What Does It Mean To Be Filled With The Spirit?

[Ephesians 5:18]

What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? This is a question with which many believers wrestle.  What does the Bible have to say about the filling of the Holy Spirit?  In Ephesian 5:18, Paul made a declarative statement, admonishing believers to be filled with the Spirit.  So, what was it that caused Paul to remind believers of their need to be filled with the Spirit?

The context of Paul’s statement is important as we consider his exhortation to be filled with the Spirit. In Ephesians 5:3-5, Paul admonishes the saints to refrain from several immoral practices—”sexual immorality, impurity, greed. . .vulgar speech, foolish talk, and course jesting.” According to Paul, these things are clearly out of character with being a believer, and the person who practices such things will not be a part of the kingdom of God.  Later in 5:6-15, Paul continued his admonition to the Ephesians by noting, for example, that one should not be deceived by empty words, because “once you were darkness and now you are light” [v. 8].  Since we are not children of darkness but children of light, we are to “live as wise and not as unwise” and seek to “know what the will of the Lord is” (vv. 15-17). Indeed, according to verse 17, we can only live as wise children of God by understanding what the will of God is.

In light of the fact that we are children of the light, one of our deepest desires as Children of God should be to know God’s will for our lives.  Indeed, Paul informs us what God’s will for our lives is, which in this context includes being filled with the Spirit. This leads us now to consider 5:18, where Paul commands us to be filled with the Spirit. Paul’s command to be filled with the Spirit is only the second half of a fuller statement which reads, “And do not get drunk with wine, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.”  God’s will for our lives is to be filled with the Spirit.  So, what does this entail? My goal in this short study here is to define as best as possible what it means to be filled with the Spirit and to provide some characteristics of what a Spirit-filled life should look like.

When Paul said to the Ephesians “Be filled with the Spirit,”  he uses the Greek verbal form “plērousthe,” which is a form of the principal verb “plēroō,” meaning “to fill,” or “make full,” or “fill up.”  It also carries the idea of coming to maturity, or “to be complete, perfect.”[1] Perschbacher further notes that specifically with regard to Ephesian 5:18, the idea is “to pervade with an influence, to influence fully, possess fully.”[2] With this in mind and in view of the broader context of the passage, I believe the idea that Paul wants to communicate is that when Christians are filled with the Spirit, they are controlled by the Spirit,[3] and in such a way that they are powerfully influenced by His holiness and character. Just as the one who is drunk with alcohol is controlled and dominated by its influence [5:18a], so the believer is controlled by the Spirit and comes under His influence.

An analogy of this idea of “filling” in the sense of “being controlled” may be seen in Luke 4:28, where we are told that “all the people were filled with rage,” with the result that they reacted to Jesus violently and were about to throw him over a cliff [v. 29]. Also, we are told in Acts 13:45 that “when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy [against Paul],” again with the result that they were hostile toward him. In these two situations, we see people being controlled by anger and jealousy so that this control produces a certain effect in their lives. In the same way, when we are controlled or filled by the Spirit the result will be a life consistent with the character and holiness of Christ.

Now that we have an idea of what it means to be filled by the Spirit, let us now consider some important features of the form of the verb Paul used in this passage. This will help us to see more clearly what our responsibility is in this process of being billed with the Spirit. The form of this verb reveals three things that need to be understood about the filling of the Spirit.  The first thing we should note about the verb for the filling of the Spirit, as seen in Ephesians 5:18, is that it is in the imperative mood.  An imperative is a command. This means we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. Interestingly, we may note that while nowhere in Scripture are believers commanded to be indwelt, sealed, or baptized by the Spirit, here Christians are under orders to be filled by the Spirit.[4] This indicates the importance of the role of the Christian in the filling of the Spirit. This gives a human component to the equation. It tells us that the filling of the Spirit is not optional on our part, but instead mandatory.

The second point that Paul wants us to consider from Ephesians 5:18 is that the verb “plērousthe” [“be filled”] is in the present tense.  This means that the filling of the Spirit is an ongoing, continuous, daily occurrence.  Paul wanted the believers to be continuously filled with the Spirit. The filling is not a once and for all experience as compared to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is a one-time act that took place at the moment of conversion.  The idea of the use of the present tense of this text here is “be being filled” or “keep on being filled.”[5]  It is a continuous, day to day, moment by moment experience as we submit ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit. 

The third point Paul wants us to consider is indicated by the fact that the verb “plērousthe” is in the passive voice.  The passive voice in the Greek [as also in English] means that the subject receives the action of the verb. One is not filled by the Spirit through his or her own self will or abilities.  It is God who fills the individual.  As Couch says, “You continual (allow) the Holy Spirit to come upon and control you.”[6]  Yes, we make ourselves available, but the filling of the Holy Spirit is the work of God alone.  So, in order to be filled, we must be willing to yield ourselves to the control of the Spirit.  I suggest that this begins to happen, when someone confesses his or her sin and asks God to take full control of his or her life.[7]

With a better understanding of what it means to be filled with the Spirit and our part in it, the question is, “What does the Spirit-filled life look like?” What characterizes a life that is controlled by or filled with the Spirit?  How can we tell if we are filled with the Spirit? A Spirit-filled life is one that is characterized by what is described in Ephesians 5:19-21. These verses follow immediately on the heels of the command to be filled with the Spirit and shows us the result of the spirit-filled life. They describe three immediate results of a life filled with the Spirit. The by-product of a Spirit-filled life is one that produces a life of singing, thanksgiving, and submission.

First, a Spirit-filled Christian will have a song and a psalm in his or her heart, but these are not simply or only for personal self-edification. Spirit-filled believers “speak to another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,” which means that their songs minister to each other in the assembly or the church. But even more importantly, these expressions of praise and worship are directed to the Lord—Spirit-filled believers “sing and make melody in their hearts to the Lord.” Together, then, our praise and worship edify one another as they are directed to the Lord. This tells us also that the spirit filled life has a corporate dimension—its effects overflow into the body of Christ and brings glory to God. It is not simply for personal self-fulfillment.

