The Sovereign Good of Man

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

 

Historic Conservative Christians believe in the total hereditary depravity of mankind; a direct result of the sin committed. They view man as being basically evil. Religious liberals do not believe in the total hereditary depravity of mankind. The natural man finds the thought of eternal damnation if Hell unthinkable, so they view man as being basically good. Philosophers debate about the sovereign good of man, but the Bible speaks very clearly on this issue. Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your offenses [Any transgression of divine law] and sins, in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all previously lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the rest.” 

 

French Theologian Blaise Pascal states that for the natural man, we seek truth and find ourselves with nothing but uncertainty. We all have sinned against a just and holy God. We seek happiness and we find misery and death in this lost and dying world. And we are incapable of having either certainty or happiness in life. Outside of God, we have been punished by having this desire, to make us realize how far we have fallen. The Garden of Eden was paradise. Yet, it is good to be weary and frustrated with the fruitless search for the good, so that one can reach out one’s arms instead to the Redeemer – Jesus Christ. Man without faith can neither know reality of good or of justice. All look for happiness without exception. Although they use different means, they all strive towards this objective. So this is the motive for every deed of man. 

 

Yet for many years since the fall, no one without faith has ever reached the goal to which all are continually striving. All complain all the time in all ages and under all circumstances. Surely an explanation like this which has gone on without pause or change for so long really ought to convince us that we are really quite incapable of attaining the good by our own efforts. But example teaches us little. No two are exactly the same, and that is what makes us expect that our efforts will not be disappointed this time as they were om previous occasions. While the present never satisfies us, experience deceives us and will lead us from one misfortune to another until death comes as he ultimate and eternal finale.

 

Pascal asks: But what does all this restlessness and helplessness indicate, except that that man has was once in true happiness which has now left him? So he vainly searches, but finds nothing to help him, other than to see an infinite abyss that can only be filled by One who is Infinite and Immutable. In other words, it can only be filled by God himself. For Gods alone is man’s true good, and since man has rejected Him, it is strange that nothing has been found in all creation to take His place. Since he lost his good. Man is capable of seeing it in any object, even his own destruction, although it is so different from what God ordained for him. 

God is good.

In Christ, Brian