The Natural and the Supernatural
IN various ways the attempt is being made to put all men in the same class in their relation to God, regardless of the question of personal faith, and thus to prepare the way for setting aside the atoning work of Christ as being entirely unnecessary. One of these ways, quite common among the teachers of the “New Theology,” is to deny that there is anything supernatural in religion. This makes religious experience simply a question of evolution. According to this view, every man is on the road to perfection, the only difference being that some have advanced further than others. All will attain to the same ideal, the image of God, at some time, and if not in this state of existence, then in the future state. According to these teachers, “all natural law is spiritual law,” and “religion may be defined as natural unfoldment which brings into manifestation the divine type.” “In slow, wearisome stages we are pressing toward that ideal which in him [Christ] was actualized.” “The supernatural of yesterday becomes, as in the process of evolution we advance from the lower to the higher, from the more material to the more spiritual, the common and natural of to-day, and4what seems to be the supernatural of to-day becomes in the same way the natural of to-morrow, and so on through the ages.” The logical conclusion from this teaching, although not always openly stated, is that there is no such thing as the fall of man [“only a delusive fall, for it was—up-hill”]; there is no such thing as sin, for all sin is “only undeveloped good,” and consequently there is no need nor place for the atonement. The practical result of this teaching is that man, being persuaded that there is no such thing as sin, does not lay hold upon the provision offered to him for deliverance from sin, and thus becomes hopelessly bound by the cords of his own sins. It is Satan’s final effort to lull souls into a false security in the very hour of judgment. In order to appreciate the gospel we must recognize the change which has been introduced into the world by the entrance of sin. We must admit the fact of the fall of man and the need of more than the development of his own inherent power to save and restore. An English writer has called attention to the distinction between the natural and the supernatural, in the following words:— The first creation was a creation in grace, both of angels and men. The distinction between nature and grace, between the natural and the supernatural, did not exist. The natural was supernatural, the supernatural was natural. At least they co-existed, if they were not indeed identical; the supernatural enveloping and interpenetrating the natural. Such would seem to be the true, the ideal, the normal condition of created life, to be one day realized in the consummated state. The entrance of sin it was that created for man, and in man’s thought, the sharp division between the natural and the supernatural, between nature and grace. The higher endowments of creaturely life in close conscious communion with God were cut off by the alienation induced by sin. The lower elements remained, constituting man’s natural life and powers; so-called because they are those which belong to him by birth, and put him in relation with that visible world around him which we call nature. The following paragraph from “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VIII, presents very clearly the truth concerning this whole matter, and points out what is really involved in these false teachings, so pleasing to the natural heart:— Our condition through sin has become preternatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, else it has no value. There is but one power that can break the hold of evil from the hearts of men, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin. His grace alone can enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. This power the spiritualistic theories concerning God make of no effect. If God is an essence pervading all nature, then he dwells in all men [this must be true if every man, saint or sinner, is the temple of the Holy Ghost]; and in order to attain holiness, man has only to develop the power that is within him. These theories, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian economy. They do away with the necessity for the atonement, and make man his own savior. The presentation of the pure gospel of this closing message is designed to expose the utter weakness of this false gospel according to man, and to save from its deceptive working all those who are willing to believe in God instead of in themselves. It says, “All flesh is grass. . . . Behold, your God!” It says, “Ye must be born again.” It emphasizes the words of Jesus, “Without me ye can do nothing.” It proclaims an unchanged law, by which comes the knowledge of sin, and then preaches Jesus Christ as “able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him.” And this message is the hope of the world in this generation.