Second, a Spirit-filled Christian is a thankful Christian even in times of sufferings. Gratitude is a natural reflex of a life filled with the Spirit in general, and this reflects what Paul commands in First Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in everything; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” In Ephesians 5:20 though, the Spirit filled Christian gives thanks always to God “for each other.” In other words, one of the marks of a Spirit-filled life is a deep sense of gratitude for fellow believers. So, if you find yourself at odds with other believers, it maybe you are not filled with the Spirit. And again, this shows the corporate dimension of the Spirit-filled overflow into the body of Christ.

Third, a Spirit-filled Christian is a submissive Christian.  We as believers must be willing to be submissive to one another, but this becomes natural when we are filled with the Spirit—we do not need to work up our will power to do it. There is a sense of mutual submission in a biblical relationship in which we lay aside our rights and humbly serve one another in love. Needless to say again, this is another effect of the corporate dimension of the filling of the Spirit—we submit to each other and defer to the wider concerns that make for peace and good will in the body of Christ.

Putting this all together, if one wants to know God’s will for his or her life, then one needs to be filled with the Spirit. We cannot know God’s will until we are filled with the Spirit.  The confession of one’s sin is an integral part of the Spirit-filled life.  No Christian can fulfill God’s will for his or her life apart from being filled with the Spirit.[8]  Paul desires God’s people to be continuously filled with the Spirit. When sin breaks the controlling or the filling of the Spirit, the thing to do is to confess our sins and allow God the Holy Spirit to fill us again [see 1 John 1:9].

[1] Wesley J. Perschbacher, Ed., The New Analytical Greek Lexicon” [Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990], 332.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Mal Couch, The Biblical Doctrine of The Holy Spirit (Fort Worth, TX: Tyndale Biblical Institute, 1995), 126.

[4] As John F. Walvoord puts, “These ministries of the Spirit come at once upon saving faith in Christ.  They pertain to salvation, not to the spiritual life of the Christian” (The Holy Spirit: A Comprehensive Study of the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1965], 194). That is to say that apart from this command to be filled with the Spirit, there are no other commands for the believer to be sealed, indwelt, or baptized with the Spirit.

[5] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Rich, Ephesians (Wheaton, ILL: Victor Books, 1976), 136.

[6] Couch, Doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

[7] I should note that Paul does not indicate here in this passage exactly what the prerequisites of the believers are for being filled. I suggest though that from a broader reading of the New Testament a willingness to submit to the Spirit, followed by ongoing repentance and confession of sins are in keeping with the Spirit’s control of our lives. In this regard, Galatians 5:16 is in keeping with my suggestion: “But I say, ‘Live by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.” The idea of “live by the Spirit” is that of “keeping in step with his leading.”

[8] Walvoord, The Holy Spirit, 194.

Is God Responsible for the Coronavirus?

The advent of the coronavirus pandemic in recent months has hurled us all into an era of mass disruption in almost all areas of life. Disruptions of this magnitude can be very frightening, and often lead us to focus on the really important issues of life. When faced with the serious threat of death and the real possibility that life in the foreseeable future may not return to the kind of normalcy we are used to, it is natural that we begin to raise questions about God, the world, the meaning of life, purpose, and destiny, etc. Insecurities and uncertainties about life and the future are penetrating experiences that have a way of summoning us to account for the way we live our lives, to wonder about who or what is ultimately responsible for the world as it is, and to consider what the ultimate outcome of everything will look like?

In these moments, all of life and the world tend to gather themselves together in front of us for review—and all in a moment, it seems. For a great deal of people, this is precisely what has been happening in the present coronavirus crisis. And I suspect that as the virus continues to spread, as the death toll continues to rise, and as the chance of a cure for the virus seems further and further away in the distance, our questions will become more acute, and our angst and frustration will rise.

One of the main questions that usually surfaces in a crisis like this has to do with the cause or source of the problem. That is, who is responsible for the virus. Is it of human engineering? And if so, what is the source? Or is it a rogue virus of nature? Or is it a divine intervention—a judgment from God? And if so, should we consider the virus good or evil? One may even consider the possibility that it in some way involves both God and nature, so that God allows nature to turn against man. In a recent Christianity Today’s editorial, entitled “Is the Coronavirus Evil?”[1] Daniel Harrell tries to answer this question of God’s involvement. The subtitle of the article, “Or is this part of life in the world God made?” suggests that the answer to the question of God’s involvement is a positive one. Indeed, he argues that the coronavirus is not evil, because it is part of life in the good world God made.

As Harrell further explains, science requires that bacteria and viruses are all part of God’s plan from the start, since “Death itself is required for organic life to exist.” So, he concludes, it is “Better to view creation not as something perfect gone awry, but as something begun as very good only not yet finished.” There is  more to Harrel’s argument, as for example, his argument that nature, like humans, is endowed with a kind of freewill, so that “The microscopic organism that serves life can [also] threaten to take it away.”

Thus, for Harrell, the coronavirus can hardly be regarded as evil, since it is part of the pool of microscopic organisms God created for good, but nonetheless has the capability like humans to choose to do other than what it was intended to do. All of this means for Harrell that, when God pronounced the creation to be “good” [1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 24], and the entirety of it to be “very good,” [Gen 1:31], bacteria and viruses [and the diseases that they may cause] were included in this package and not to be regarded as the result of the Fall. In his own words again, “bacteria and viruses are not bitter fruits of the fall, but among the first fruits of good creation itself.”

My main quarrel with Harrell will not be over the logic of a virus having freewill-like traits and why it cannot be regarded as evil for going rogue. I do not think it requires much to see how logic breaks down here. For if God’s good gift of a freewill led man to become sinful and evil, one could argue that at least the potential for evil was part of God’s good creation, and this makes God ultimately responsible. But even more poignant for our purpose here is that this logic requires us to wonder why the ability of a virus to go rogue and inflict pain, suffering and death is not as equally morally culpable, just as man’s freewill is. In other words, when man sinned by misusing his freewill, he came under swift divine judgment. Yet we do not see a single suggestion in the Bible for a virus being held morally culpable. But I will leave this more philosophical concern for now.

