Post #7 Concluding our study of original sin

Introduction:

    Over the last six posts, we have explored the doctrine of original sin. We began by noting four fall-like events in the Bible (Satan's Fall, Adam's Fall, The Flood, Tower of Babel). We noted how understanding those four events, especially Adam's Fall, brings about a greater understanding of the state of the world, the human condition, and the glory of salvation in Jesus Christ. 

    As we delved into Adam's Fall, we proposed that the doctrine of original sin explains what took place and why it affected us all. The following is a summary outline that has ran its course through the last six posts. 

1. Defining and illustrating original sin.  1 Cor 15:22; Rom 5:18-19.

 A. Original sin defined.

 B. Original sin illustrated.

2. Adam initiated original sin. Gen 3:1-3, 6; James 4:17.

A. Disobedience in subduing the Serpent. Gen 3:1-3,6.

B. Deception of changing God’s Word. Gen 3:2-4.

    C. Deliberate choice to do what was forbidden. Gen 3:5-7.

    D. Darkness of separation from God. Gen 3:8-10

E. Devastation of the curse. Gen 3:11-14, 16-19.

3. Guilt was imputed by original sin. Job 31:33; Hosea 6:7

4. What good is there in knowing about original sin?

A. To grasp the greatness of God’s love in saving faith.

    B. To grasp Christ’s imputed righteousness in saving faith.

    As we pressed through the posts, we explored further truths.

5. Original sin led to inherited corruption. Romans 5:12-14.

A. The representative head’s practice transferred the corruption. Romans 5:12

B. The representative head’s pattern repeated the corruption. Romans 5:13-14

C. Proving how a representative head can corrupt. 1 Kings 11-23.

6. Original sin brings an inward bent away from God. Rom 3:10-18

   A. Bent to run from God. Romans 3:10-12

   B. Bent to rebel against God. Romans 3:13-14.

  C. Bent to ruin before God. Romans 3:15-18

7. Again, why should we know about original sin?

A. To desire God who call us to salvation. Romans 5:6-8.

B. To depend on Christ’s righteousness for salvation. Romans 5:17.

C. To delight in the new nature promised in salvation. John 1:12-13.

    We defined the doctrine of original sin as follows: original sin is that willful act of Adam that transferred to the human race imputed guilt, inherited corruption, and an inward bent away from God.

     Overall, I put forth four points or truths that follow from this definition, offering Scriptural evidence. As the reader can tell from the above outline followed by the whole series, I attempted to expound four major tenets of the doctrine.

(1). Original sin initiated with Adam.

(2). Original sin imputed guilt.

(3). Original sin led to inherited corruption

(4). Inward bent away from God. 

As we conclude this series, let us remind ourselves about the doctrine of imputation, representative headship, and the value of studying the doctrine of original sin.

    The above slide is taken from one of the sermons I had preached on the doctrine of original sin. The reader will notice two circles. There is Adam, our representative or covenant head, the first circle. All humanity, born in Adam, contract his characteristics from the fall (inherited corruption, imputed guilt, inward bent from God). 

    Paul's argument in Romans 5:12-21, David's remarks about himself in Psalm 51, and many other passages remind us of why it is individual humans sin the way they do, and why they are already declared sinners from conception onward. In other words, we sin because we are sinners, in the likeness of Adam (Genesis 5:3; Hosea 6:7; Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22). 

    But then notice the second circle - the New Adam, Christ. To get into each circle, the members must be "born". All of us are born naturally into Adam's race, he as our representative in the Garden of Eden. Those from Adam's race must be born again in saving faith to be transferred from "Old Adam" into "The Second Adam". In Adam, all died. In Christ, the New Adam, all are made alive as a consequence of His resurrection from the dead and upon reception of Him in saving faith.

    Notice that second circle. My imputed guilt is exchanged for Christ's imputed righteousness. My inherited corruption in Adam is exchanged for a new nature (at least in my heart/spirit), resulting in an instant new nature and a progressive change in sanctification in Christ. 

