Is God Fair? Is God Good?
I have been a “Christian” and served the Lord since I was about 6 years old. I was raised in church.
Unfortuntely, it wasn’t until about 6 years ago though that I actually started to realize God’s GOODNESS. That God is so good beyond even my comprehension.
You see, when I got saved around the age of 6…. It was because I heard a message about Hell. A “turn-or-burn” message, as some refer to it. And while that technique of winning souls can certainly be effective in that moment…. A lot of people who get saved that way don’t continue to walk with the Lord for too long afterwards.
Or, if they do (AKA: me), they do it out of a constant fear of God. Because I couldn’t fathom the idea of Hell…. Because God could strike me down at any moment if I didn’t listen…. Because if I didn’t witness to that person then God would not accept me on the day of judgment. (The list goes on).
While this is a VERY deep and important topic, it is not the reason for this blog post. I am getting a little off topic. But I wanted to give that small amount of background so that you can understand where I’m coming from. I have not always had it all figured out. I was scared and confused for most of my life.
SO…. Knowing this about me…. It probably wouldn’t shock you to find out that all throughout my childhood I had many people debate God with me. They questioned God TO me. They asked me so many questions…. VALID questions… But unfortunately, at the time I did not have an answer for them.
And while this frustrated, confused, and even embarrassed me…. I would never give in to their questions because I could never turn my back on God. Whether He was good…. Or not good…. Angry or not…. Pleased with me or not….. I knew and believed that HE WAS GOD.
And whether or not I thought it was fair didn’t matter. Because fair or not, He had the power over my eternity, and I was determined to keep Him happy and reserve my spot in heaven.
Questions
One of the questions that I got asked a lot was: “Why is God punishing us for Adams sin in the garden? He sinned, not us. But now we’re all automatically sinners? That’s not fair.”
There is of course a large theological discussion that can be had on this topic. But that’s not the point right now. The point is, they were questioning God’s goodness, His character even.
….and I was helpless to defend my savior….. In that situation, and many others.
I am so happy to say that I now have an answer to many more questions than I did when I was younger. And that is because I have read the Bible for myself, and learned of His goodness… and His TRUE character. Not the one they tell you about in most churches……
I now serve God out of love and thankfulness toward Him, not because I am afraid of what He’ll do if I don’t.
And so today, I want to share with you PART of the answer to that question. Not the theological part, about WHY we were all made sinners by Adam’s transgression. But… the part about God’s goodness and how He is fair. SO MUCH MORE FAIR than we ever, ever deserve.
HOW GOD IS GOOD, AND WHY HE IS FAIR
It was a revelation God showed me one day while reading the book of Romans.
Some of you may be familiar with the practice of reading the same chapters and verses of your Bible for years. Although you can almost read these passages with your eyes closed, you still don’t understand them! OR, you’ve gotten no new revelation out of them in a long time.
While this will always be true, because the Bible is so full of wisdom and revelation that we could never gather it all…. We should be receiving new insights and revelations from the Word, by the Holy Spirit, on a pretty regular basis.
This is how it happened for me. It was extra special to me because it was something that I received directly from the Lord, that I had never heard preached in a sermon before.
I was reading Romans chapter 5. I would definitely encourage you to go read the entire chapter, but I will be specifically discussing verses 12-21. I will also go ahead and include them in this blog, with a link to the entire chapter:
Romans 5:15-21 KJV
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Some of you may or may not have read this passage before. And some of you may or may not already be catching onto what I’m about to explain.
Now, these verses are saying A LOT. In them are even some of the answers to the theological part of the question, that I mentioned above. But, I’m going to take some of these verses and explain to you in 2 main points what God showed me that day, and why He is more than fair and good!
POINT #1:
I want to start off by saying that in verse 14, even the Bible itself admits that even though all mankind did not sin like Adam did in the beginning, we were all under the punishment of that sin (death).
(Side note: I think this is interesting, because it’s not like the authors of the Bible are trying to hide this fact, or act like they themselves had not had this question too.)
BUT THEN…. The answer is literally in the very next verse, 15!
