Why Christ?

Sometime, I was asked why I did not wish to go to an 'Anglican' church (Church of Uganda) for Sunday service. I brashly and unwisely responded that, 'Church of Uganda has gone astray.' Whereas I truly believe this, in that moment I suffered from the new converts' plague - the 'cage stage' as some have dubbed it. At this stage of our faith, the apt word to describe us is 'combative'. We are all too eager to hit our listeners on the heads with whatever knowledge is most recently astounding to us.

I digress! In light of my comment, one of my elders deemed it right to correct me thus, 'God loves all people regardless of religious/faith inclination [this though heretic did not cause me much vexation] and we can see this by the fact that all people in all walks of life are successful.' I couldn't help thinking how perplexingly sad this last bit is. We can know God's loved ones by their material success here on earth! As I mulled over that bombshell, it was shortly followed with 'We can all go to heaven. We just have to do good deeds.' Dear me! I need not belabour my vehement objection to this convoluted world view; yet I ask that you indulge me as I do.

So I set out now to address at length - so much so that there'll be two separate articles to complete the argument - the necessity of believing in Christ as God incarnate; the Word become flesh to suffer and die for the forgiveness of the sins of the sons of men by which they will be reconciled to God and live in His kingdom. Let's talk about why Christ is central to our faith. I'm aware you have some knowledge of why we must believe in Christ to see the Father: but really; why? Why do we believe that a Muslim cannot go to heaven? Why can't the Buddhists, or the pagans, or whichever other faith or religion you can think of; why do we believe that they have no place in heaven? Why only Christians? Why Christ?

Assuming that you are a Christian already, I'll presuppose that you consider the Bible to be the inerrant and sufficient authority to settle this question. After all, 'All of scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.' (2 Tim. 3:16-17). 

Now, to appreciate why Christ said, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.' (Jn. 14:6), we first have to understand two things; our depravity, and God's character.

First, we cannot understand our depravity without knowing what God had intended; that which pleased Him enough to say it was good. Let us therefore start from the beginning. After creating all things, God made man from dust and 'breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being'. (Gen. 2:7) God then formed the garden of Eden and put the man there that he may 'cultivate it and keep it'. (Gen. 2:15) It is the very breath of God that sustains us and it is upon his command and instruction that we were, and are supposed to work. God had designed that we would exercise dominion over all things in His stead; being in union with Him, His breath of life in us - spiritually sustained by Him. There would be neither toil nor fruitless labour; we were to be God's humble servants being fed by Him. (Gen. 1:26-29)

In addition to doing these things, God specifically instructed Adam regarding a particular tree in the garden; 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.' (Gen. 2:16-17) In the fabric of this instruction is the principle that disobedience to God fetches His wrath and our death. Indeed, as the apostle Paul later stated, 'For the wages of sin is death.' (Rom. 6:23)

I need not remind you that Adam disobeyed that instruction. I only briefly, albeit unnecessarily, remind you that a companion was formed for him with whom he indulged in the sin. What was it that led Adam to disobey his creator; what enticed him? 'You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' (Gen. 3:4-5) Therein lies the enticement; you will be like God. The evil one is cunning indeed. For he knew that any good lie must be founded on a perverted truth. It was indeed true that we would be like God in as far as knowing good and evil were concerned. For, God Himself admitted as much when He said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil;' (Gen. 3:22)

But the devil had typically obscured the truth; being like God is not being God.

Not only this, Adam and Eve were already like God for they were made in His image. Eve thought that the fruit would make her wise (Gen. 3:6). However, knowledge does not equal wisdom. Though we then knew evil and good, we knew it not as God does but in a severely perverse way. We learned to call evil good; we grew to underestimate and trivialize it. On the other hand, we devalue goodness and justify evil as good whenever it suits us. This is the knowledge of good and evil that we received - a knowledge that accused us instead of freeing us. The second death is one to which Adam and Eve began walking. So the very moment one is born under Adam is the very moment one begins one's journey towards the lake of fire. We are born to spiritual death even before any wrong or right can be spoken of. It is a fate we inherit. Seeing as such is our abysmal end, is there any hope? We now come to the good news, the gospel.