    On this point of corruption, I still bear the left-overs of the corruption of original sin in my body, my flesh, which is why I have that inward conflict of "spirit" and "flesh". Then, unlike the first circle of having that inward bent away from God, the Holy Spirit comes, awakens my innermost man, and "rips away the veil" from my eyes to desire Christ in faith and repentance (2 Corinthians 3:16-18; 4:1-6).  

    The point of my giving you, the reader, those two circles, is to highlight the doctrine of imputation. Without the doctrine of imputation, or "crediting of one person's work to another", we would not understand why all humanity is guilty before God because of Adam's imputed sin and guilt (as well as each individual's actual sins). 

    Further, we would not grasp what Christ bore in the cross with respect of having our sin and "sins" imputed so as to have Christ treated as a vile sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21), as the cursed one (Galatians 3:10-13), and as the object of wrath on the cross (Romans 5:6-10). 

    Finally, without the doctrine of original sin and the related concept of "imputation", we could not appreciate the doctrine of justification by faith, whereupon by reception of Christ by faith apart from works, I have imputed to my account His perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection. 

    It is the awfully bad news of original sin that brings out the glorious good news of our salvation - the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Although I did not get into the historical development of the doctrine of original sin, as a final remark on that score, most of church history (not just Augustine onward, but earlier church fathers such as Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian) have expressed the awfulness of human sin along the lines of the doctrine of original sin. 

    The indictment of Scripture, time and again, is that we sin because we are sinners, and we are sinners because of the original sinner - Adam. The Biblical authors, and even Jesus Himself, described the human condition as crooked, corrupt, and in need of an inward change from the Holy Spirit in the New Birth (Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 15:18-19; Mark 7:21; Luke 6:45; John 1:12-13). This is why everyone born into this world, in Adam, is commanded to believe, repent, and be saved from their fallen condition and from God's wrath upon the whole of humanity. 

Post #6 Original sin brings an inward bent away from God.

 

Introduction:

    In this series of posts we have taken time to look at the doctrine of original sin. We have proposed that this doctrine helps explain what occurred in the fall of Adam and his wife in the garden of Eden, and why such a fall impacted all of us and the physical creation. 

    To review, we first offered the following definition of original sin. We defined the doctrine of original sin as follows: original sin is that willful act of Adam that transferred to the human race imputed guilt, inherited corruption, and an inward bent away from God.

      Overall, I put forth four points or truths that follow from this definition, offering Scriptural evidence. We devoted the last posting to the first two propositions, and will spend this message focusing our attention on the latter two. 

(1). Original sin initiated with Adam. 

(2). Original sin imputed guilt. 

(3). Original sin led to inherited corruption 

(4). Inward bent away from God. 

    In today's post we will explain the fourth proposition. 

Original sin brings an inward bent away from God. Rom 3:10-18

    Years ago I worked in a sawmill. We once in a while would have boards that, once passing through the milling process and left to dry in the warehouse, would warp and twist. Since nothing goes to waste in a sawmill, the miller would have us take those crooked and warped boards and put them through a "rip-saw" that would saw them straight and knock off the crooked edges. Sometimes the twisted boards would need to go through a "planer" that would scrape away the wavey surface of the boards. What we would then do is restack the boards in the warehouse in the hope we could offer them at a reduced price for those wanting wood.  

    Do you know, when the boards would sit in the warehouse, although taken through the milling process a second time, they would begin to warp and twist again! Why? The grains in the wood made them warped and crooked. Now why am I telling you about boards? This word-picture highlights the bending away from God inside every human being. 

    The internal bent away from God is likened to crooked boards I worked with in the sawmill. No matter how hard we tried to straighten them, their grains would cause them to warp and bend.

Does the doctrine of original sin contradict human responsibility and choice?

Perhaps the biggest objections I've read or heard about the doctrine of original sin is that it conflicts with our ability to make real choices and our responsibility owed to God when we sin. On the face of it, to assert original sin sounds like human responsibility and free-choice is but an illusion, since we are after-all "fated" to sin or "pre-disposed" to such activities. Furthermore, why does God judge us if we are guilty of a sin (Adam's sin) which we did not commit? Moreover, does original sin teach that human beings do not have any ability whatsoever to do any good? Such objections are legitimate. What we need to do is see if there is not only a response to them, but a Biblical one that can clarify the questions raised by the objections.

