Biblical Thinking About the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic
Yesterday in church, I introduced our discussion point (sermon) using a multiple-choice question.
Which of the following is true in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic?
God is punishing moral evil using natural evil.
it is the sovereign will of God.
God is allowing it.
it is evidence of the fallen state of the world.
If I polled a random sample of Christians, I know I would find many opting for each of the options above. What we understand about God and the Bible makes a big difference to how we understand the pandemic.
I’ve noticed quite a few social media posts quoting Old Testament scriptures about the wrath of God being poured out on the wicked. Some Christians are saying that this pandemic is God’s punishment for the wickedness of the world. It is plain to see the moral evil rampant in politics, business, human relationships and many other areas. Understandably, like the disciples James and John, who were offended when a Samaritan village rejected Jesus, we want to ask ‘Lord, should we call down fire from heaven and burn them up?’ (Luke 9:54, NLT). In verse 55 we see that Jesus rebuked them! Fire is a natural evil, just as is Covid-19. Jesus would rebuke us for wishing evil on others. I think option 1 is incorrect.
There is among some, perhaps many, Christians a strong doctrine of the sovereignty of God. God is behind everything in a causative sense and unfolds His purpose in it. John Piper is representative of this perspective. This is what he shared recently on the Desiring God website:
Let’s start with an empirical, historical fact, and a clear Bible fact. The empirical fact is that on the Lord’s Day, Sunday, December 26, 2004, over 200,000 people were killed by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean, including whole churches gathered for worship on the Lord’s Day, swept away in death. That’s the historical fact. That sort of thing has happened to Christians, as long as there have been Christians. Now, the biblical fact is Mark 4:41: “Even the wind and the sea obey [Jesus].” That is as true today as it was then. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
So, put those two facts together — the historical fact and the biblical fact — and you get this truth: Jesus could have stopped the natural disaster, and he did not in 2004. Since he always does what is wise and right and just and good, therefore, he had wise and good purposes in that deadly disaster.
I would say the same thing, therefore, about the coronavirus.
John Piper is a respected theologian and I have learnt much from his work, but I cannot agree with his position. I do not think that this perspective is consistent with the God of grace expressed in the New Covenant (see especially Hebrews 8 to 10). I do understand that a loving father might punish a child for the good of that child, but I cannot reconcile a loving heavenly Father visiting disaster on innocent Christians in order that He might punish sin in third parties, or send a wakeup call to nations. I cannot reconcile God’s hatred of sin with the idea that He might instigate or allow moral or natural evil for His sovereign (‘wise and good’) purposes. Does God cause and have purpose in the torture and death of defenceless children or women at the hands of violent men? Is abortion somehow God’s sovereign will? Was it God’s sovereign will that somewhere between 20 and 50 million people died in the ‘Spanish flu’ pandemic after World War I? Is it God’s sovereign will that between 290,000 and 650,000 people die worldwide from seasonal flu each year? I do not believe that based on my understanding of who God is. I think option 2 is incorrect.
A weak form of option 2 is option 3 that characterises God as allowing bad things to happen. In a sense, this is true because God could exercise His sovereignty and bring the pandemic to an end in an instant. However, let me share an analogy. I have a two-year old granddaughter who has just reached the right height and cognitive ability to open our front door. It is not far from the door to the road. She does not have the cognitive ability to know that it is not safe to run out onto the road. To protect her, I installed a safety device. In principle, she might still be able to get through the door and onto the road, but it would not be because I allowed it. I did everything I could to keep her safe. God is like that, but sometimes we thwart Him. Jesus, quoting Old Testament scripture, said we should love our neighbours as ourselves. Apart from anything else, loving our neighbours keeps us safe. How loving of our neighbours is it to be slack with hygiene in ‘wet’ markets, to persecute whistleblowers, (allegedly) lie to the world about the spread of the virus, and secretly stock up on critical medial supplies? Here we have an example of moral evil leading to natural evil. God did not really allow it. It is a consequence of ignoring the safe way mapped out for us by our loving God. I think option 3 is incorrect.
That only leaves option 4. I think this option is correct. I believe a correct understanding of all evil, moral and natural, is to be found in Genesis 1, 2 and 3. In Genesis 1, we see that God delegated (a measure of) sovereignty to human beings.
Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28, NLT, bold type added)
In Genesis 2, we see that God holds human beings accountable for how they exercise their delegated sovereignty. Adam and Eve were partners in the Eden venture!
