What should Christians think about human nature?
Are people basically good, or are people basically evil?
It's yet another age-old question. For Christians, the debate often gets settled with the notion of original sin. If people are born into sin, doesn't that make them basically evil? Well, it depends on what you mean by being born into sin.
Born into sin is actually a rather good phrase- biblically speaking. When people talk of original sin, it's generally thought that humans themselves are born inherently sinful- as if sin is part of our DNA (or perhaps hidden somewhere in the "soul"). These ideas are pervasive- and more the words of St. Augustine than the Bible, certainly not the words of Genesis.
Genesis speaks of humanity being inclined towards evil (6:5) from youth (8:21). Does being inclined towards something mean it's part of your genetic makeup and that it defines who and what you are? I think not. (Especially considering, you know, the word "youth" certainly does not refer to a newborn).
Let's also consider Genesis 4:6-7. This passage is the Lord speaking to Cain, prior to Abel's death. God anticipates something bad is going to happen and issues a warning:
The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’
It's my personal belief that this is the most overlooked verse on sin in the entire Bible. Sin is lurking at your door, it desires you, and you must master it. Slight paraphrase on my part, but this is the idea. I don't want to crush a metaphor with literalism, but why would something that was inside us at birth be lurking around us and trying to draw us in? If it was part of our DNA, it would need to do no such thing.
In this verse, sin is something external. It's outside of Cain. It's a force, trying to corrupt him. It's not the nature he was born with. And, in spite of this, God seems to think Cain has a choice about what to do in response to this force.
Alright I'm in danger of becoming too abstract to be helpful. So let me clarify what I'm implying here. Sin is not a part of our genetic makeup, passed on through our parents having sex, or whatever else we imagine. At least, there's no biblical reason for thinking this. To be born into sin is to be born into a sinful environment and, as we all know, we're shaped by what's around us. For humans, sin is all around us. It's our environment. It's a strong influence. But, here's something significant:
It's not our destiny.
It's not our destiny for a few different reasons. One, humanity was created in the image of God. There is something inherent to humanity that demonstrates God...just as there is something about our environment that attracts us to things that are, well, kinda evil. This is something we've emphasized quite a lot at NSC over the years, but it's not as common as you might think: Humans are born in the very image of God and, therefore, at a minimum, we've really got some potential!
The second reason is that God is in the process of giving us a new self. We are taught that, in Christ, we are new creations, the old is passing away, the new is coming (2 Cor. 5:17). The reason that God is doing this is because He loves his children and He wants His children to create a better world for all to live in. The way that He accomplishes this is through helping to make us the most forgiving, gracious, and loving versions of ourselves we can possibly be.
So, what should Christians think about people?
We're complicated. Our natural inclination is away from God, not because of our genetic material but because creation itself has been corrupted and we're influenced by it. And still- God's inclination is to draw us close. It's not intuitive to live as God lived, but we're born with the capacity to do it, albeit with God's support.
