The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Colleen H. during the 2007-2008 League.
Biblical Research on "Nature of Man"
Genesis 1:27 - "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
God created us perfectly. He made us in His image. In the very beginning of time, man did no wrong. There was no sin in the world. In God's words, "it was good." But then sin came into existence. The first sin, which was committed by Adam and Eve, forever changed our world. That one small decision they made affected the rest of the world, for eternity.
Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
Everyone in the world has sinned. Every person to ever walk this earth has sinned. As this verse says, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. There is no way around this - no one can ever be perfect. But there was one person who came to this world who did no wrong. And that was God's Son, Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:4-5 - "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!"
When Jesus came and died for us, He saved us from our sins. This means that He realized the nature of man, which was to sin, and gave us a way to still be perfect in His sight. All we have to do is accept Him as our Lord and Savior, and we can spend eternity with him, regardless of how many times we have sinned.
Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick"
The heart is something that we all need to work on to make ourselves pure and holy before the Lord. We cannot change ourselves by our effort alone, but instead, we need to let God come and change us.
Romans 5:15-17 - "But there is a great difference between Adam's sin and God's gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but God's free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ."
The human race is not worthy of being saved. We have all sinned. It is our nature to sin. But God, being as amazing as He is, sent His Son to save us, and therefore, we can spend eternity with Him.