My main concern here is more basic, namely, whether bacteria and viruses in God’s good original creation were capable of becoming villainous and even lethal. First, while it seems obvious that organic life before the Fall requires bacteria and viruses in order to survive, it is not so clear to me that science is capable of demonstrating that these original microbes were capable of going rogue, or were part of a plant “life-death cycle” in the original creation. The truth is, we have no way of knowing what organic life looked like before the Fall. Who knows exactly how the Fall has affected biological/organic life? For this reason, it seems best to assume that the curse has resulted in a good creation gone bad, and this includes all bacterial and viral associations with the survival of organic life.

Second, to speak of the expiration of plant life as death before the Fall severely lacks biblical support. The Bible is very clear that death was not part of God’s original good creation. This is not to suggest that plants were not reaped and consumed as food. Rather, it is to say that such acts of the reaping of crops for consumption is not regarded as death in the Bible. It is interesting that the technical language of “death” in the Old Testament [Heb, mût] is never used of plants, and in the creation account, death only appears as a threat to man for disobedience [see Gen 2:17]. From the very beginning, then, death is a category applicable primarily to humans, and only rarely to animals—but never to plants. It is also interesting to note that the Hebrew nepeš [“life”], the absence or “departure of which is equivalent to death,” applies particularly to humans, rarely to animals, but never to plants.[2] We never read in the Bible of nepeš departing from plants.

From the Old Testament’s perspective, then, it is very clear that death was never a part of the fabric of God’s good creation, with the further implication that the category of death does not apply to plants. What was only a threat in the account of the original creation [Gen 2:17] became a sentence of judgment only after the Fall [Gen 3:19], and a reality implied by God’s use of animal skin for the covering of Adam and Even [3:22]. In the Bible, then, the experience of death is related to the concrete reality of sin, the direct result of the first sin.

The Apostle Paul puts it well when he tells us that death is “the payment for sin” [Rom 6:23], whose entrance into the world was through Adam. For “just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin. . .so death spread to all people because all sinned” [Rom 5:12]. “Death is related to human sin. . .and sin belongs essentially to the human sphere [Gen 2:17; Num. 27:3; Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 3:18; Jer. 31:30]. And even though the whole creation came under the curse of God’s judgment, it was not because the whole of creation was itself culpable. The creation was subject to judgment because of human sin, and it will be released from the bondage of the Fall when man is himself set free from the curse [see Rom 8:18-25].

So, when God pronounced his creation to be “good” [Gen 1:31] and “complete” [2:2], He did not mean to say it was “something begun as very good only not yet finished,” as Harrell believes. God did not mean to say that his good creation included bacteria and viruses capable of wreaking havoc on human life, or that they were “among the first fruits of good creation itself.” His creation was complete and perfect, and in this regard declared “good.” Therefore, death was not included as part of this goodness, for in the Bible death is never regarded as good. Death is the malicious enemy of life.

In this regard, then, the coronavirus cannot be considered good—as though it originated as part of God’s good creation—since it is opposed to and threatens life. Likewise, it cannot be said that God is responsible for the coronavirus since this would make him culpable for inflicting evil on us. The most we can say is that: in a fallen world like ours, God may choose to allow a virus to go rogue for reasons known only to Himself. In this sense, it can be said that God is responsible for the coronavirus since he could have prevented it if he wished.

In conclusion, it is interesting to note that the first and last references to death in the Bible have to do with human sin and human destiny [Gen 217; Rev 21:3, 4]. All of this points to the fact that sin is the cause of death. The great hope of the Bible is that in God’s new creation, “death will no longer exist” [Rev 21:4]. What was true of the original creation will be true of the new creation—and even more. The biblical view of creation indicates that death is an intrusion into God’s good creation, “an absurdity to be feared and rejected.”[3] Therefore, in the wake of the threat of the coronavirus, death is a diabolical prospect we may have to face in a fallen world like ours.

However, we will do well to remember that neither the coronavirus, nor death itself, has the final word. Death has been defeated, along with the one who holds the power of death, through the death of Jesus on the cross [Heb 2:14; Col 2:14-15]. Jesus is now alive and “holds the keys of death and hell” [Rev 1:18], and for those united to him, “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Rom 8:37-39]. What is most important now is not who is to blame, or how we can escape the ravages of the coronavirus, but our relationship with Jesus Christ. Only in him are we safe from all the consequences of sin. God has promised that neither sin, or disease, or death will have the final word—”But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells [2 Pet 3:13].



[2] Jaques B. Doukhan, “‘When Death was not yet’: The Testimony of Biblical Creation,” in The Genesis Creation Account: and Its Reverberations in the Old Testament, ed. Gerald A. Klingbeil, pp. 239-42 [Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2015], 339.

[3] Ibid., 340.

A Christian View of Things:
Coronavirus and the Christian Response/outlook

man with face mask


Introuction

News of the outbreak of the coronavirus broke on the world late in the fall of 2019. But it is no longer news that the disease cause by this virus, styled COVID-19 [the new coronavirus itself is called SARS-CoV-2], has reached pandemic proportion. The world today is under a virtual siege, caused both by personal fears and enforced official government lockdowns of whole cities and even entire nations. We are all aware of the panic everywhere, fueled by confusing and conflicting governmental reporting, mainstream and popular social-media trivializations, disinformation, misinformation, and politicization. And, amidst all this noise and confusion, sane and calm voices are hard to find.

Make no mistake, the coronavirus is a serious matter. And baring a few fanatical, eccentric, and polarizing voices, we are all beginning to realize the gravity of this threat as we see the rise in casualties in the silent march of the coronavirus. As I write this article, the worldwide toll of infected cases has reached 2.1 million, with more than 140, 000 death, and in the U. S. alone, over 640, 000 cases with over 30, 000 deaths in all fifty states [healthline.com, access on 4/16/20].

