How Can We Get Along?
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34
God’s intention for human beings is that we love, encourage, and support one another. God created human beings from the dust of the earth and breathed into them the breath of life. His desire is for us to be his images and representatives in the world, conduits of his grace to all creation. The Fall, however, disrupted God’s good intentions for human relations. Since the Fall, our natural tendency is to abuse and exploit the creation. We now prefer evil to goodness.
Does this mean that every person is now as bad as they can be? No. There is a residue of the image of God in every person. Sin does not completely destroy God’s image in us; it only corrupts and defaces it. Sin blinds our understanding and corrupts our affections. For this reason, when we ought to love our neighbor, we take advantage of him. Instead of valuing creation, we destroy and pollute it. When faced with the choice between two evils, we choose the one we have not yet tried. This is the reason God established governments, because everyone does not do the right thing from the heart. For those who would harm their neighbor or their neighbor’s property, societal laws provide disincentives. Those who will not do good from the heart will refrain from evil for fear of punishment. This is an important and God-given role of governments.
One clear theme in the Bible is that God has created us for relationship with others. This comes from God’s own nature as one God in three persons. God’s very nature is to be in relationship. He has made us to be connected with and bound to one another in love, encouragement, and affection. We are to speak his grace and truth to one another and be helpers who are fit for one another, so that our social relationships will strengthen our ability to serve and obey him. God said of Adam that it was not good for him to be alone (Genesis 2:18). That continues to be true of every person. It is in relationship with others that we fulfill an especially important aspect of our design and purpose.
Does sin really affect our relationships with others? Yes. Since the Fall, our natural tendency is to engage in relationships of tyranny and injustice with one another, in which power is used not to protect and serve but to demean. Is this an overstatement? No, not when we consider world history. The annals of history are replete with examples of people with no regard for human life, whose lust for power prompted them to great wickedness, and who saw people as objects to be used rather than individuals of worth and value. After all our technological advances, we live in a world where tyranny and injustice are far too prevalent.
If we consider both human history and modern circumstances, we might be tempted to despair. We do not, however. The problem of sin has been defeated through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He now sits at the right hand of God as Lord of all Lords and King of all Kings. We await the day when the reign of Christ will be manifest. Until then, we work through the Spirit to build Christ’s kingdom in the world.