Corona Virus and God’s love

Post by Ademola Adebayo

The Corona virus has had such a devastating effect on the globe that is incomparable to anything that has been experienced in recent times. Even the tragic events of September 11, 2001, cannot be compared to the devastation that has so far been reported about this pandemic.  So far, many people have been left with unanswered questions about this, because of fear for themselves and loved ones. A colleague (who is aware that I am a Christian) recently sent me a partially erroneous view of what he thinks is responsible for this pandemic. What do you think? I will return to this later.

A verse in the bible helps us to make sense of our world and all its turmoil. Romans 5 verse 12 informs us that “wherefore, as by one-man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so, death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”. This verse implicitly informs us that there was a time in our world when there was no sickness, virus or even death. This was a period of peace and harmony, but a tragic event occurred that changed everything. Scripture calls this sin. This first sin was committed by Adam and Eve, when they disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. The result of this first sin has been different forms of devastation in the world.

So, you may ask, what is sin? Sin is disobedience to God’s will. Sin can be likened to a virus like the Corona Virus or may be to a computer virus. Currently, the only means of limiting the effects of the Corona Virus is through containment. Containment is where the virus is kept under control to limit its spread. Sin, on the other hand cannot be contained. The sin of Adam, like a virus, has spread to every human being. As a result, we now inherit the sin nature of Adam. The result of this is enmity towards the God who created us.

The good news is that Adam’s sin did not take God by surprise, so He had implemented a redemption plan that will enable us to escape the eternal consequences of Adam’s sin, which is now our sin. The redemption plan has become necessary because the punishment that God requires for sin needs to fit the seriousness of sin. Before I continue, let me make an analogy of how our society treats crime. A criminal who assaults a member of the public will most likely receive a lighter punishment compared to a criminal who assaults a police officer or another criminal who assaults the Prime Minister. Now in all three cases, the same act of criminality has been committed (which is assault) yet the punishment that will be given to the criminal would differ in all three cases. The obvious reason is because of the type of victim involved. Any act of sin against God is far more serious compared to the three victims in the analogy. This is because God, as the creator of the whole universe is of infinite worth and dignity. Hence, all sins against Him must be punished in a manner that corresponds to His dignity. As finite creatures, we humans are unable to satisfy God’s infinite demand for punishment.

But there is good news.

God in His wonderful love has provided a way whereby for His infinite demand for justice to be satisfied, whilst still able to show mercy. God Himself, (Jesus Christ), came into this world in the form of a human being to do two main things: He came to obey God perfectly on behalf of us human beings, and, secondly, He came to suffer the punishment that we deserve for our sins. These two acts mean that God will no longer need to punish us, because He has paid the punishment. It also means that God accepts Jesus’ perfect obedience as if we have obeyed Him perfectly. Seven verses later in Roman 5 verse 19b reads “by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”. This means that by the obedience of Jesus Christ, those who trust in Him will be made righteous.

My colleague had alleged, that the cause of Corona Virus is because God is angry and is hence punishing us humans for our sins. Though he alleged this mockingly, I believe that he is partially correct, because Adam’s sin has brought devastation and virus into the world. However, he is incorrect in specifying that this virus is for a particular sin.