These grand-forefathers and their posterity were cast out from the presence of the LORD. Yet they were not altogether left as orphans.

Whilst furiously declaring judgement, God made the first proclamation of the gospel. 'And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.' (Gen. 3:15) In Biblical Hebrew culture, the lineage of the child was drawn from their patrilineal descent. Thus, when God says the 'seed of the woman', He speaks of one who would be born of spiritual conception instead of the seed of man. So then His birth into the flesh was not under Adam, which made Him free of the original sin. This is the seed that would bruise (some versions render 'crush') the seed of the serpent, that is, the evil one. Here we see that even in the midst of wrath, God was compassionate enough not to all together forsake man. He offered a way by which man would be reunited to Him and saved from the second death. Carefully observe that God has not said to man, 'by your will and work you shall overcome evil.' No! He has said that there shall be a seed to overcome evil.

What's the importance of knowing this in answering our question? It is pertinent to understand what happens during the fall for us to ably and Biblically dismiss the notion that there are other paths to the kingdom. For us to make sense of John 14:6, we must first understand what is going on in Genesis 1:1-3:15. And so Christ said, 'You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.' (Jn. 5:39) Christ warned the Pharisees and teachers not to expect that their knowledge of and adherence to the law would save them. Look at the Scriptures and you will see that from the very beginning, God is making it clear that eternal life is to be found in a 'seed' to come. Christ is telling us, 'I am that seed.'

With that backdrop, let us consider in earnest the depravity of man. What is the state of man after the fall? After God has destroyed the inhabitants of the earth in the flood, He proclaims, 'I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth;' (Gen. 8:21) Through the Psalmist we learn that God has, twice in his account, searched the earth and found that no one is righteous. First, in Psalm 14 where it is said, 'The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.' (Ps. 14:2-3) Again, when the Psalmist later composes Psalm 53, he says, 'God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.' (Ps. 53:2-3) See then that God has deemed it fit to tell us, not once but twice and in no uncertain terms, that He has searched and found that we are all wayward.

God is continually clear that however hard we may try, we are not capable of righting ourselves.

We should also appreciate our inability to overcome this state of depravity. See first that upon their eyes being opened, Adam and Eve feebly attempt to cover their nakedness with sewn fig leaves. (Gen. 3:7) It is the LORD God who better covered them with clothes that He fashioned for them out of skin. (Gen. 3:21) Not only this, when Isaiah son of Amoz had a vision where he appeared before God in His throne-room, he lamented, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips; and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.' (Isa. 6:5) Yet, who was it that cleansed Isaiah to keep him from death before a Holy God? 'Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."' (Isa. 6:6-7) The Bible is littered with such examples of God showing us that it is Him who perfectly cleanses us but I think you get the idea. Man is depraved. We are separated from God and are in such a state that we are incapable of doing anything to reunite ourselves to Him. It must be Him.

Let us now consider the character of God, particularly His holiness. As the seraphim proclaim, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts'. (Isa. 6:3) The glory of His holiness alone consumes anything unclean that stands before Him. He need not lift a hand, you need only stand before Him unclean and His holiness alone shall smite you. For this reason Isaiah cries, 'Woe is me, for I am ruined!' Let us consider one example of this truth. When David was returning the Ark of the LORD to Jerusalem, he chose to transport the Ark on a new cart drawn by oxen. When they reached the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled and the Ark almost fell but for Uzzah who reached out and touched it to steady it. (2 Sam. 6:2-6) You'd think the LORD would be pleased with this, no? You'd think He would say, 'Well done My good and faithful servant.' No! Uzzah was struck by the LORD and he died where he stood. (2 Sam. 6:7) Why? The holiness of God is incompatible with man's unholiness. As one theologian said, 'Uzzah's sin was that of arrogance. He presumed that he was cleaner than the dirt.' See the image we are given in the account about Uzzah. We are so miserably unholy that God would sooner have His regalia covered in dust than corrupted with the uncleanliness of a human touch.

Having gone over our depraved state and God's holiness, and having seen the incompatibility of these things, we now turn to the method God chooses. Why does He choose to right this condition through Christ and the cross? Before we delve into this aspect of the case, take time to digest what you have consumed thus far. In a follow-up article, this necessity of God's choice in Christ shall be considered further.