Romans 6:1    

Whether a Gentile or a Jew, whether you live life on the wild side or follow all the rules, whether you live and let live or look down on everyone who does not live like you do, we all have waged war against God.

How can this be? First, we all sin. We can sin in wild ways. We can also sin by condemning those who do not conform to our own moral standards. In whatever way we sin, we are telling God, through our sin, that we now claim control of this world and our lives. We are telling him that he and his ways have no claim upon us.    

You could think of it like this. What happens when two parties of people claim ultimate authority over the same thing? We see this happening in Ukraine. Russia claims sovereignty over certain parts of Ukraine, which Ukraine claims as their own. When two parties say they each have ultimate control over the same thing, war breaks out. When we sin against God, we claim ultimate control over our lives and this world. We declare independence and thus wage war against God through our sin.     

Consequently, God must also declare war against us. God will not let the guilty go free without reaping the consequence any more than he will allow innocent victims to go without justice forever. God cannot look at sin and evil with indifference. He must respond.    

We are not able to end this war. Why? Because no mere mortal has ever figured out how to stop sinning. We all sin in unique ways, and we cannot help ourselves. Because none of us have figured out how to stop sinning, we cannot turn to God and say, “we’re cool, bro, right?” any more than Russia can say to Ukraine, “We’re cool, right?” We cannot create peace with God because we habitually break peace with God.    

Therefore, only one mediator between humanity and God has ever existed: Jesus Christ. When God in Christ came to earth, he was calling a peace summit. Yet, he did not say, “If you would only stop doing this, then we can have peace.” There were no “ifs” at God’s peace summit.  God simply said, “I’ll absorb the cost of the damage myself.” When Christ died on the cross, he took what was due us because of our guilt. In other words, when we receive Christ’s offer of peace born out in his death and resurrection, we are acquitted of all guilt, vindicated before the judgement throne of God, and thus have peace with God.