Sin requires the Supernatural
When Machen wrote Christianity and Liberalism, the theology of the day was denying the validity of miracles and the supernatural. The logic of science was king and anything else was swept under the carpet of irrelevancy and impossibility. Machen, however, argued that the supernatural is and must be real. In fact, the nature of sin requires the supernatural. Anyone who experiences a conscious conviction of sin requires the supernatural. If there is no supernatural than the problem of sin is left unresolved. Machen wrote, “The truly penitent man glories in the supernatural, for he knows that nothing natural would meet his need; the world has been shaken once in his downfall, and shaken again it must be if he is to be saved” (Christianity and Liberalism, 106).
Sinners have hope if there is a supernatural. Sinners must hope that the maker of heaven and earth has once again shaken the world.
Matthew 27:54 When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
Matthew 28:2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
