Born This Way?

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…”

Romans 5:12

Week Fourteen (from the New City Catechism, www.newcitycatechism.com)

Question: Did God create us unable to keep his law?

Answer: No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are all born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law.

Remember: the Law of God is to keep his commands. And what are his commands? The Ten Commandments! These ten are condensed and summarized by Jesus as loving God and loving neighbor (Matt.22:34-40). So, yeah, this is a pretty good question: did God create us unable to keep his law? If it is true that this was a losing proposition from the start, there is no injustice in our violating God’s law. After all, what could he possibly expect from us if he created us unable to keep them?

In her song “Born This Way” Lady Gaga proclaims, “It doesn’t matter if you love him or H-I-M / just put your paws up / ‘Cause you were born this way baby.” Her point, as I understand it, is to say, simply, “Look, God made you whatever way you are, so just relax and go with it. God could not possibly hold you accountable to anything if he made you that way…any way.”

While Ms. Gaga is certainly right that God created us, she is missing some pretty important nuances in her laissez faire conception of createdness. In her account, there is no such thing as sin; there is only creation. We are indeed created (we are creatures). As Christians, however, we hold together (in some degree of tension) the reality of our having been fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139) and the reality of being born in rebellion against God. Isn’t that interesting? We affirm the goodness of creation, but at the same time recognize the offense of creation’s rebellion and subsequent decay. The great Francis Schaeffer, in his assessment of humanity and the human condition, coined the term “glorious ruins.” Created in the image of God (affirming God’s goodness and the glory of the imago Dei), by sin we are in ruins. The glorious image of God remains in humans, but it is marred, distorted, and only discerned amidst the rubble of a broken life and world.

This is not a misanthropic (humanity-hating) view of creation. It is a realistic, Bible-oriented view. It neither allows us to hate people or despise God’s creation, nor does it benignly accept that this is all there is. Sin is ours. Accountability to God for our rebellion is ours. Ultimately, damnation is ours. This is justice. (And even the most ardent atheist demands justice, no?) The frightening thing about what I’m suggesting here is that, if left to our own devices, we would surely be lost—eternal condemnation would be ours.

More than creating us, more than imprinting on each of us his own image, and more than giving us his law, God gives us grace. He does not leave us to our own devices, but rescues us from sin and the death (and condemnation) to which it leads. He is our creator and our rescuer! He is the omnipotent Deity and our faithful Father. He is the God of the universe and the One who redeems us.

In his grace, God never neglects his justice. But by becoming one of us, God took the force of his own justice on himself. This puts me on my knees, friends.

There is no smugness or dishonesty in the Gospel. We are sinners, alienated from God and unable to save ourselves. Our just and holy God does not look lightly upon our sins. His justice will be met. But it will be met through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of condemnation, in and through Christ we receive the unmerited love and favor (i.e. grace) of God.

I used the phrase laissez faire earlier. It simply means “allow to do.” A deistic view of the world suggests that God made us…and that’s about it. We are left to be and do…whatever. Implicit in this is a distinct separation between Creator and creature.

The Christian story suggests something completely different. It is rooted in relationship. God does not take a “hands-off” laissez faire attitude toward his creation. Rather, he is the God who is there in every sense “there-ness” could imply! Perhaps it is this closeness that is so threatening to us humans. A God hiding out somewhere in the cosmos…I can deal with that. But a God who is right here, eternally present and eternally now? It reminds me of the classic C.S. Lewis observation:

“An “impersonal God”– well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads — better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap — best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps, approaching an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband — that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God!”) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?” (Miracles, 351)

Prayer

OUR Father, when we read Thy description of human nature we are sure it is true, for Thou hast seen man ever since his fall, and Thou hast been grieved at heart concerning him…It has become a wonder to us that Thou shouldst look upon man at all; the most hateful object in creation must be a man, because he slew Thy Son, because he has multiplied rebellions against a just and holy law. And yet truly there is no sight that gives Thee more pleasure than man, for Jesus was a man; and the brightness of His glory covers all our shame; and the pureness and perfectness of His obedience shine like the sun in the midst of the thick darkness. For His sake Thou art well pleased, and Thou dost dwell with us…. And now, Lord, during the few days that remain to us here below, be it all our business to cry, "Behold the Lamb!" Oh! teach our hearts to be always conscious of Thy love; and then our lips, that they may set out as best they can by Thy divine help the matchless story of the Cross…. Lord, forgive us our sins; Lord, sanctify our persons; Lord, guide us in difficulty; Lord, supply our needs. The Lord teach us; the Lord perfect us; the Lord comfort us; the Lord make us meet for the appearing of His Son from heaven!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, from “Prayer VII: Let All the People Praise Thee" in Prayers from Metropolitan Pulpit: C. H. Spurgeon's Prayers (New York: Revell, 1906), 43–47.