It is now clear that no one is immune from or safe in the path of this virus—from heads of states and top officials, to royalties and nobilities, to celebrities and entertainers, to military officers and ordinary soldiers, to medical professionals and ordinary people, etc.—all are vulnerable. This touches all of us, and Christians are no exception. Christians, however, are not only endangered by this evil virus, but above all people required to provide an appropriate response. Yet even among Christians, fear and confusion exist.

There is an urgent need, therefore, for sanity, clarity, composure, and a clear unified Christian message. So, what is a Christian response? How should Christians respond in a crisis like this? Is there a unique Christian response? In what follows, I will attempt to show what a Christian response to the threat of the coronavirus should look like. I will argue that a Christian response involves three things: [1] the basis of a Christian worldview, [2] a biblical understanding of God’s sovereignty, and [3] our personal attitude/response in the present crisis.

The Basis of a Christian Worldview

Everyone interprets or evaluates the world and his or her experiences in it from a particular point of view, even if they are not aware of it. This particular way of interpreting our world is called a worldview. We develop our worldviews, whether consciously or unconsciously, to help us make sense of the world. There are many different worldviews, but this does not mean that they are all right. They cannot all be right, because this would lead to confusion. For example, there are several different interpretations of the origin, cause, and spread of the coronavirus—it is manmade [China/Europe/America], or simply a product of nature or fate [for those who do not believe in a personal God/god], or of divine origin [God of the Bible/Christian, or some other deity]. A particular worldview, then, leads to each particular response, which is in large measure why we have the kind of confusion we see in the present crisis—because multiple worldviews result in multiple responses.

Even among professing Christians, there are different views on the origin and spread of the coronavirus. For this reason, we must define clearly what we mean by a Christian worldview. In short, a Christian worldview is a biblical worldview. Even so, some would say that this is not helpful because there are many different ways of looking at the Bible. However, there are some broad agreements on some key issues that a broad cross section of Christians agree on that constitutes a biblical or Christian worldview. These include four or five basic issues: [1] The question of origin—“Where did we come from/who is responsible for our existence?” [2] The question of identity—“Who am I?” [3] The question of purpose: “Why am I here?” [4] The question of the state of the world—“What is wrong with the world?” [5] The question of destiny or redemption: “How can I fix it?” or “Where are we headed?”

These are questions that occupy the attention of all major philosophies and religions of the world and determine how we interpret our world and our experience in it. A worldview, then, is a lens, or set of lenses, through which we view everything. It is a set of core values, beliefs, or principles that comprises a comprehensive purview for understanding the world and our experience in it.[1]

Now from a Christian point of view, what determines this all-encompassing lens or set of values is the Bible. The Bible is the lens through which we view the world, it is the filter through which we pass everything to make sense of the world and understand our experience in it. Nothing can be properly understood or interpreted outside the grid of the Bible. It is the mold or matrix by which our conception of the world is formed, because the God of the Bible is the only one capable of interpreting aright the world he created.

In the biblical worldview, then, God is sovereign creator and ruler of the world, who directs all its affairs. And we humans are his special creation, made in His very image and likeness for the purpose of ruling over the creation as his vice regents, whose mission is to multiply and fill the earth with his image bearers [Gen 1:26-28].[2] All that he made was pronounced good, for “God saw all that he had made and it was very good” [Gen 1:31], and the blessings of his providence was especially bestowed on his image bearers [Gen 1:28], whose ultimate goal and reward was to participate in his blessed rest on the seventh day [Gen 2:1-3].

God, then, is the answer to the question of the origin and source of all things. And as well, he is the answer to the question of our identity—we are his special creation made in his image. He made all things good and bestowed his blessings on them all to bring glory to Himself and eternal joy to us. But as we have it now, we all know that not only is something radically wrong with us, but with everything else in our world. The good world that God made is held together not only by the physical laws He installed in nature [see Col 1:17: Heb 1:3], but also by the moral or ethical laws he implants in human nature.

In Genesis 2:17, God told our first parents that to eat of the forbidden fruit in Eden would introduce death in the world: “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” The remainder of the story is history, for a chapter later Adam and Eve violated God’s command and rebelled against him [see Gen 3:1-7]. On this original act of rebellion the judgment of God was swift [see Gen 3:8-19], and its ultimate punishment was the sentence of death—“By the sweat of your brow you will eat food, until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return” [Gen 3:17].

This sentence of judgment fulfilled the earlier sanction of Genesis 2:17 that if they eat of the fruit they will surely die. All of this means that life after the Fall would become one of hardship, pain, toil, carnage, disease, suffering, and ultimately death. This is the Bible’s explanation for the problem of the state of the world, of what went wrong and what is still wrong with the world. No doubt there are those who might wonder whether this consequent judgment is fitting for the crime. Clearly, this swift divine severity is an overreaction. How could God consign the whole of creation and everything within it to travail, death, and destruction simply for the eating of a single fruit?

I suggest that this is a rather superficial and trivialized reading of the situation we find in the text. We must understand that Adam and Eve did not simply make a mistake. Their action was not a simple inadvertent mishap of sorts that they would surely have avoided were they thinking clearly at the time. And neither did they sin out of mere curiosity. Instead, their action was a deliberate and calculated move to join in a conspiracy with God’s arch enemy, Satan, to overthrow God and take over the rulership of the universe—an  original “cosmic coup d’état,” if you please.

