X and Y -

Let’s think about change

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, and she does.

Our genetic characteristics are inherited from the chromosomes we received at conception. A fantastic event occurs at conception, the heredity of the mother combines with the heredity of the father, and the result is a unique person.

What is a chromosome

Chromosomes are thread-like structures located inside the nucleus of animal and plant cells. Each chromosome is made of protein and a single molecule of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Passed from parents to offspring, DNA contains the specific instructions that make each type of living creature unique. – Genome.gov

Typically, a person has 46 chromosomes. Every cell in a person’s body contains the exact same DNA. And this DNA is contained within these 46 chromosomes. – Basic Concepts of Human Genetics

X and Y

Chromosomes come in pairs, one from the mother and one from the father. There are 22 pairs of chromosomes, with each member of the pair sharing the same structure. Then there is the sex chromosome, X and Y. The mother contributes an “X” chromosome. If the father contributes an “X” chromosome, then the baby will be a female. If the father contributes a “Y” chromosome, the baby will be a male. In the feature image, the very last pair shows an “X” chromosome, which is long and doesn’t look like an “X,” and a “Y” chromosome, which is small and looks nothing like a “Y.”

Contained within a person’s DNA are instructions on how to build everything within a person. Also, within the DNA are instructions that make a person more vulnerable to a disease or defect. Now you may be wondering what this biology lesson has to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is how this ties in.

Nurture versus Nature

Despite the arguments between nurture versus nature, there is a shared belief in our society that a person can never change. If they are bad, they will always be bad; it’s genetics. An evil person is “wired” that way; it’s in the genes. Those people should just be locked up forever.

Here’s where Jesus steps in. Yes, each of us is hard-wired with countless traits from our ancestors, some good, like musical talent, and some bad, like being quick tempered. Here’s the good news, Jesus didn’t come to make bad people better; he came to make dead people alive!

Born Again

Before we receive Jesus as our Savior, we are dead. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) And the promise from Jesus is not that He will reach in and fix our DNA. His approach is that He scraps our whole Adamic body (body based on Adam). Through Jesus, we are reborn, born into the kingdom of God. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Yes, it’s a reasonable theory that a person never changes, but a person can be reborn, free of the genetic dispositions to sin. Yes, Christians still fail and sin, but we don’t make it a habit. “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” (1 John 3:6)

Breaking the habit

John does not teach that believers do not sin, but he speaks of a character, a habit. (Vincent’s Word Studies) The apostle John states in 1 John 3:6 that the character of a Christian does not habitually sin. This release from the bondage of sin is a radical change from our nature before we were reborn. “20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.” (Romans 6:20-21)

So, we found Good News. Even for people that were “born bad,” through salvation into Jesus Christ, their character is changed. Wow!