Having established that the believer still dwells in a sinful body while awaiting the redemption of the body at Christ's return, it is now necessary to understand the nature and extent of the corruption that entered humanity through Adam's fall. Many have misunderstood where sin truly resides and how it affects man. Unless this is clearly understood, the necessity of the gospel and the sufficiency of Christ's finished work cannot be fully appreciated. We must therefore examine how sin affected man's inner being, how it manifests itself through the flesh, and why only God's grace through the gospel can remedy the condition into which all mankind was born.
Sin affected the soul of man, this had a great influence upon the flesh. The flesh itself is powerless but takes information from our inner being, which is the heart. Therefore, the fruit of the flesh that we bear results from what proceeds from within the heart. In Jeremiah 17:9, it is written: “The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Likewise, in Mark 7:20, Jesus said: “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.” This means that we commit sin because we are already defiled, and not that committing sin is what first makes us defiled. Many reiterate that committing sin makes us defiled and that, therefore, cleanliness is restored through confession and prayer. This is false. The condition of man goes back to Adam. Through one man’s offence, judgment and condemnation came upon all men. As Romans 5:18 states: “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”
From the above verse, we can deduce that all men are under condemnation to eternal destruction, which is the lake of fire. This condition begins from birth and has nothing to do with our deeds, whether good or bad, but came through one man’s offence. Adam and Eve did not understand the extent of the damage that sin had caused to the soul or its dire consequences upon the flesh and life in this world. They tried merely to solve the problem by using fig leaves, but these were rejected by God.
Since sin affected the soul, God’s target was to redeem the affected soul. Sin had created a separation between man and God, thereby affecting both our relationship and fellowship with Him. This brings us to three main categories of death:
• Physical death: the separation of the flesh and soul.
• Spiritual death: temporal separation from God after we became sinners.
• Eternal separation: the lake of fire for Satan and unredeemed souls.
Therefore, our whole being became defiled, corrupt, and filthy before God, resulting not only in separation but also in spiritual death. If this condition is not resolved, after physical death one will spend eternity in the lake of fire, which is eternal separation from God. Yet God did not instantly destroy man because of His mercy. Rather, He devised a means to save us. He continues to postpone the execution of His judgment through reprieve, giving man an opportunity for salvation.
As we journey through this world, our spirits never cease to echo with a faint longing for eternity. God’s hands remain stretched out for our salvation, while the inward struggles and discomfort in our souls and the troubles of this world continually remind us of our condition.
The Spirit of God, hovering over this sinful world and working through human consciousness, if not born again or saved there would be eternal separation from God. Having become sinners in Adam, we are temporarily separated from Him, and this condition must be resolved. These warnings are sometimes visible through sicknesses, failures and wrecks in life, and ultimately through death itself. For this reason, King Solomon, the king of Israel, wrote: “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart” (Ecclesiastes 7:2).
The question, therefore, is: How can this separation between God and man be resolved? The answer is THE GOSPEL. The only way we can gain rest from this world’s problems, enter Heaven, and have our relationship and fellowship with God restored is through the gospel.
As Romans 1:16 states: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile". Within the gospel dwell God’s love, righteousness, and grace. Like a seed, it does not die, but it cannot bear fruit when it is not watered. When the gospel is heard and believed through faith, one’s soul is purified, made righteous, and perfected eternally amidst our sinful flesh.
The gospel is not meant to empower us to do right in order to be justified. Rather, it has the power to present our souls faultless before God’s throne, redeemed from judgment and legally justified. This is possible because Jesus became our substitute and bore humanity’s penalty for sin on the cross. God had already promised this in Genesis through the seed of the woman who would bruise the head of the serpent. Christ, Mary’s seed, not Joseph’s, ended the judgment unto condemnation of our souls on the cross. He confirmed the completion of this work before He bowed His head with His last words, “It is finished"( John 19:30).
Therefore, the gospel is about the finished work of Christ for mankind and not about any righteous acts of men before God. What man could not resolve through his own efforts, God resolved through Christ. The free gift of the Holy Spirit is then given to enlighten us concerning God’s Word, teaching us what we do not know and reminding us of what we have been taught.
The sequence, is this, sin affected man’s soul; the corrupted condition of the heart manifests itself through the flesh; sin brought condemnation and separation from God; and if this condition remains unresolved, physical death is followed by eternal separation from God. But God, in His mercy, provided the gospel through the finished work of Christ. Through hearing and believing the gospel by faith, the soul is purified, made righteous, perfected, redeemed from judgment, and legally justified before God.