And what is more, their action was wholly unprovoked—they literally “bit the hand of divine, benevolent, providence that fed them” the bliss of paradise, and all this entirely out of sheer infernal malice incited by the Evil One. They embraced the malice of Satan against God as theirs, so much so that they believed his lie that to eat of the forbidden fruit meant that they would “become like God, knowing good and evil” [Gen 3:5]. And it was precisely because the fruit “was desirable for making one wise”—wise in the sense of being like God so that they are the ones who decide what is right from wrong—that Eve ate of it and gave to her husband [Gen 3:6]. To say the least, sin is a deadly matter, because all sins are ultimately against God. And this first sin of our first parents is the deadliest of all, because it is high treason against the kinship of heaven. It was the original attempt to dethrone God and take over the kinship of the world. As R. C. Sproul puts it, “Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in his sovereign authority.”[3]

This has significant ramifications for how we view the outbreak of the coronavirus [and, in fact, for every other disaster throughout history, whether manmade or natural], but we must return to this later. For now, we must attempt to complete the picture of the biblical worldview by addressing the question of redemption, or where we are headed, or destiny. In other words, what does the Bible have to say about fixing this problem of the world? Has sin and evil eclipsed the original good purpose of God permanently? Will the world self-destruct and end in ultimate eternal loss and oblivion? Will the consequences of sin—pain, hardship, ruin, disaster, disease, and ultimate death have the last word?

That God has not abandoned his original intention for the world, nor intended that the world should ultimately self-destruct to the point of obliteration and non-existence, was clear from the time of the Fall. For amidst his pronunciation of Judgment, He made a promise that He would redeem his world through the very means by which Satan brough about the ruin of the Fall. Eve, the first woman and mother of us all, would be the source of Satan’s very fall and the restoration of the world. As the ultimate judgment pronounced on Satan, God said, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head and you will attack her offspring’s heel” [Gen 3:15].

From this point on, the rest of the story of the entire Bible is the story of God’s outworking of this promise to undo the work of Satan, to redeem mankind for the fulfilling his original purpose, and to restore his creation to serving his original and ultimate purpose. The fundamental problem underlying all disasters, tragedies, brokenness, maladies, diseases, sufferings, and death in our world throughout history is a moral and spiritual one, which the Bible describes as sin. All humankind is affected by sin and will suffer the consequences of sin both in this life and beyond unless a cure is provided. Like the coronavirus, sin is infectious, and all of us have been infected by it through a kind of “spiritual heredity.”

That is to say, we have all inherited from our first parents in Eden the consequence of their first sin, namely, a sinful, corrupted nature from which we continue to live out and perpetuate the rebellion of our first parents. As Paul puts it, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” [Rom 3:23]. And the “payoff of sin,” Paul further tells us, “is death” [6:23]. But ultimately, Paul ties this universal human condition to the first sin in Eden: “So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned” [Rom 5:12].

So, to complete the portrait of this biblical worldview, the answer to this universal human dilemma of the reign of sin and death comes by way of another Adam, Jesus Christ, the ultimate seed of the woman, who dealt a death blow to Satan by way of his death on the cross. In Galatians 4:4-5, Paul tells us that “when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.” Jesus is the “seed of the woman,” whom Genesis 3:15 promised would deal a death blow [“bruise his head”] to Satan who held us in slavery to sin and death.

All of us were under the curse of God’s law because we came under the curse of our first parents and continue to fall short of God’s glory. But for all who believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” [Gal 3:13]. The curse of the law means death by hanging on a tree, but Christ took our place by being hung on the cross for us [Gal 3:10-13; cf. 1 Pet 2:25]. Christ’s death on the cross paid the price for the redemption of the world in full, destroying the hold that Satan had on us and the rulership of the world [see Heb 2:14; 1 John 3:7-8]. Paul beautifully summarizes Jesus’ victory over all satanic control and sin over us by his death on the cross as follows:

And even though you were dead in your transgression and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions. He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross [Col 2:13-15].

Paul further expresses the final triumphant hope of the Christian worldview in Romans 8:18-25:

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. Not only this, but we ourselves also, who are the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.

There is hardly a better way to round out the biblical worldview than Paul did here. In a world that is fallen and broken by sin, disease, pain, suffering, disaster, and death, often fostered by the terror we often wreak upon one another, only the Christian view as described here makes sense. And this provides a solid basis from which to address the crisis of the coronavirus. The Christian worldview offers hope for the darkest and most dismal conditions we may find ourselves in both personally and corporately, as in the current coronavirus crisis.

A Sovereign God

One powerful implication of this biblical worldview I have just presented is that the God of the Bible is the sole owner and sovereign of the world. To be sole creator and designer of everything means that God owns the universe and directs it affairs. Even after the Fall and rebellion of his image-bearers, He did not relinquish his ownership and original plan for His world. To put it plainly, this means that God remains the sole ruler and sovereign over the universe. The Bible is very clear that God never ceases to be sovereign King over the world He made, that He ever attends with watchful care to the minutest of details of everything and guides them to his desired end.

As R. C. Sproule’s now famous quote puts it, “If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled.”[4] In the universe of God’s sovereign rule, then, there are no “maverick molecules,” no “loose cannons,” and no “rogue viruses” over which He is not in control. At the most macro level, God’s supervision of the world extends to the extremities of the universe, since “He counts the number of the stars; He names them all” [Ps 147:4]; and “You set them in place” [Ps 8:3]. On a less grand scale, all the nations of the earth are under his control so that together “All the nations are insignificant before him; they are regarded as absolutely nothing” [Isa 40:17]. The nations may rage and plot against God’s rule [Ps 2:1-3], but the One enthroned in heaven laughs in disgust” at them [Ps 2:4]; He “frustrates the decisions of the nations” and “nullifies the plans of the peoples” [Ps 33:10]. And even “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord like channels of water; he turns it wherever he wants.”

In addition, all of nature is subject to him: “He does whatever he pleases in heaven and earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths. He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth, makes lightening bolts accompany the rains, and brings the wind out of his storehouses” [Ps 135:6-7; cf. 147:15-18; Mark 4:41]. Even the animal kingdom is at his command: He commands his lions on his mission of judgment [2 Kings 17:25] and shut their mouths when He needs to protect his faithful people from their assault [ Dan 6:22].

