Universal Sin and Moral Ruin

In our last post on "Righteousness and Law", we saw that people across cultures share a deep sense of personal sin and a fearful awareness of punishment beyond death. Alongside this is another powerful experience: the feeling of being morally trapped. We sense what is right, we even approve of it — but something within us holds us back. It is like a chain we cannot break. When we look honestly at ourselves, we find this inner condemnation and bondage clearly present in our own hearts. And when we look outward, we see the same reality vividly reflected throughout human literature.

This same understanding of the human moral condition appears clearly in the letters of Paul. In Romans, Paul pauses his explanation of the Gospel to give a careful description of humanity’s condition apart from it — both Gentiles and Jews alike. In Romans 1:18–32, he explains that God made Himself known to the Gentiles through creation, so that they would have no excuse for their sin. Their moral collapse, he says, shows God’s righteous anger against them for turning away from that revelation and embracing idolatry instead.

The Moral Teaching of Christ

Before turning to what most clearly sets New Testament teaching apart, it is important to look at several elements it shares with the Old Testament — and, to some extent, with other ancient religious writings. These shared ideas matter because they directly shape the conclusions reached in the earlier posts in this series.

Throughout the Four Gospels, Christ repeatedly and emphatically speaks of a Father in heaven: the unseen Creator and Ruler of humanity and of the universe. This idea is not incidental; it shapes and colors everything Christ teaches. 

God is presented as deeply interested in human life, drawing near to save and bless, inviting trust and affection, and offering hope and joy. These same ideas run through the entire New Testament and are strongly present in the Old Testament as well — especially when compared with other religious writings of the same era. What we ourselves infer from the natural world and from the authority of our moral sense is therefore strongly confirmed and powerfully applied to human life by the explicit teaching of the One who launched a religious movement that has profoundly shaped the course of history.

The Christian Documents

Few figures in history have shaped human thought and life as deeply as Jesus of Nazareth. His influence on the spiritual life — and indirectly on the material well being of the world — is so vast that it naturally draws our closest attention. As we have already seen, what humanity most needs is a teacher who can lift the veil hiding the mysterious Source of the universe, of life, and of our moral sense — a teacher who can point the way to forgiveness and moral freedom. No one else even claims to do this. And no spiritual teacher can be meaningfully compared with the one who sparked the great spiritual movement that has shaped and elevated what is best in human life. For this reason, we search eagerly for every trustworthy source of information about the Founder of Christianity.

Because Christ lived many centuries ago, the only sources available to us are written documents. It is to these documents that we now turn.

Evidence of Retribution Beyond the Grave.

If we pay attention to our own inner lives, one thing becomes clear very quickly: whenever we go against our moral sense, the result is always moral decline. We lose strength of character, and with it, self-respect. That inner damage immediately triggers a powerful expectation that harmful results are coming. 

 

We find it almost impossible to shake the feeling that some sort of retribution awaits every person. The moral law carries an authority that commands our respect at the deepest level. Because of that authority, we are compelled to believe that it can enforce its demands through reward and punishment. In other words, sin and suffering, righteousness and well-being, are bound together in ways that cannot ultimately be broken.

Evidence from the Visible World, Confirmed by the Moral Sense

So far we’ve been looking at facts drawn from the visible, external world. Now we need to turn to a very different set of facts — ones we know just as surely, but through direct awareness of our own inner lives.

Every day, we find ourselves judging the actions and character of other people. We pass verdicts on what they do and who they are. These judgments are unlike any others we make. You can see the difference clearly if you compare how we respond to a great tragedy versus a great crime. We mourn the one; we condemn the other. And that act of condemnation — along with our admiration for noble behavior — stands in a category of its own. No other judgments we make carry quite the same weight.