When do we view natural calamity as part of the normal cycle of human suffering only or a divine judgment? In reading about Noah and the Flood in Genesis 6, “the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain… God saw how corrupt the earth had become for all the people had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, ‘I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.’” (Genesis 6:5,6,11-13) Jesus said that “as it was on the days of Noah so also it will be in the days of the Son of Man.” (Luke 17:26) Climate change advocates warn us about the dangers of flooding caused by global warming and the melting of the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. We are told that the “earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.” (2 Peter 3:5,6) Is the solution to halt emissions by fossil fuels only or to repent of our sins? While governments seek salvation by human means do we not need to explore salvation from sin?

What are the consequences of human sin? John Stott lists three.

First, Alienation from God. Perhaps the most dreadful of all sin’s consequences is that it estranges us from God. Man’s highest destiny is to know God and to be in personal relationship with God. Man’s chief claim to nobility is that he was made in the image of God and is therefore capable of knowing him. But this God whom we are meant to know and whom we ought to know is a moral Being. He is infinite in all his moral perfections. He is a holy God. He is a pure and righteous God…. Our sins blot out God’s face from us as effectively as the clouds do the sun….Until our sins are cleansed away, we are exiles. Our soul is lost. We have no communion with God.

It is this which accounts for the restlessness of men and women today. There is a hunger in people’s hearts which nothing can satisfy but God himself. There is a vacuum in man’s souls which only God can fill…. The situation is tragic beyond words. Man is missing the destiny for which God made him.

Secondly, Bondage to Self. The inwardness of sin is a deep-seated inward corruption. It is what theologians mean by ‘original sin’.  It is a tendency or bias towards sin and self-centeredness, which we inherit, which is rooted deeply in our human personality, and which manifests itself in a thousand ugly ways…It is because sin is an inward corruption of human nature that we are in bondage. It is not so much certain acts or habits which enslave us, but the evil infection from which these spring. …We have high ideals but weak wills. We want to live a good life, but we are chained and imprisoned. We are not free. We are slaves.

Thirdly, Conflict with Others. William Temple’s definition of original sin perfectly describes this truth: “I am the center of the world I see; where the horizon is depends on where I stand….Education may make my self-centeredness less disastrous by widening my horizon of interest; so far it is like climbing a tower, which widens the horizon for physical vision, while leaving me still the center and standard of reference.”

Christianity is a rescue religion. People do not appreciate it unless they know they need to be rescued.

In Romans 3:9-20, Paul supplies a series of seven Old Testament quotations (10-18) to describe sin. Three features of this grim biblical picture stand out.

First, it declares the ungodliness of sin. Scripture identifies the essence of sin as ungodliness (cf.1:18). Sin is the revolt of the self against God, the dethronement of God with a view to the enthronement of oneself. Ultimately sin is self-deification, the reckless determination to occupy the throne which belongs to God alone.

Secondly, this catena of Old Testament verses teaches the pervasiveness of sin. For sin affects every part of our human constitution, every faculty and function, including our mind, emotions, sexuality, conscience and will. This is the biblical doctrine of ‘total depravity’, which Stott suspects is repudiated only by those who misunderstand it. It has never meant that human beings are as depraved as they could possibly be. Such a notion is manifestly absurd and untrue and is contradicted by our everyday observation. Not all human beings are drunkards, felons, adulterers or murderers. No, the ‘totality’ of our corruption refers to its extent (twisting and tainting every part of our humanness) not to its degree (depraving every part of us absolutely). . ‘Unredeemed sinners can love. Parental love, filial love, conjugal love, the love of friends – all these, as we know very well, are the regular experience of men and women outside Christ. Even the tax collectors love those who love them. Even the Gentiles salute each other. None of this is in dispute. But all human love, even the highest, the noblest and the best, is contaminated to some degree by the impurities of self-interest. We Christians are specifically called to love our enemies (in which love there is no self-interest), and this is impossible without the supernatural grace of God.’

Thirdly, the Old Testament quotations teach the universality of sin, both negatively and positively. Every mouth is stopped, every excuse silenced, and the whole world, having been found guilty, is liable to God’s judgment.

In conclusion, how should we respond to Paul’s devastating exposure of universal sin and guilt, as we read it today. We should not try to evade it by changing the subject and talking instead of the need for self-esteem, or by blaming our behavior on our genes, nurturing, education or society. It is an essential part of our dignity as human beings that, however much we may have been affected by negative influences, we are not their helpless victims, but rather responsible for our conduct. We have no merit to plead and no excuse to make. We too stand before God speechless and condemned. We need a Savior who came to rescue us from ourselves. Natural calamities should drive us to the Cross of Christ.

(Excerpted from forthcoming, Ted Schroder, THE GLORY OF CHRIST: The Theology of John Stott)