At the most micro level, not a single sparrow “falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will” [Matt 10:29], and “even all the hairs of your head are numbered” [Matt 10:30]. We see here that God’s sovereign will, decision, and care extends to those the world regard as the least—sparrows and his company of fledging disciples. Psalm 104:10-15, 27-30 provides a rather touching account of God sovereign care and provision for his animal creation, so that no part of his creation falls outside his bountiful grace. Amazingly, even though Matthew 10:29 [cf. 6:26] focuses on God’s care of his own people, not even the ungodly and rebellious escape his providential care, since “he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” [Matt 5:45]. That God should continually care so particularly for the entirety of his creation is a clear and powerful testimony to the fact that he intends to redeem it, and ultimately to restore it to its fulness.

Especially relevant for our purpose here is the question of God’s sovereignty over evil and evil spirits, and even in this the Bible leaves us in no doubt. Surprisingly, for many, God is sovereign even over Satan [Job 1-2; 1 Cor 12: 7-8; Matt 4:10] and evil spirits [Matt 12:27-32Mark 1:27]. God even uses the evils of wicked people, turning them into his good purpose [Gen 45: 7-8; 50:19-20; Job 12:16; John 19:11; Luke 22:22; Acts 4:27-28]. More surprisingly for some is the fact that God sends trouble and calamity for reasons known only to him [Judges 9:22-24; 1 Sam 1:5; 16:4: 2 Sam 24:1 Kings 22:20-23; Isa 45:4-7; 53:10; ruth 1:20].

In this regard, Isaiah 45:7 is rather pertinent, “I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity.” The New Living Translation’s rendering here is most interesting, “I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things.” The context of the preceding verses [esp. vv 5-6] indicates that verse 7 is the explanation of Yahweh’s claim to be absolutely sovereign, that he has no peers. As one commentator explains, if there is any doubt as to Yahweh’s claim to absolute sovereignty, verse 7 “should lay it to rest. . . .What Isaiah asserts is that God, as creator, is ultimately responsible for everything in nature, from light to dark, and for everything in history, from good fortune to misfortune. No other beings or forces are responsible for anything.”[5]

In sum, the God of the Bible is absolute sovereign who does what he pleases from his heavenly throne and his purpose cannot be thwarted: “I am the Lord, I have no peer, there is no God but me” [Isa 45:5-6]. “Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me, who announces the end from the beginning and reveals before hand what has not occurred, who says, My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire’” [Isa 46:9-10; cf. Dan 4:34-35]. In the words of Paul, “He accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” [Eph 1:11b]. And, ultimately, He “works all things together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose” [Rom 8:28].

A Christian Attitude/Response

All of what has been said so far form the basis of a proper Christian response to the current crisis of the coronavirus. Anchored in the Christian worldview described earlier, and the resulting overarching view of God’s sovereignty, we are better situated in terms of how to view and respond to the present situation. Or to put it differently, “What should be our attitude?” I will argue that at least four attitudes should emerge from the above discussion when we consider the coronavirus crisis, namely, gratitude, fear, repentance, and hope.

First, the sovereignty of God should elicit gratitude from his people because even the crisis we are facing is part of his grand design to fulfill his purpose for us and the world. In Romans 11:33, Paul wrote these words, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!” When he wrote these words, it was not because he thought all was well concerning the subject he was addressing. In context, Paul was discussing God’s long promised salvation for Israel, which the vast majority of his fellow Jews seemed to have forfeited when they rejected their own Messiah. So bad was it that only two chapters earlier he lamented, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed—cut off from Christ—for the sake of my people” [Rom 9:2-3]. Nonetheless, Paul knew that even Israel’s rejection of their Messiah will in the long run turn out somehow to their salvation and that of the redemption of the world. So, Paul could still rejoice and be thankful for God’s inscrutable wisdom, despite his own misgivings about the grave failure of his own beloved people.

Likewise, God’s sovereign providence in our present situation is working out everything for the good of his people and the ultimate restoration of the world, and our proper response should be one of gratitude. This is the logic of Paul’s statement “in everything give thanks. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” [1 Thess 5:18]. “To thank God at all times is to see God working in every situation to bring about the divine saving will. This is not to say that God causes suffering and affliction, but to acknowledge, as Paul does in Rom. 8:28, that God works for the good of the elect through every situation.”[6] Since God’s sovereignty is at work in every situation with a good end in view, it means that “whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” [Col 3:17]. This extends to the most mundane of activities: “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” [1 Cor 10:31]. To do everything for God’s glory is to live purposely with gratitude in a world gone awry, not simply exercising blind faith.

Second, the sovereignty of God should engender a certain kind of holy fear in us amidst this crisis. Naturally, there is a great deal of fear around because of the treat of the coronavirus, both among Christians and non-Christians. But the kind of fear I am speaking about here is not paranoia that leads to distress and loss of heart and hope. Rather, it is a kind of sobriety that makes us realize that what we are experiencing is not a simple human undertaking.[7] For even if there are those who choose to believe that this is of our own making, we would still need to ask whether God is concerned or not with such a sinister human undertaking. In other words, if God is sovereign and nothing escapes his gaze, why did he not prevent it? So, did he allow it or not? And if he did, why?

It is not unusual in Scripture for God to allow disasters and evil not only to befall his people as forms of chastening, but also to judge the wicked and ungodly. The classic example of the former in the Bible is the case of Job. The clear testimony of Job chapters 1 and 2 is that God allowed Satan to bring disaster after disaster into the life of Job [see 1:9-12; 2:1-6]—loss of properties, loss of children, loss of health, loss of friends, loss of wife’s support, pain and grief. Yet we are told that “In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with moral impropriety” [1:22; cf. 2:10]. Instead, Job fell-down and blessed and worshiped the Lord, acknowledging that nothing he possessed in this world belonged to him: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed” [1:21].