To begin, to say we are internally bent away from God, by nature, does not mean humans are as bad as he or she could be. This crookedness, this “depravity”, focuses not so much on the acts of sin we do, but explains why we do the sins we do. People can naturally, due to bearing God’s image, still do noble and good things. 

Yet, in spiritual matters, sinful man prefers himself more than God, and even the good works he or she does are couched in self-interest, or what benefits the moment, rather than love for God. Unless someone is born-again, with a new nature, they cannot nor will not love God naturally. 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Thanks to Adam, this condition has infected us through and through, making it total, and ultimately fatal.

As for human responsibility to God, we must recall the distinctions I already pointed out in previous posts. Yes, we are responsible for our individual, actual sins. I am no more responsible for someone else's sin than they are for mine. Galatians 6:7-8 illustrates this point about actual sin, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

Our human will, in its function, chooses what is most desired by the mind and nature of the person. God Himself exercises the prerogatives of His will along the lines of His Holy character and infinite nature (Habakkuk 1:13). God chooses what He most desires - the display of His excellencies or glory. As it pertains to human beings, we are "morally, self-determining agents" (a more accurate description of what is otherwise known as "free-will). Such "moral, self-determination" means that given two or more options, whichever option I deem most desirable, most good, and in accords with what I am by nature, that constitutes a genuine choice (see Romans 6:12-16). 

Original sin describes why we choose against God morally, spiritually, and actually, by nature. Unless the Spirit intervenes and awakens us from the darkness of sin, we will freely and willingly comply with our greatest desire - to sin (Ephesians 2:1-2; Genesis 6:5; John 16:8-12). We can make free choices, yet we won't make the choice to trust in Christ because the fallen human condition, internally, defaults in regarding God and the Gospel as foolishness (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Such a description of the human will does not conflict with God's Sovereignty nor is it cancelled out by it. God has given us a legitimate will and true ability to exercise moral self-governance. We can still do good things in many respects. Yet, when it comes to matters of salvation, we need the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures to awaken us, change our hearts, and move upon us to see Christ as far better than sin and for more desirable than our sin (John 1:12-13; Acts 16:14; 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:21).     

Why we who are by nature "bent away from God" needed Christ, who perfect in nature, to come and bear our sin and guilt.

No one disputes the cause-and-effect relationship of actual sins and personal guilt. However, what's at stake here is the matter of what relationship is there between what Adam did and what I do today as it pertains to my pattern of sin and God's pronouncement of judgment.     

For sure, Christ bore our actual sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). Yet Scripture also indicates He bore our "sin", singular. In other words, Christ took upon Himself the collective guilt of Adam's sin imputed to all who would ever call upon Christ as their Savior. Jesus became a "curse" for us, bearing the curse pronounced upon the original couple in Genesis 3:8-14 (see Galatians 3:10-13). Christ legally became "sin", i.e., the very embodiment, emblem, poster-boy, if you will, of the first Adam, having come to have imputed upon Him the guilt of a hell-bound race (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ came as the second Adam, being a "type" or "fulfilled illustration" of the first Adam, who brought sin, its guilt, and corruption upon us all (Romans 5:12-14). 

The moral and spiritual bending away from God every human being has inherited from Adam.

    Paul details this "internal bent away from God" in Romans 3:10-20.    

A. Bent to run from God. Romans 3:10-12

    Romans 3:10-18 “as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside (avoid, bend away), together they have become useless (to become depraved, damaged sticks, moral crookedness) ; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” 

Genesis 3:10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

B. Bent to rebel against God. Romans 3:13-14.

Romans 3:13 “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”. Hosea 6:7 “But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.” 

Philippians 2:15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world. 

    The reader may notice the word "crooked" in Philippians 2:15. The word “crooked” here is scoliosis, like a curved spine, or in the Latin, “pravus”, whence “depravity”. This is where we get the theological term "depravity", again not meaning we are as bad as we could be, incapable of any good. Instead, we are crooked and warped, like the boards I mentioned earlier. We may be able to perform good things, even noble deeds, yet as it pertains to any spiritual contributions towards salvation, "there is no one good, no not one". 

