“How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?”
— Job 25:4-6
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God,[1] and Bildad the Shuhite, a descendant of Shuah, a half-brother of Isaac, had better understanding of scripture almost a millennia before the epistles of Paul were written than most professing Christians do right now, two millennia afterwards. If the stars are not pure in His sight, how much less can man stand before God the Judge, the Holy One of Israel? Bildad’s question is rhetorical and the answer should be obvious — he cannot. This concept is often referred to as “total depravity,” “total inability,” or more colloquially, “original sin”
Man’s total depravity is why the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is so important. Man in his natural state inherits a sinful nature from Adam. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me[2].” David is not saying he was conceived out wedlock. He is saying that his nature, his parents nature, human nature is inherently sinful. We are by nature children of wrath, even as others.[3] Jesus, being conceived by the Holy Spirit rather than by a human male with Adam’s sin nature, bypasses this curse of original sin so that his life of perfect obedience can be accepted by God the father. This is why we all need a savior. The Law of God governs the contents of our heart as well as our outward behavior. We are all starting with a corrupt nature and therefore no good deed we do at some other time in the future can atone for that.
So for the perfect atonement of Christ to be effectual it is paramount to understand that Jesus is both fully God, and fully man. If he were only God and not man we would not have the mediator between God and man that we need, one acquainted with grief[4] and tempted like as we are yet without sin.[5] If he were only a man and not God, he would be in the same calamity that we are, under a covenant of works we cannot of ourselves keep and totally unable to save himself, let alone any of us.
“They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever:) That he should still live forever, and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others…But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Sela” — Psalm 49:6-15
Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.[6]
Selah.
Comments