The disasters God allowed in Job’s life were to test him to see how well he feared the Lord. When God boasted before Satan about Job as “a man who fears God and turns away from evil” [1:8; cf. 1:1], Satan retorted, “is it for nothing that Job fears God?” [1:9]. What Satan implies here is that Job fears God because of what God gives him—all the material wealth, prosperity, security, and position. The test, then, was to see whether Job valued these more than the Lord Himself. Allowing Satan to pull the rug entirely from under Job’s feet no doubt frightened him, if only momentarily, but this frightful experience also generated a deeper sense of the fear of God in him. For when the rug is pulled out from underneath, the only thing left to do is to fall before the One who is more worthy than any and everything in this world.

Crises, like the coronavirus pandemic, often have the solitary effect of reminding us of the most important things in the world we take for granted—the gifts of God and God Himself. The irony is that the gifts God gives us often become idols replacing Him and his will and purpose for our lives, so that we use the true God as the supplier of the actual “idol-gods” we worship and not even realizing it. The removal of the idols we worship should frighten us so that we realize who the one true God really is—and this can be even more frightening.

In keeping with the response of fear for the Lord, the third Christian response should be one of repentance. Crises, trials, pain, and suffering are intended by God to purge and purify his people from personal sins and idolatrous participations. The isolation and limitations brought about by the removal of much of the structures, systems, and normal practices, behaviors, and ways of life  due to the threat of the coronavirus crisis provide a unique moment for Christians to pause and reflect deeply on what we have taken for granted. On the one hand, upon adequate reflection and evaluation, if our response is like that of Job, then we have little to fear—“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

On the other hand, however, if our reflection exposes failures, then there is the need for repentance. Curiously, in the end, even Job found the need in his heart to repent, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore, I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes!” [Job 42:5-6]. The furnace of the peril of disaster and death does have a purifying effect that we escape only to our further ultimate peril. Here also we may follow the example of Daniel when he confessed his and the sins of his people: “O Lord, great and awesome God who is faithful to his covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned! We have done what is wrong and wicked. . . .Therefore, you have poured out on us the judgment solemnly threatened in the law of Moses the servant of God for we have sinned” [Dan 9:4, 11; see the whole of vv. 4-19].

Finally, a Christian response should include hope. Even if in some ways we are implicated in the chastening brought on by the coronavirus crisis, this is no cause for despair. Repentance and confession are our first recourse, and out of this comes the renewal of hope. But the restoration of hope does not mean that God will end the crisis or that Christians will be spared from disaster. Whether God directly brings disasters or allows them in our world, it does not mean that his people are protected from their physical effects. Elijah, for example, prayed that God would cause a drought on the land for three years [1 Kings 17:1; 18:1], but he himself was severely limited and isolated by the effects of the drought. He had to hide himself for these three years [1 Kings 17:3] and later fled for his life [1 Kings 19:1ff].

Nonetheless, Christian hope transcends the threat of any crisis, not because we are confident that we will be spared from disaster, but because our hope does not end here in this world. As Paul puts, “For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone” [1 Cor 15:19]. As we all know, many Christians have already been infected by the coronavirus, some of whom have even died. Yet Christian hope triumphs because death does not have the final word for us. From the Christian’s perspective there is no “maverick molecule,” “no maverick cell,” “no loose or rogue virus” outside of God’s control.[8] So, even in the face of death threatened by the coronavirus, we can be at peace and thereby offer hope to the hopeless around us. The Christian’s hope frees him to engage the world in its hopelessness, offering hope for it beyond death, beyond this life. The Christian can respond to this crisis with hope because he has already begun to share in the hope of Christ’s resurrection. As 1 Peter 1:3 puts it, “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”



[1] It is “The conceptual lens through which we see, understand, and interpret the world and our place in it” (Tawa J. Anderson, W. Michael Clark, and David K. Naugle, An Introduction to Christian Worldview: Pursuing God’s Perspective in a Pluralistic World[ Downers Grove, ILL: InterVarsity Press, 2017], 12). As another author puts it, “A worldview is like a contact lens: it’s the way we view the world. I don’t give a lot of thought to my contacts throughout the day. I don’t look at them when they’re in my eyes. I look through them and see the world. Similarly, we look through worldviews and interpret the world around us” (Trevin K. Wax, An Introduction to a Christian Worldview,” in Christian Worldview Handbook, ed. David S. Dockery and Trevin K. Wax [Nashville, TN: Holman, 2019], p.?).

[2] All references and quotations in this article are from the NET Bible, unless otherwise noted.

[3] R. C. Sproul, The R. C. Sproul Collection, Volume 2: Essential Truths of the Christian Faith/Now That’s a Good Question (Carol Stream, ILL: Tyndale House, Inc., 2017], 186.

 

[4] R. C. Sproul, Chosen by God: Know God’s Perfect Plan for His Glory and His Children (Carol Stream, ILL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1986], p. ???

[5] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah [Chapters 40-66], NICNT, ed. Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998], 204. It is important to note here that this is not saying that God creates all that is morally evil or that he is culpable of wrongdoing. As Oswalt goes on to explain, “What the prophet is saying is that if bad conditions exist in my life, they are not there because some evil god has thwarted the good intentions of a kindly but ineffectual godfather-god, who would like me to have good conditions but cannot bring them about. They are there solely as a factor of my relations to the one God. They may be there because I have sinned against his natural and moral laws, or they may be there because by their means I can become more like him, or they may be there for reasons that he cannot explain to me. But they are not there in spite of God. He is the only uncaused cause in the universe” (p. 205).

[6] Charles A. Wanamaker, The Epistles to the Thessalonians, NICNT, ed. I. Howard Marshall and W. Ward Gasque (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 200.

[7] I would like to point out here that whether one believes that the coronavirus is of human engineering or not, or whether its spreading is deliberate and intentional, is not the point.

[8] As John Piper notes, “If you have cancer (which I did), it is most certainly owing to God’s ultimate purpose. God controls every molecule in the universe. He is God! There are no maverick cells outside his control” (https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/no-maverick-cells-in-me; Access on 4/5/20).