C. Bent to ruin before God. Romans 3:15-18

Romans 3:15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16 Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17 And the path of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Ecc 7:20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. Ecc 7:29 Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”

Closing thought for today.

    We have explored the inward bent we all have away from God as inherited from Adam, and which resides in us from conception onward. We looked at the nature of this inward bent, and why salvation in Jesus Christ is the only way we can be "re-bent" toward God in the new birth in saving faith. 

    For sure, the remnants of original sin cling to our flesh (if we are Christians). We may very well have Christ's imputed righteousness and a clean heart as it pertains to our moral and spiritual nature in our soul/spirit. Yet the lingering effects of original sin cling to our flesh like rust to a car. If I put a new motor in an old car, the car will drive like a new one. Yet the rust on its frame will still eat away at its performance, even though its engine is new. Likewise for the Christian, they have a new way of thinking, feeling, and choosing following the new birth experience. Their heart is new. Yet the flesh, the body, is encumbered by resident sin (see Romans 7:14-25). 

    Again, this is why the Christian has that waging war between flesh and spirit, the body of sin and a soul/heart/spirit reborn in His image (Romans 7:14-25; Romans 8:1-5; 2 Peter 1:4-12). In our next post I plan to close out this series of posts. 

Post #5 The doctrine of Original sin: How Adam's sin led to inherited corruption.

Introduction: 

   In these series of posts, I've been unpacking the doctrine of original sin, and how it explains what took place in the fall of Adam and Eve. Hardly no theologian doubts there being some connection between the sin of our original parents in Eden and its devastating affects on creation and humanity. The debate comes about in defining what that relationship is and how sin got from the garden to us. I thought today before we continued, I would explain the positive value of studying what can be a challenging doctrine.

What good is there in knowing about original sin?

    Why devote so much time to this
doctrine? I'll admit when I preached on this subject, it did not make me feel good as a person. To be reminded again and again that I have resident evil on the inside of me, brought about by myself, and inherited from Adam and Eve does not sit well in my sinful flesh and mind. 

    Yet, as a Christian, such a study causes me to look outside of myself to the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we find our conception of ourselves governed by truth, rather than just feelings, such truth helps makes better sense of whom we are called to be upon saving faith in Jesus Christ. I have two-takeaways from studying the doctrine of original sin.

A. To grasp the greatness of God’s love in saving faith.

D. Martin Lloyd Jones noted that to understand the heights of God’s love, we must understand the depth of our disease – sin. Paul labors to parallel and contrast the first Adam to the last Adam, Jesus Christ. 

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:6-8 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

      B. To grasp Christ’s imputed righteousness in saving faith.

    As we go along in these posts, I'll repeat again this important word "imputation" or "accrediting" of the actions of one to the many. If we are to properly understand Paul's teaching of Christ's righteousness imputed to all born-again in saving faith, in Christ, we must also arrive at understanding how Adam's sin was imputed to all human beings born in him naturally. 

    Moreover, Adam's imputed guilt, inside of me, which explains why I knowingly and willingly commit actual sins, was imputed onto Christ, on the cross. We could say the Bible teaches a "triple imputation", namely Adam's sin and guilt onto me, my sin onto Christ, and then His righteousness imputed onto me at saving faith. 

    It is the guilt of sin, the offense, the curse, which Christ bore. Although He was never a debtor to God's moral law, He nonetheless came to be treated as such (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:21-25). Hence,

Romans 5:15-16 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. 16 The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

    That then explains the value of studying the doctrine of original sin. We have noted from our previous posts two propositions about original sin,

(1). Original sin initiated with Adam.

(2). Original sin imputed guilt.

    Today we want to look at a third component of original sin...original sin led to inherited corruption. What follows are notes from a series of messages I preached from Genesis 3 and Romans 5:12-21. In those sermons I lay out in full what I am writing here in these posts. 

Original sin led to inherited corruption. Romans 5:12-14.

