The Hopeless Brotherhood of Man

     The human race is morally and spiritually fallen. The much-talked-of human brotherhood is a brotherhood of fallen men. Should the hope expressed in the sticky little song be realized and "the world become one through a prayer" it would still be a lost world. Were the United Nations truly united they would still be but a confederation of nations in rebellion against God.

     The very idea of human brotherhood, about which large numbers of pseudo-philosophers bleat so plaintively these days, rather than bringing us comfort, should throw the fear of God into us, for the Apostle Paul was long ago inspired to write, "Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). The unity of mankind with itself means universal condemnation for all its members.

     Strange as it may seem, hope for all of us lies not in huddling up to the human race but in renouncing allegiance to the world altogether. To put our trust in a brotherhood of condemned men is but to die with them at last.

     Highly significant among the words of the Christian message are the little prepositions "from" and "out" and "unto." The first call of the New Testament evangel is to repentance from sin, the next is to separation from the world. Not until the lost man has transferred his hope from human "togetherness" and fixed it upon Christ will he know the joy of sins forgiven and the deep, deep assurance that he has been reconciled to God. He must come out to come unto.

     The brotherhood of man is a fact, but it carries with it no hope for the race. Out from this old, condemned brotherhood Christ is calling unto Himself a people for His own possession. These are redeemed and regenerated men and women and they are saved by renouncing the original Adamic fellowship, not by cultivating it. Taken together they form a new human race, a brotherhood of ransomed men who are related to and yet separated from the fallen world as the ark of Noah was related to and yet separated from the waters of the Flood.

A. W. Tozer, GOD TELLS THE MAN WHO CARES, Christian Publications, ch. 29