what’s not good, we don’t feel a sense of moral desperation in our hearts, and we lose the essence of our Christian faith.
According to Jonathan Edwards, these properties form a perfect harmony within God’s personality and are a major part of the glory.
It is not honorable for God to have attributes like love and grace that contradict his righteousness, but rather insult it. You will also reveal the attributes of another aspect when God reveals the attributes of one aspect. In order for God’s true glory to be revealed, your love and grace must be in harmony with those of another.
In The attitude of treating God like a friend is a truly guilty pride, because the modern spiritual movement emphasizes only his compassion, love, and grace, rather than his awe, holiness, and righteousness.
According to David Wells, this is the result of a sinful arrogance that only emphasizes God’s friendliness and neglects his otherness.
It gives us a sense of God’s familiarity, but it is only contaminated. Due to our contamination, we cannot know God through ourselves. To understand who we really are, we must know the truth about God’s otherness, we must have biblical knowledge of God on the outside.
Awe for authority is the right attitude towards the world’s legislators. The love of God is holy love. According to Edwards, those who discover God’s love also discover other aspects of God.
Again, it indicates that people like him do not fully understand God’s love. Those who are truly bound by Christ and who realize Christ with their souls are ready to discover God’s compassion and righteousness by discovering God’s love and compassion.
