One day Jesus will return and remake creation, freed from all of the miseries and effects of sin, more glorious than ever. All those who believed in him will be bodily resurrected, and will share in this new creation (Romans 8:18-25). Ultimately there will be no death, no ruin, no disease—and no COVID-19.
Time magazine featured a piece by world-renowned NT scholar N. T. Wright, author of some seventy books, titled “Christianity Offers No Answers About the Coronavirus. It’s Not Supposed To.” I’ll confess that I thought the article better than the title, which I found appalling and entirely wrong. Wright makes a point or two worth making, such as the place for lamentation. I do have a problem with a number of things Dr. Wright said. I have an even greater issue with what he left unsaid.
Consider this my attempt at a very brief corrective.
What are some questions that the Bible most assuredly does answer?
“Why does COVID-19 exist?” Because it is God’s will that it exists (Ps. 115:3; Eph. 1:11). There’s more to say about that, of course.
“Why did God make such a flawed creation that evils like COVID-19 would exist in it?” He did no such thing. The creation God made was good (Gen. 1:4), good (v. 10), good (v. 10), good (v. 12), good (v. 18), good (v. 21), good (v. 25) — in fact, very good (v. 31). There was no death in it (Rom. 5:12).
“I don’t believe that.” I understand. By the way, now you’ve answered more of your first question.
“I…wait, what?” You showed more of why COVID-19 exists.
“How?” I just presented you with just a little basic bit of God’s Word, and your instant response was to reject it. That’s the reason for COVID-19 and all death and misery in the world.
“What? I don’t believe that! It makes no sense to me!” Exactly my point. You imagine that you, by virtue of your reason and your private notions of morality, are fit to judge the literally infinite wisdom and goodness of God (Proverbs 1:7b; 18:2). This is what turned Paradise into a nightmare.
“What are you even talking about?” Our first father, Adam, created pure and unflawed, set in a “very good” environment, chose to pit his own reason and morality over against God. Adam had been warned that such an act would bring him certain death. He did it anyway. As you just did. You can read about all this in Genesis 1 to 3. When Adam rebelled against his perfectly good Creator, he acted as our representative. He brought death and ruin into the world.
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