*Drum Roll*
The Bible says: “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”
Whaaaaaattt…??!
Let me rephrase verses 14-15 in modern-day speech:
The Sara Translation:
“14- The punishment and the effects of sin reigned over every person’s life, even though they weren’t the ones who had originally sinned and caused this domino effect on mankind. 15- BUUUUUT ….. in the same way that Adam’s offence happened, so the FREE GIFT of Christ happened! Because, if Adam’s sin caused many people to be under sin, God’s grace is much more powerful! And through Jesus Christ, He has caused many people to be under the free gift of grace!”
Guys, this is HUGE! It is saying that even though one man’s sin made everyone a sinner, even though they didn’t deserve that repercussion….. IN THE SAME WAY Jesus’s righteous act of dying on the cross made many people righteous even though they didn’t deserve righteousness either!
BAM! FAIR!
And in case that doesn’t convince you, it goes on to say the exact same thing FOUR MORE TIMES in different ways that make it very clear.
Verse 16- Even though one man (Adam) sinned and caused mankind to be judged and condemned, in the same way, one man (Jesus) died and caused everyone to be justified of those sins.
Verse 17- Even though because of Adam’s sin we were all reigned over by death (the consequence of sin), Jesus came and gave us the free gift of righteousness that causes us all to REIGN IN LIFE instead!
Verse 19- Even though we were all made sinners by Adam’s disobedience, we can all now be made righteous by the obedience of Jesus Christ on the cross!!
Because one person was able to affect all mankind before, God made it to where His son (one person) was able to affect all mankind also!
Wow, this is so big. I was so awed when I received this revelation. I don’t know about you, but when I really take one minute to think about it, I could just cry.
Even though we didn’t deserve to be born sinners, we were, because of Adam. (Again, where some theology comes in). But we have all sinned BECAUSE we were born INTO sin nature.
But God is so good….. He had a plan. A plan to make it “fair”. A plan to reconcile us back to Himself. And even though none of us deserved it, we were given God’s righteousness FREELY also. When we choose to accept it, of course.
I could go on and on, but I will move on to point number 2.
POINT #2:
This doesn’t necessarily have to do with the main question… but it does further prove that God is good and more than fair.
In verse 13 it specifically says that sin is not imputed where there is no law. The law was not given until Moses was on the scene. This is why in verse 14 is specifically says that death reigned from Adam to Moses. Because all during that time, there was never any law. And although all those people were sinning, because they were born into sin nature…. Their sins were not being imputed to them.
Imputed means to put something on someone’s account. SO….. that means because there was no law, God was not putting those people’s sins on their accounts. They were not being held against them!
Wow, this is another question I also received often…. “If people didn’t have the 10 commandments, did God send them to hell anyways?”
This is saying, no.
Just another proof that God is so so good. If you read through the entire Bible, it is full of proof that God is so merciful, and gives mankind chance after chance to get things right.
It then goes on to explain it even further, and show us God’s bigger plan and the bigger picture at the end of the chapter in verses 20 & 21.
I had already started learning and believing that God was good, and has always been, before I received this revelation. But maybe this is the first proof you have heard, or the first evidence you have seen in the Bible…
Maybe you are just starting your journey to uncover God’s TRUE character.
I am excited for you. And I hope I have helped shed some light onto your path. I would encourage you to keep seeking God, asking Him to reveal His true character to you.
Also, I want to provide you with a few resources that have helped me.
Here is a link to a great book, called “The Tue Nature Of God”. It goes more into the theology of things.
And here is a link to one video in a series on the Book of Romans, and God’s Grace. I came across this video series recently, and it is the first time since receiving this revelation that I heard someone else talking about it! This one video is 20 minutes and he explains a lot of Romans chapter 5 specifically. He explains it way better than I have. And I hope it will help concrete this wonderful truth in your heart. VIDEO LINK HERE.
Thank you so much for stopping by. I would love to hear your thoughts or any questions in the comments below. Or feel free to send me a private email as well.
I look forward to sharing more revelations with you, and answering more of those questions that I never knew the answers to as a young Christian.
Until next time, take each day one day at a time.
Her Life In Season