This present post and the last one touches upon two questions we derive from the "Young Baptist’s Catechism" by Adam Murrell, the stimulus behind this series, as well as what the children are studying in our church on Wednesday nights.

Question 29: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s Sin? 

Answer: All mankind, descending from Adam, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.

Question 30: Into what state did the fall bring mankind?

    Answer: The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery.

    Adam's guilt is legally imputed to all of the human race. As it pertains to the corruption of sin itself, we find there is an inheritance of the pattern of Adam's sin by us all. These questions touch upon this first reality of the inherited corruption which flows from original sin.

A. The representative head’s practice transferred the corruption. Romans 5:12

Why did human beings have imputed Adam’s guilt (the legal crisis before God), followed by the inheritance of his corruption (the moral crisis of man before God)? It all has to do with representative headship.

Romans 5:12 (best handled in the KJV) reads,

 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” 

Genesis 5:3 “When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.”

      The argument of Paul here involves how the corruptive sin of one man came to be passed down to every human being. The principle at work here is what we call “representative headship” or “covenant headship”. Louis Berkhof summarizes this in his systematic theology, pg 221,

“The tempter came from the spirit world with the suggestion that man by placing himself in opposition to God might become like God. Adam yielded to the temptation and committed the first sin by eating of the forbidden fruit. But the matter did not stop there for by that first sin Adam became the bond servant of sin. That sin carried permanent pollution with it and a pollution which because of the solidarity of the human race would affect not only Adam but all his descendants as well.

One thing we notice in the Bible, that I pointed out last week, is how sin and all its affects were “imputed” or “accredited” to the entire human race by this one man Adam. Why is that? It all has to do with his representative or covenant headship. 1 Cor 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

B. The representative head’s pattern repeated the corruption. Romans 5:13-14

This concept of "representative headship" operates in Paul's exposition of Adam and Christ as representative heads of the respective groups of all humanity and redeemed humanity. Romans 5:13-14 “tells us for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”

Think of a giant circle, labeled “Adam”.

Had Adam broken any laws or commands that would lead to his initial sin being imputed? He had. God had given him a handful of commands in Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 2:16-17, what theologians call the “Covenant of works”. 

He stood in our place, on a probationary time-frame to determine whether he would obey God and love God, or instead disobey God and love himself more than God. Adam failed. Romans 5:18a “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men…”.

When Paul states “death reigned from Adam until Moses”, he is speaking of God’s moral law (inscribed upon the conscience at Adam’s creation, inscribed upon tablets at Sinai for Moses and the people). 

As long as I am in that circle of the first Adam, I am indeed corrupt, bent from God, a sinner, and a lawbreaker. Unless I’m somehow rescued from that first circle, my condemnation hangs over me from the moment of my conception. Eph 2:2 “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

C. Proving how a representative head can corrupt.

      As one illustration of how a representative head of a bloodline can lead to the repeated corruption of that head onto the descendants, as well as imputed guilt, we only need to look at a particular King. I showed you in a previous post how King David functioned as a representative head of Israel. When he numbered the armies of Israel in 2 Samuel 24, his sin, its guilt, was credited to the whole nation, resulting in the deaths of 70,000 men. David interceded for the nation. Nevertheless, the deed was done, highlighting how the sin of a representative head of a people in the Bible to judgment on Israel. 

    There is another king, of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam, son of Nebat. You’ll recall in the nation of Israel’s history, there were three kings (Saul, David, Solomon). After Solomon’s death, Israel divided into two nations, the Northern confederacy of ten tribes, led by Jeroboam, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, centralized in Jerusalem, led by Rehoboam. The split occurred in 930 b.c., with Rehoboam, as I said, leading ten of the twelve tribes Northward in Israel.

As you read of exploits of Jeroboam, you find he was a wicked king, introducing idolatry into the Northern Kingdom. His sin, his pattern, would become replicated in his successors. His son Nadab took over in 1 Kings 16:25, described in 16:26 as “doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father and in his sin which made Israel sin”. 

