Brian Onstead

We’re all familiar with the Christmas song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” One of the lyrics of that song goes like this: “He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice; He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice; Santa Claus is coming to town.” And just in case anyone thinks that he or she can hide some of their behavior so as to make it on to the nice list, the song goes on to warn: “He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake; He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” The song tells us to be good so that we can make it on Santa’s nice list and be rewarded with good gifts rather than a lump of coal.

While we know that this song is just make-believe, it encapsulates a common theology: Be good so that you can be on God’s nice list (or at least get transferred from the naughty list to the nice list) and be rewarded by God. This is why many skeptics of religion or those who have had a bad experience in religion see all religions as the same. It’s just a set of rules or principles to follow to be on the nice list and guarantee some sort of reward. It’s just a matter of what the rules are and what the reward is. And most people staunchly believe that they’re on the nice list while others who are not like them are on the naughty list.

Biblical Christianity, however, is much different. It teaches the humbling reality that no one has made the nice list and that everyone is on God’s naughty list. Psalm 14 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” So, God looks down from heaven to see if there are any he can put on the nice list, so to speak. But he finds not one. This is shocking to our self-righteousness and we buck hard against this. This is why scripture adds “not even one.” We may think, “But my dear Grandma Betsy surely has made the list. She was a saint!” However, by God’s holy standard, which requires us to love him with all our heart, none have achieved perfection. As Romans 3:23 says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” All are on God’s naughty list. So, what is the punishment for being on the naughty list? The penalty is the worst thing imaginable: eternity in hell. 

However, there is another way in which biblical Christianity is different. Rather than requiring good works or self-affliction to make up for one’s sin or to get oneself off the naughty list onto the nice list, God takes care of it all for us. He sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God himself. He became a true man without ceasing to be God. He lived a perfect life without any sin whatsoever. He alone was on the nice list. However, he took the punishment for those who were on the naughty list. He paid for sins in full by dying on the cross where he took eternal hell for all who believe in him. By simply believing this good news and receiving it for oneself, we get counted as being on God’s nice list while Jesus takes our place and gets counted as being on the naughty list. We get on the nice list not by our own good works but by Jesus’ perfection and work alone. And this is a free gift given to those who are by nature naughty and not nice.

(Brian Onstead is the pastor at Trinity Bible Church.)