Genesis 8.21 records the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood.
Most of the world believes, and this would include many who claim to be Christian, that people are born good but become evil due to poor circumstances, experiences or people who influenced them negatively.
The belief is that people are good until something or someone makes them bad.This belief leads to the practice and justification of all sorts of behaviors that are an abomination to God but are acceptable to men.
The Bible teaches the exact opposite of this belief – we are born sinful and need a Savior to become the people God intended for us to be.
Anyone who has had children knows the Bible is true in this regard and that the philosophy of this age is wrong. As soon as a child can grasp an object it will steal it from his neighbor. Children are possessive and selfish unafraid to lie or omit truth. They vividly reveal the true nature of humanity.
Despite our being born this way God does not despise us but rather God loves us anyway.
Because we are born this way God does not require us to make up for it by doing more good deeds than bad ones as we grow older. A perfect God requires people to be perfect, a real problem for a broken humanity.
The solution is not human performance but Divine pardon.
Jesus did live a perfect life because He was not born into this world like everyone else. Jesus did not fail as Adam did to obey God always but instead always choose to please His Father.
Jesus, by living the perfect life, became the only perfect sacrifice for sin giving God the Father the only means to pardon every person’s sin and to appropriate to every person the perfect life Jesus lived.
This is the great exchange because God greatly loves a people who are born separated from Him but with whom He desires restoration above all else.
This is the good news of Christianity that God does not hold our evil against us but pardons and forgives us if we will humble ourselves before Him, admit we are broken and commit with His help to obey His commands.
