A 2022 survey from Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research demonstrates the state of Biblical literacy. It is a dynamic and jarring survey. I’d hoped to see some positive trends in the data. However, if anything, the survey demonstrates a worsening state of American evangelicalism.
I am limiting myself to only two critical statements in this post. While I could take hours to assess every detail of the information., it would prove overwhelming and unhelpful. I do recommend you to go over and check out the survey yourself. It is called https://thestateoftheology.com/. The website is user-friendly. Be warned; you will likely get sucked into all the information if you love researching as I do.
As for this article, I’d like to examine two statements from the survey and the response to the statements. The first statement is “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God,” and the second statement is “Jesus was a great teacher, but was not God.” The results among U.S. Evangelical Respondents are shocking.
”Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.”
Of 711 U.S. Evangelicals, 65% said they agree with the statement, “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.” Those who agreed with the comment are signaling the belief that people have not inherited their sinful nature. Instead, they have stated the idea that sin is something acquired later. Unfortunately, it reveals a decaying state of discipleship and theological teaching within Evangelical churches.
Many scripture passages deal with the subject of sin and humanity; I would like to take a moment to walk through a few passages that demonstrate what the Bible teaches on sin.
Romans 3:9-11 (ESV): What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
The Romans passage explains that all people are under sin. No one is exempt from the poison which has killed and separated us from God. Ultimately, Paul’s statement that “none is righteous” is quoted from Psalm 14 and 53. Even a child born without action is unrighteous and sinful if none is righteous. There are no exceptions to this rule for the human child born from man’s seed. Because of this unrighteousness, we people cannot understand God and do not seek Him. We are separated from him.
Psalm 51:5 explains it this way, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. The Psalmist, David, recognizes he was filled with iniquity and sin from birth and conception. He states, “in sin did my mother conceive me,” indicating that sin is ever present. The curse of sin is inescapable on human merit, for from conception, we are accursed and guilty before God.
In Theology, the issue at hand is known as the doctrine of original sin. Lexham Survey of Theology gives a solid definition of the doctrine when they state, “Original sin is the doctrine that, as a result of Adam’s fall, all mankind are sinners by nature, having a propensity to sin that underlies every actual sin.”1
Augustus Hopkins Strong provides another helpful explanation of the state of humanity in his Systematic Theology,
The Scriptures teach that the transgression of our first parents constituted their posterity sinners (Rom. 5:19—“through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners”), so that Adam’s sin is imputed, reckoned, or charged to every member of the race of which he was the germ and head (Rom. 5:16—“the judgment came of one offense unto condemnation”). It is because of Adam’s sin that we are born depraved and subject to God’s penal inflictions (Rom. 5:12—“through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin”; Eph. 2:3—“by nature children of wrath”).2
Adam’s sinful act of rebellion against God led to all of his offspring being eternally separated from God. Therefore, we must conclude that if all are accursed from the sinful action of Adam, the originator of sin. Then, we all are born cursed with sin. We are born evil, not as evil as we possibly can be, but evil in the eyes of the Lord, for we are rebels against righteousness.
While there is way more on the subject of original sin, we need to move on for the sake of the length of this post. In summary, God’s Word provides evidence to confidently conclude that all people are born guilty of sin before God. Any other stance is a fallacy, given the evidence of Scripture.
What about the second statement?
”Jesus was a great teacher, but was not God.”
Where to begin?
Let me start us off with a quote from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity,
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg—or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.3
Lewis firmly grasped the reality of the identity of Jesus. If you confess to others you are a Christian, yet you do not believe that Jesus is God incarnate, you cannot possibly be saved. You might find that jarring, even harsh, but it is the gospel truth. Salvation from sin is dependent on the work and identity of Jesus as God. Suppose he is not the Son of God, perfect and holy, without sin; his death means nothing. Therefore, he must be God in the flesh, or Christianity is nothing more than another useless religion.
Of the 711 U.S. Evangelical Respondents, 43% agreed that “Jesus was a great teacher, but was not God.” The approximately 292 people who agreed with the statement either did not mean to agree with it or were lost.
Romans 1:1-6 gives us a great insight into the essential truth and the need to understand that Jesus is God, the Son.
Romans 1:1-6: Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
Jesus is the Son of God, which makes Him God. Jesus says as much himself in John 8:58,
John 8:58: Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
“I am” refers to Moses’s experience with the burning bush. Where God tells Moses, “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:13-15). Jesus declares he is God with his statement recorded in John 8:58. If he is not God, then he lied, he is imperfect, and salvation is not found in Him.
Everything hinges on the identity of Jesus.
The New Testament reminds us time and again of the significance of the identity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Lord God, and Savior God. Jesus alone provides salvation. Look at what Peter says in his sermon found in Acts 4:11-12,
Acts 4:11-12: This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
We are saved through him because he is alone, the Son of God. Maybe, it is the doctrine of the Trinity that confuses people on this subject matter. Yet, even so, people must recognize that Jesus is the Son of God; therefore, he is God. It is an essential tenet for saving faith. What then is the person believing if they do not believe in the saving work, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead, of the perfect and holy Son of God dying for the sake of redeeming the wicked people who rebelled against Him? Whatever faith they have placed, it is miss guided, or they have been so poorly discipled that they believe heresy.
In summary, saving faith must be placed in Jesus Christ, God’s Son. To believe he was a great teacher but not God is a heresy that will lead one to eternal hell.
Final Thoughts
Doctrinal issues abound in our world. The two we examined briefly are concerning. We are witnessing a continued drift further into biblical and doctrinal illiteracy. Suppose doctrinally strong pastors and Christians do not step up to proclaim the truth of God’s Word and commit themselves to teaching others all God’s Word teaches (discipleship). In that case, we will be in a society virtually void of Biblical Christianity.
The State of Theology survey gives us a temperature check. It does not solve the sickness, nor does it provide a playbook. It merely points to a needed course correction. Now, the real work begins. We must disciple those around us with the truth of God’s good news and all it teaches.
