We are often told that “To err is human”, that is, it is a
fundamental part of human nature. The word “err” can mean anything from an
innocent slip up or mistake to going completely astray and sinning. If erring
is human, then it assumes a part in our identity affecting the whole of who we
are and influencing in some way or other what we do. There is a sense then in
which the statement might be reworked: “To be human is to be errant.” Is error
an automatic result of our personhood, a mere corollary to our membership in
humanity? The answer is no, yes, and no again.
After creating male and female in his image and giving them
instructions as to their life on earth (Gen. 1:26-30), God “saw everything that
he had made and behold, it was very good.” God, in all of his perfection, sets
the standard for what is truly good so when he acknowledges goodness in his
creation it indicates an original flawlessness incomprehensible to our minds
now. In this state, it would be impossible to accurately say, “To err is
human”, since humans were “very good” reflections of the Creator God – faithful
representatives of the God who is without error.
Sadly, man freely chose to disrupt the perfect harmony of the
created order when he rebelled against the clear command of God. This was the
advent of sin into the world, and with sin came death as Paul writes in Romans
5:12-14. As all humanity after him, Adam knew God but did not honour him as
God, and claiming to be wise became a fool, serving himself over the One who
had created him (1:21-23). By Adam, sin entered the world, and death through
sin (5:12) because the wages of sin is death (6:23a). Humanity knows the truth,
but believes a lie and seeing as they have chosen a self-serving religion, God
gives them up to a self-serving life. Just as in faith, what was unnatural has
become the new natural, so in practice. People live God-dishonouring,
self-serving, sinful lifestyles filled ‘with all manner of unrighteousness’ (1:24-32).
The whole of humanity and the entire being of the human is so tainted by the
proneness to err that the more charitably minded often excuse sinful misdeeds, since
those responsible are after all, “only human.” This pessimistic understanding
of what comes naturally to man relates to humanity as it has carried on, not as
it was created.
In Paul’s theology, true humanity is found in Christ, the image of
God born in the likeness of man (Phil. 2:6-7) to reconcile us to God and each
other (Eph. 2:16). Unity with Christ - established by grace through faith in
him - creates in his people a new humanity of love-filled worship and work
(Col. 3), a Spirit-empowered humanity where error no longer entwines itself
into our identity, and we are no longer defined by what we have done or might do in-and-of
ourselves, but by who we are in Jesus Christ.
This was printed in the worship bulletin of Grace Baptist Church (Wood Green) on 13/10/2013.
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