Torch, Fall/Winter 2007

Fall–Winter 2007 9 If we are to wisely partner with the Father in seeking the lost and restoring this broken world to a state of functioning wholeness (shalom) as peacemakers, who actually deserve the title “sons of God” (Matt. 5:9), we should have the same attitude toward all sinners. Citizens of a Broken World We all find ourselves in a fallen world, not a perfect one, and perhaps, more importantly, we ourselves are fallen (Rom. 3:10–20). It is true that God created everything and saw it was good in Genesis 1, but after the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, we now find ourselves in the broken world of the curse where our bodies, souls, and desires are not the way God intends them to be. The revisionist argument assumes that whatever is must be good. They have a theology of creation but no theology of sin and redemption. Instead, we have all been born on this side of Genesis 3. “The way I am” is technically and practically not the way God made me, but the way I find myself as a son or daughter of Adam and Eve, a member of a fallen race whose “natural” desires no longer accurately point the way to God. In short, no one can claim that their natural desires necessarily reflect the perfect will of the Creator any more than death, disease, and sin do. In Adam (Rom. 5) we are all fallen; only in Christ (Rom. 5) can we find a new and true identity. The only reliable indicator of truth is God’s revealed Word, not the natural desires of our hearts. Dr. Chris Miller is a professor of Bible at Cedarville University. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Tennessee Temple University, along with a Th.M. from Grace Theological Seminary. He later received his Ph.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary. In 1992, Dr. Miller completed his graduate study at the Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem. He has been on the Cedarville faculty since 1991. Dr. Miller and his wife, Pam, have three children. T B earing the image of God speaks of our likeness to God. We are not God, but we bear some foundational characteristics of God. The fall of man (Genesis 3) forever marred that reflection. As the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice said in his commentary on Genesis 1, “There are vestiges of the image remaining, but man today is not what God intended. He is a fallen being, and the effects of the fall are seen on every level of his being: in his body, soul, and spirit.” Yes, we all bear the image of God. But our sin obscures God’s image and condemns us to God’s wrath. The answer to mankind’s dilemma is redemption through the God whose image we carry. Ephesians 1:7 states, “In Him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” Romans 3:23 declares that all of us have sinned. Romans 6:23 says that because of our sin we all deserve death. But Romans 10:9–10 provides the remedy: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God (the Father) raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” This is good news for all image bearers!