Is Coronavirus a Result of Sin?

We have learned over the past few days to detest the appearance of the actual novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 cell … better known as COVID-19. Terms like “social distancing,” “flattening the curve,” and “NV95 masks” have become new terms to our personal lexicon. We have, as a society, never experienced before what we are enduring now: self-quarantining, church services completely online, restaurants shutting down dining options, retirement investments taking the largest one-day hit, “shelter-in-place” directives, and did I mention the lack of toilet paper of all things?

These are certainly unprecedented times. Some have wondered if it is the end of the world! After all, didn’t Jesus say, in Luke 21, that “there will be great earthquakes, and famine in many lands, and epidemics, and terrifying things happening in the heavens?” Just this week, an earthquake in Utah, a pandemic sweeping across the globe, a swarm of locusts in Africa—and just recently a major tornado hammering the city of Nashville … all the makings of an incredible block-buster Hollywood apocalyptic movie. But is this really the end? Makes you wonder!

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

Matthew 24:36

Others might suggest that the COVID-19 virus is God’s judgement on the world. Just writing that made my hands tremble. Hmmm . . . something to think about. I don’t think God says to Himself, “You know, those people have really acted badly, so I’m going to create this virus to inflict on them to get them to straighten up and repent.” This might explain some people’s vision and concept of God. It’s not mine. I do think that God can use a calamity such as the COVID-19 virus to get our attention. I can see God saying, “Are you going to trust me through this?” “Bad things are going to happen … won’t you turn to Me and allow Me to bring you through this suffering?” Hopefully this pandemic does actually get some people’s attention and help them understand that life is vulnerable.

But, why do these bad things happen, like COVID-19? The reason we find ourselves in these circumstances is for the very reason that many agnostics and atheists refuse to accept: sin and the fall of humanity. I don’t know why there is such a resistance to this answer to human suffering … except, that by accepting that, one would have to fully admit to an existence of God. Some people would rather not believe in a God if they feel that He does nothing in these types of circumstances. I get that, but let’s say that there is a belief in God … at least marginally. I really think the reason people don’t like a blanket statement dealing with the wrongs and adversities of the world being sin and the fall of humanity has to do with a misguided or misshaped doctrine of sin.

The writer of Genesis reveals to us that human beings were created in the image of God. That image was good. We were good as humans, created in His image. Satan, though, who was self-tempted due to his pride, had gone against God. In the story of Adam and Eve, we see that humanity was not self-tempted, but tempted by an external force … Satan, disguised as a talking Serpent. Together, linked in opposition with Satan against God, they broke allegiance with God. They broke their relational ties to God.

This is where sin began.

Sin is the willful disobedience of God’s known will for your life. The very first sin was not the physical biting of the fruit from the tree … it was the unbelief that precipitated it.

God’s will for our lives is that we believe in Him. In the Genesis story, more credit was given to what the Serpent said than what the Almighty proclaimed to be truth. The first couple’s unbelief led to disobedience. This is what we call the fall.

This is not a fairy tale. This is the story of your life and mine. We are born into a world separated from God, marked by unbelief. We are corrupted. The world is corrupted. There is nothing in and of ourselves that we can do about that. Without any grace from God, we have absolutely no hope.

Humanity’s unbelief brought forth a distortion of our relationship with God that dictated our separation from God. God, within Whom there is no darkness, cannot live in relationship with a sinful humanity. A world that is in separation from God is now corrupted. That corruption ruined everything. Think about how a corrupted file destroys the hard drive on your computer. Not a bad analogy. Death has now entered into the picture. Along with death came suffering, pain, sickness, and a whole host of ills.

Everything wrong in the world can be attributed to the separation from God that the sin of unbelief created.

That’s why we say things like a coronavirus pandemic is because of sin in the world and humankind’s fall. It’s not a blanket statement. It’s not an excuse. It’s about the consequences that separation from God brings.

Because of the corruption that sin brought into the world, as said, everything is affected … the planet and its eco-systems, morality that guides the decisions of human beings, natural biological processes, meteorological events, household relationships, international dealings, economic developments, and the list goes on and on and on.

COVID-19 certainly fits well in these categories. So, is coronavirus a result of sin in the world? A simple yes would have probably sufficed, but as you can see, the answer is not a flippant one because it gets to the essence of all that goes wrong in our world.

Last thing … wouldn’t it be a real tragedy if God left us in this state? Wouldn’t it be a disaster knowing that God kept us from having relationship with Him at all? Wouldn’t it be awful if God didn’t care about our coronavirus pandemic?

Enter Jesus Christ. The Hope of the world.

Remember I said without any grace from God, we would remain in our separation with God. Think about this. God instills in us a grace that goes before us … even while we are still in that sinful state without relationship with Him. That inner prompting of your spirit, that natural understanding of right and wrong, that interior call of God that speaks to your heart is … grace. John Wesley called it “prevenient grace,” or that “faint glimmering ray” of light that “enlightens” every human being to know that they are separated from God and in need of a Savior. That’s grace. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even know we need a Savior, or God for that matter.

When we respond to that prevenient grace and receive the full grace of God through Jesus Christ, we are restored.

The original problem of sin was unbelief. Because of our belief, now, we are saved and once again restored in a right relationship with God. It was the work of Jesus on the cross that made the way possible for us to no longer experience that separation from God.

While all the world is not “fixed,” at this time, and we have to continue to deal with the affects of the fall, we await with anticipation that Day of the Lord that will bring forth a new heaven and a new earth.

We do have a Hope … His name is Jesus!