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” (Genesis 2:15-18, NLT)
Genesis 3 records the choice that Adam and Eve made to sin, to disobey God. The consequences have reverberated through history. Adam and Eve were shut out of Eden and the whole of creation has groaned ever since under the weight of sin (see Romans 8:20-23). Most viruses are good and life on earth would not exist without them. Some viruses are bad. That which is bad reflects that fact that all of creation has been marred by sin. Covid-19 is evidence of a fallen world, separated from God by sin.
I delivered the discussion point that is the subject of this blog yesterday. Today, John Lennox published the electronic version of his book, Where is God in a Coronavirus World? (The Good Book Company). (The print edition will be published next week.) Like me, he argues option 4 is correct. The current pandemic is the result of a sin-sick, fallen world. With sin came death. Period. But, as John Lennox wisely argues, there is hope because a loving God sent His Son to die that we might be saved from sin and its consequences. Professor Lennox’s book is well-worth reading.
I would go further than Professor Lennox because I think Christians can be protected from infection, be healed if they are infected and, importantly, can overcome the pandemic by prayer. This does not mean that I am opposed to the many restrictions of freedom that have been imposed by governments. Indeed, in my previous blog I strongly argued that Christians should be exemplary in their observance of government directions and quoted supporting scripture.
I think the Parable of the Minas (Pounds) is instructive in this context. Jesus had not long been in the home of Zacchaeus and was soon to instruct His disciples to find the donkey that would carry Him to Jerusalem. The parable can be found in Luke 11:27. Verses 11-13 are critically important:
And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (Luke 19:11-13, KJV).
Most translations of the Bible do not use the word ‘occupy’ since the original Greek means ‘invest; or ‘do business’. Given the context of the parable, Jesus was not simply expecting people to ‘do business’ or ‘invest’ in the sense of everyday commercial activities, but to do what needs to be done to see ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven.’
JC Ryle (1816-1900) wrote a tract titled ‘Occupy till I come’. In part, this is what he said:
The Lord Jesus bids you "occupy." By that He means that you are to be "a doer" in your Christianity, and not merely a hearer and professor. He wants His servants not only to receive His wages, and eat His bread, and dwell in His house, and belong to His family,—but also to do His work. You are to "let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works." (Matt. v.16.) Have you faith? It must not be a dead faith: it must "work by love." (Gal. v. 6.) Are you elect? You are elect unto "obedience." (1 Pet. i. 2.) Are you redeemed? You are redeemed that you may be "a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Tit. ii. 14.) Do you love Christ? Prove the reality of your love by keeping Christ's commandments. (John xiv. 15.) Oh, reader, do not forget this charge to "occupy!" Beware of an idle, talking, gossiping, sentimental, do-nothing religion. (Available at https://www.biblebb.com/files/ryle/occupy_till_i_come.htm, downloaded 4/4/20)
Ah, so we are meant to do something between the first and second coming of Jesus, the ‘nobleman’? Yes! I would like to suggest that our ‘good works’ must include not only acts of neighbour love, particularly during the present pandemic, but also prayer. We need to obey the authorities, we need to do all we can to help those affected directly by the virus itself and also those affected indirectly as nation after nation is placed in an induced social and economic coma. We also must pray.
Many years ago, I heard Derek Prince say that he could not fully understand why, but that God responds to our prayer. I agree wholeheartedly that God responds to our prayer. I also think the ‘why’ is to be found in Genesis 1 and in the Easter story. Under God’s delegation of authority we are to rule, even over rogue viruses. Certainly, we forfeited rulership to Satan through sin. The Easter message is that Jesus won back our authority to rule when He died on the cross. He delegated us to ‘occupy’ until He returns. We occupy by good works and good works include fervent, faith-filled, biblical prayers.
By way of footnote, I should add that the tribulation described in Revelation 6-18 is a period of time in which God will punish moral evil using moral and (super?)natural evil for His sovereign end-times purposes. There will be a period in history that is consistent with option 1 (and 2 and 3) above, but that will be the topic of a future blog.
A final note is that earlier today, I read an article by NT Wright that was published recently online by Time. Professor Wright is one of the best-known and widely-read theologians of our day. I cannot even dream of being authoritative like he is, but I disagree profoundly with the conclusion of his article:
It is no part of the Christian vocation, then, to be able to explain what’s happening and why. In fact, it is part of the Christian vocation not to be able to explain—and to lament instead. As the Spirit laments within us, so we become, even in our self-isolation, small shrines where the presence and healing love of God can dwell. And out of that there can emerge new possibilities, new acts of kindness, new scientific understanding, new hope.
I respectfully disagree. I think we can explain the ‘why’. And I think we can do something about it. By all means lament. Compassion for suffering people leads us to lament. However, I think we can go well beyond lament. I think it is part of the Christian vocation to explain what’s happening and why. I also think we can occupy and, in so doing, make a difference.