The heart of the problem

The Bible gives a very clear answer as to what the problem is; the only answer that provides an adequate reason for all we observe of human behaviour. It declares that though we have Godlike qualities that give us a value far beyond the material universe and other forms of life, and that point to a great destiny, we are morally flawed. Here we get on to unpopular ground. However, an understanding of how this came about, and the biblical teaching of the sinfulness of human nature is essential to understanding the amazing goodness and grace of God, and also to finding our true identity and destiny as his sons and daughters. The Bible affirms our dignity as created in the divine image, but also explains our depravity, and we must never affirm one in such a way as to deny the other. In this sense we must be radical realists if we are to get a true picture, both of what we are and what we can become.

The biblical picture, then, is that we have all become self-centred rather than God-centred. In turning from God we have become locked into an attitude that focuses on self, as we have nowhere else to go. This is the essence of sin as it is described in the Bible. As G. C. Weiss has described it, sin is self-sufficiency instead of faith in God; self-will instead of submission to God; self-seeking instead of honouring God; self-righteousness instead of humility and contrition before God. Montague Goodman, who had a great ministry to teenagers during his lifetime, and through whom I first came to trust personally in the living Christ fifty years ago, relates the following incident. A young man who was leaving for the Far East had come to say goodbye. Montague had sought to commend Christ to him. Without any trace of hostility or bitterness the man replied, "I want to do as I like. I don't see why I should surrender my liberty to Jesus Christ, or anyone else." Montague comments:

In so saying he was but expressing the mind of the whole race of which he was a member. For the universal truth concerning mankind is just this: 'We have turned everyone to his own way' [Isaiah 53:6]. This is man's condemnation before God; he is not prepared to subject himself to the will of God. He is set on having his own way, and resents any interference with it. He says in effect to God, 'Not Thy will, but mine be done.' He wills his own will, and this is universally true, whether that will may be vulgar or refined, sensual or intellectual, honest or dishonest, cruel or kind. He claims the right to be master of his fate, the captain of his soul.

One of the best descriptions of this, the most basic of our problems, that I have come across is that given by John Stott in The Contemporary Christian:

I can remember what a revelation it was to me to learn, especially through the teaching of Archbishop William Temple, that what the Bible means by 'sin' is primarily self-centredness. For God's two great commandments are first that we love him with all our being and secondly that we love our neighbour as we love ourselves. Sin, then, is the reversal of this order. It is to put ourselves first, virtually proclaiming our own autonomy, our neighbour next when it suits our convenience, and God somewhere in the background.

That self-centredness is a world-wide phenomenon of human experience is evident from the rich variety of words in our language which are compounded with 'self'. There are more than 50 which have a pejorative meaning—words like self-applause, self-absorption, self-assertion, self-advertisement, self-indulgence, self-gratification, self-glorification, self-pity, self-importance, self-interest and self-will.

Moreover, our self-centredness is a terrible tyranny. Malcolm Muggeridge used often to speak and write of 'the dark little dungeon of my own ego'. And what a dark dungeon it is! To be engrossed in our own selfish concerns and ambitions, without regard either for the glory of God or for the good of others, is to be confined in the most cramped and unhealthy of prisons.

The helpful Christian writer A. W. Tozer described these 'self' sins as "the hyphenated sins of the human spirit" and added that "they are not something we do, they are something we are, and therein lies both their subtlety and their power."

If I seem to be dwelling over-much on what is, after all, a depressing picture, it is simply because it is so neglected in most of the solutions that are given for today's problems. Without an accurate diagnosis of the problem, there is no hope of a cure. Thank God there is a cure, but let's look first at the universal pervasiveness of sin, our in-built tendency to blame others and the consequences of our flawed nature.