Article 3
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Adam and Eve were created in the image of God (Gen. 1:16-27; 5:1; 9:6). This simply means that they (subsequently everyone) have things in common with God, or that we are like God and represent Him. We are in no way a perfect representation of God, but it is how He made us. At the fall of man (Gen 3:1-6), we willfully sinned and went against God’s plan for man. Adam represented man, just as Jesus represents Christians now in God’s vision. Because God made Adam the representative of all mankind, we have inherited guilt and sin. This is passed down generation to generation seeping into everyone and separating us from God. We are in union with Adam since he was the first man and God placed the burden of mankind on him (Rom 5:12-21). The beautiful thing is that God also allowed a new representative for fallen man. This perfect sacrifice lets us be righteous before God, and Jesus died for us before we were even born (Rom. 5:8). The simple truth is that God imputed Adam’s sin on every man. Before sin, Adam was perfect. With this introduction of sin, there is now physical death and even more devastating, we are separated from God in relationship. Now, God imputes Christ’s perfection on every man that chooses to believe and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior (Rom. 5:19).
The idea of free will, has from the beginning, put us at risk to sin. Just as the angels had fallen, we too could be corrupted at any time and pull away from God, Adam just happened to do it early on. This sin caused there to be evil in the world that God created. His creation was seen to be “good” by God and because we chose sin, the ramifications moving forward would be a corrupted creation. Because of this inherited sin nature, we are guilty from day one. But we also have a propensity to sin by choice. At times, we all choose what we “want” over what God has told us to do. This decision, no matter how small, makes us sinners by choice as well as by nature (Eph. 2:1-2; 4:17-19).
Because of God’s perfect plan and Jesus’ amazing sacrifice, coupled with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can be rescued, reconciled and renewed (Col. 1:20; Eph. 4:24; Phil. 3:21; 1 Thes. 1:10). Which indicates that Christ has bridged the sin gap and allows anyone His gift of righteousness before the Father. Jesus literally rescued us from damnation, reconciled us to Himself and renewed us in God’s image. We still show some of the imago dei that was originally created. We have moral conviction, we reason, we love, and we crave relationship with God (Gen 9:6). While we still have a sin issue, Jesus does not. His blood is enough to cover all our inadequacies in a way that makes us pleasing to a holy and perfect God. Jesus’ freely given salvation allows us to be in relationship with God, worshiping and praising Him until death or the coming of Christ.
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