Tension: Preservation of Wealth and/or Protection of Physical Health

A person, group, or nation’s true character often emerges not so much when things are going well but more-so during a crisis or challenge. Crises or challenges often aid in removing superficial layers. When the facade is stripped away what remains is true character.

The Lord has allowed the Coronavirus Pandemic to test and/or unveil the true character of individuals, groups, and nations. Political leaders to whom many are turning are grappling with the tension between health and wealth. At the heart of this tension is the concept of trust. This challenge between self-reliance and trust in man or trust in God is real. It is not anything new. It has simply been magnified by the current coronavirus test. The soul-searching question is, how do we balance the desire to procure or secure economic prosperity and the need to protect or ensure physical health? Do we put economic prosperity above the lives of humans? In our effort to preserve our lifestyle, is it right to sacrifice any life, or do we do what is morally right and preserve every life at all cost?

The tension is clearly reflected in statements made by leaders, individuals, and groups at varying levels. The tension has been intensified since the economic earthquake, resulting from the pandemic, shocked and rattled the nerves of economists, investors, large and small businesses, average Americans, and politicians. The voices are Numerous, and there are influential people on both sides.

Tankersley, et al. write:

”Official have said that the federal government’s initial 15-day period of social distancing is vital to slow the spread of the virus, which has already infected more than 400,000 people in the United States. But Mr. Trump and a chorus of conservative voices have begun to suggest that the shock to the economy could hurt the country more than deaths from the virus.”   (Tankersley, Jim. Maggie Haberman and Roni Caryn Rabin, “Trump Considers Reopening Economy, Over Health Experts’ Objection” [nytimes.com, 23 March 2020])

During a Fox News Virtual Town Hall meeting with the President and members of his Coronavirus task force, the president responded to questions regarding the reopening of the country. When asked, “How do you make the decision? He responded:

 Well, you have to make the decision. Look, we lose thousands – I brought some numbers here.   We lose thousands and thousands of people a year to the flu. We don’t turn the economy off – I mean, every year. Now when I heard the number – you know the average 37,000 people a year. Can you believe that? And actually, this year we are having a bad flu season. But we lose thousands of people a year to the flu. We never turn the country off. We lose much more than that in automobile accidents. We didn’t call up the automobile companies and say, ‘Stop making cars. We don’t want any cars anymore.’ We have to get back to work. (whitehouse.gov:  24 March 2020)

Later, when asked, “So when you look at the data from around the world and across our country, how do you determine that 19 days from now it might be safe? He responded:

. . . So I think it’s very important for our country to go back. And I’ve had many, many people — you know, when you said it was a little bit controversial, not to most people.  Most people think I’m right about it. Now, whether we’re locked in a room, or whether we’re in our office and practicing all of the things that we’re supposed to be practicing — staying away from each          other, you know, et cetera, not shaking hands, washing your hands all of the time.  But our country has to get back to work.  Otherwise — otherwise, it’s going to be very hard to start it up again.  We can’t lose the advantage that we have. (whitehouse.gov:  24 March 2020)

While some are in favor of reopening early, there are others who have expressed disagreement with the idea because of the potential negative impact it could have on lives.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) writes:

“There will be no normally functioning economy if our hospitals are overwhelmed and thousands of Americans of all ages, including our doctors and nurses, lay dying because we have failed to do what’s necessary to stop the virus.” (Liz Cheney, @Liz_Cheney. March 24)

Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) states:

“If you ask the American people to choose, between public health and the economy, then it’s no    contest. No American is going to say, accelerate the economy, at the cost of human life. Because no American is going to say how much a life is worth. Job one has to be save lives. That has to be the priority. And there’s a smarter approach to this. We don’t have to choose between the two. You can develop a more refined public health strategy that is also an economic strategy.”        (governor.ny.gov, 24 March 2020)

It is often easier to make adverse decisions when we are not directly affected. When the decisions that we make negatively affect us, we tend to think differently. In a TV commercial, “How Many Pedestrian Deaths are OK,” by the Florida Department of Transportation, a young man was confronted with a morally thought-provoking question:

 “Did you know in Florida an average of 800 pedestrians and bicyclists are killed in car crashes every year? What do you think is a more acceptable number? The young man responded, maybe 50. Immediately, his family and friends came out into the light before him. The person asking the question said to him, “This is what 50 looks like.” His response was, “those are my            family and friends.” Immediately, his perspective changed. The question was asked again, how many do you say? His response this time was different, “zero; definitely, zero.”

Fear of the unknown makes us think that we have the right to choose who live or die. The fact of the matter is that such a decision is reserved for God and God alone. Apart from those who have committed murder and has forfeited the right to live, the government is responsible under God to protect and preserve human lives (Gen. 9:5-6; Num. 35:30-31; Rom. 13:1-7). We cannot sacrifice our souls, the soul of our family, the soul of a nation for material prosperity. Many have done so to their own demise. In this regard, the word of Paul to young Timothy is apropos:

“But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.  If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight   the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:6-12).    [NASB]

The wise man also warns regarding misplaced values:

“He who trusts in his riches will fall,
But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. (Prov. 11:28) [NASB]

Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,
Cease from your consideration of it.                                                                              
When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.
For wealth certainly makes itself wings
Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens” (Prov, 23:4-5). [NASB] 

The irony is that the tension that exist is certainly misguided because the value of material things cannot be compared with the value of human lives. The two are really juxtapose. The value of material things can be quantified while the value of human lives cannot. Material things are temporal and are fading (Matt. 6:19-21) while human lives are eternal (Matt. 10:28; Lk. 16:22-32; Jn. 5:28-29). Man was not created for material things; material things were created for man’s benefit (1 Tim. 6:17; Lk. 12:15) and to be used to fulfill God’s purpose (1 Cor. 10:31). As we take the necessary steps to stay safe during this crisis/challenge, we must endeavor to guard our soul (Mk. 8:36-37).