Humanity's Need for a Savior

Article 2 of 13 in the Walking with Jesus Series

Why is it that even our best efforts to be good seem to fall short? Why do we find ourselves doing the very things we resolve not to do, and failing to do the things we know we should? The Apostle Paul described this experience with painful honesty in Romans 7. It is not a problem unique to him. It is the universal human condition, and Scripture gives it a precise name: sin.

To understand humanity's need for a Saviour, we must go back to the beginning. Genesis 3 records the event that changed everything. God had placed Adam and Eve in a perfect environment and given them one prohibition: they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent questioned God's word, Eve was deceived, Adam chose to disobey, and the consequences were immediate and catastrophic.

The first response to sin was shame and the attempt to cover it. The second was hiding from God. The third was blame-shifting - Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent. These three responses, shame, hiding, and self-justification, have characterised the human relationship to sin ever since.

The consequences God pronounced were not arbitrary punishments. They were the natural outworking of the choice that had been made. Separation from God, toil, suffering, and death entered the human experience. And crucially, the corruption was not limited to Adam and Eve. It passed to all their descendants:

The prophet Isaiah surveyed the moral condition of humanity and found it comprehensively broken:

Isaiah 59 describes a people whose sins have separated them from God, whose hands are defiled, whose lips speak lies, whose feet run to evil. This is not a description of the worst of humanity. It is a description of humanity as a whole, apart from the grace of God.

Paul, drawing on multiple Old Testament passages in Romans 3, reaches the same conclusion:

The word "none" appears four times in these verses. The universality of the problem is total.

Sin is not merely a collection of bad behaviours that could be corrected with enough willpower. It is a condition of the heart that produces bad behaviour. Jesus made this clear:

The problem is not primarily what we do. It is what we are. Jeremiah saw this:

The Hebrew word translated "desperately wicked" (anash) carries the sense of being incurably sick. The heart that is the source of the problem cannot be trusted to diagnose or fix the problem. This is why moral reformation, however sincere, cannot solve the problem of sin. You can change your habits without changing your heart, and it is the heart that God sees.

Sin carries a penalty. Scripture is unambiguous about what that penalty is:

Death here means more than physical death. It means spiritual death, separation from God who is the source of all life. And it points ultimately to the second death, the lake of fire described in Revelation 20:14, the final and complete separation from everything that is good. This is not a punishment invented by a vindictive God. It is the natural outcome of choosing to live apart from the One who is life itself.

The law of God, which is a transcript of His character, makes the standard plain:

One failure is enough to establish guilt. And every human being has failed far more than once.

At this point human religion typically offers a solution: do more, try harder, perform the right rituals, accumulate enough merit. But Scripture is clear that no human effort can satisfy the demands of God's law or undo the guilt of past sin:

The law cannot justify. It can only reveal the problem. A mirror can show you that your face is dirty, but it cannot wash it. The law shows us our sin. It cannot remove it.

• "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." (Ecclesiastes 7:20, KJV)
• "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:5, KJV)
• "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23, KJV)
• "The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Psalm 14:2-3, KJV)
• "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23, KJV)

"People are basically good at heart." This is perhaps the most widespread assumption in modern culture, and it is directly contradicted by Scripture. Romans 3:10-12 states that there is none righteous, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God. Jeremiah 17:9 describes the heart as deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The biblical assessment of human nature apart from grace is not pessimistic. It is honest, and it is the necessary starting point for understanding why a Saviour is needed.

"My good deeds will outweigh my bad ones." James 2:10 states that whoever offends in one point of the law is guilty of all. God's standard is not a balance sheet. It is perfect holiness. Isaiah 64:6 describes even our righteousnesses as filthy rags. No accumulation of good deeds can undo the guilt of sin or meet the standard of God's perfect law.

"Sin is just a religious concept - what matters is whether I harm others." Scripture defines sin primarily in relation to God, not to other people. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." (Psalm 51:4, KJV). Sin is first and foremost a violation of the character and law of God. Its harm to others is real and serious, but it is a secondary consequence of the primary offence.

"God would not condemn sincere people who are doing their best." Romans 3:23 says "all have sinned." Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. These statements do not include exceptions for sincerity. The good news is that the same passage that announces the penalty also announces the remedy: "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The problem is real, but so is the solution.

1. Take the biblical diagnosis seriously. It is tempting to soften the language of Scripture about sin. But a doctor who minimises a serious diagnosis does not help the patient. The honest acknowledgment of our need is the first step toward receiving the remedy.

2. Stop trying to earn what can only be received. If you have been attempting to make yourself acceptable to God through religious performance, the message of Romans 3 is that this approach cannot succeed. The law reveals the problem. Only grace can solve it.

3. Let the bad news make the good news good. The gospel is only truly good news to those who have understood the bad news. Romans 6:23 ends with the gift of God - eternal life through Jesus Christ. The gift is offered to those who know they cannot earn it.

4. Bring your specific sins to God. Not in vague generalities, but specifically. The person who acknowledges their need precisely is in a position to receive specific help.

1. Read Genesis 3:1-13. Identify the specific steps by which Adam and Eve moved from obedience to sin. What role did doubt, desire, and deception each play?

2. Read Romans 3:9-23. Paul quotes from six different Old Testament passages to make his case. Look up at least two of the original passages (Psalm 14:1-3; Psalm 53:1-3; Isaiah 59:7-8). What does the fact that Paul draws on the Old Testament tell us about the consistency of Scripture's teaching on human nature?

3. Read Isaiah 59:1-2. What does this passage say about the effect of sin on our relationship with God? How does this help explain the human experience of feeling distant from God?

4. Romans 5:12 says that death passed upon all men "for that all have sinned." How does the universal experience of physical death serve as a constant reminder of the reality of sin?

5. If someone asked you, "Why do I need a Saviour?" how would you answer them from Scripture? Write out a brief response using at least two of the passages from this article.

• God's Love Revealed - Article 1 in this series
• Repentance: Turning to God - Article 3 in this series
• The New Birth - Article 6 in this series

Primary passages: Romans 3:10-23; Isaiah 59:1-2; Genesis 3:1-19

Supporting passages: Genesis 3:7; Psalm 14:2-3; Psalm 51:4-5; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:19; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23; James 2:10; Revelation 20:14

Recommended reading:

• Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, Chapter 2: "The Sinner's Need of Christ" (Review and Herald, 1892)
• John Stott, Romans: God's Good News for the World (IVP, 1994), pp. 93-110
• R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Tyndale, 1985), Chapter 6: "The Trauma of Holiness"

Do you have a question about sin, human nature, or the need for salvation? Ask it here - your question may become our next article.

This article was adapted from the themes presented in the classic devotional book Steps to Christ. To access the original book, please click here.