Are sin and evil natural ingredients of the material world? That is, are they merely a part of the evolutionary process of mankind? The secular mindset—those who do not acknowledge God—say, yes, of course. Sin is only an imperfection which we are on the way of overcoming. This is what evolutionary theory teaches.
To which Christians respond by asking, "Then why is it taking so long?" Is anyone prepared to say that man's inhumanity to man is truly less today than it was among ancient barbarians?
The secularist also separates death from sin, and sees death as just the natural end of all living things in a material world. Of course, our experience confirms that all living organisms die. Scripture says that it is appointed to every man once to die, and we repeatedly read about those who die in the Bible as "going the way of all flesh."
Yet, throughout history people have had some sense that there is something beyond the grave. That is why nearly every civilization in history has believed in an Underworld—a place of existence after death.
How are Christians to think about these things? Listen to way that the late James Montgomery Boice puts it:
The Christian answer to the universality of sin and death is that death is not natural but that it is the punishment of God for sin. It says, moreover, that sin entered the world through the one act of Adam, who was the first man, and that—from Adam—sin and its consequence, death, passed to his descendants (Romans, 2:564).
That is exactly what we find the Apostle Paul teaching in Romans 5:12-14, which is our text for this morning. It is found on page 942 of the Bibles provided.
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Romans #25 The Grace of God in the Gospel Grace Baptist Church