The Northern Kingdom would persist for 209 years, with nearly 20 kings in succession. I count at least fifteen references to “the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat”, or some similar reference, ascribing the pattern and practices of Jeroboam to the wicked kings that ruled in the Northern Kingdom (1 Kings 11:26; 12:2,15; 15:1; 16:3,26,31; 21:22; 22:52; 2 Kings 3:3; 9:9; 10:29; 13:2,11; 14:24; 15:9,18,24,28; 17:21; 23:15).

Representative headship, in the case Jeroboam as the lead king, explains why his sin, his pattern, was imputed and replicated in the line of succession. Sadly, his sin pattern would come to be repeated also in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Southern Kingdom would survive 136 years beyond the Northern Kingdom, yet you’ll read how the sins of one man polluted two Kingdoms, nearly forty kings, illustrating for us a small picture of original sin in the whole human race.  

Closing thought for today

So, we’ve seen so far how original sin initiated with Adam, how because of  original sin God imputed Adam's guilt to us all. In today's post, we've studied how Adam's original sin led to the contraction of internal corruption in us all. In our next post, we will examine how original sin contributes to our inward bent away from God.

Post #4 The Doctrine of Original Sin teaches Adam's guilt was imputed to the whole human race

Introduction:

    In the last post we began unpacking the doctrine of original sin. We noted that original sin teaches that the sin that affected affect all of humanity and the physical creation originated in Adam. To review, I am laying forth what will ultimately be four main propositions that define the doctrine of original sin:

(1). Adam initiated original sin.  

(2). Guilt was imputed by original sin. 

(3). Corruption is inherited from original sin.  

(4). Inward bent from God is a consequence of original sin. 

Today's post will again draw from a recent set of sermons I preached on this subject. In today's post we will unfold the second of the above points. 

Guilt was imputed by original sin. Job 31:33; Hosea 6:7

    To “impute” means “to credit” or “to reckon” or “to regard with another’s work”. As we shall see, this term is vital in not only understanding what took place when Adam's sin came to affect all humanity, but also what Christ's accomplished work would come to achieve in the lives of those who unite to Him in saving faith. 

    The doctrine of "imputation" involves God rendering a legal pronouncement, a judgment, upon an individual. In the sight of God's perfect justice, the imputation of guilt or innocence legally renders that person to be either of those, based upon the actions of someone outside the individual. When we read passages such as Romans 4:5; 5:12-18; and 2 Corinthians 5:21, we see what theologians call a "triple imputation". 

1. Adam's original sin and guilt is imputed onto the human race. This is the first imputation. 

2. As each human being participates in actual sins, in Adam, legally declared "guilty" of Adam's imputed sin, such a condition would come to be "imputed onto Christ". On the cross, Jesus was treated "as if" He had committed every sin, of every sinner, and ultimately Adam. This second imputation meant then that the perfect Second Adam, Jesus Christ, was viewed judicially as the first Adam, and was treated as if he had committed my actual sins, even though He never sinned once.

3. The third act of imputation from God involves what occurs at saving faith. The doctrine of justification by faith alone asserts that Christ's perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection are "credited", "imputed" unto me. As Christ had "imputed" to him my sin, my guilt, an alien unrighteousness for which He clearly was not; so it was that at saving faith, God the Father credited, imputed to me an alien righteousness not of my own (the Latin "alienus", meaning "outside of myself"). That imputed righteousness was Christ's. Hence, the Christian is regarded as righteous and pure as Jesus, since on the cross He was legally declared "sin". This then is why the doctrine, the idea of "imputation" is so central to our understanding of Biblical salvation and Christ's atonement.

Distinguishing imputed sin and actual sins

    In the last post I made a careful distinction between "actual sins" and of course original sin. When we speak of actual sins, we refer to our own guilt, brought about by our own sin. 

    Ezekiel 18:20 “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.”  

    This, as we noted at the beginning, speaks of actual sins. The question is of course, "why do we sin"? Historically, three answers have been offered. 

A. The first suggests we sin by imitation of others. This first option has of course a grain of truth, since the influence of others can exacerbate our sinning. Yet, it does not get to the heart of the matter "why do I sin?" It doesn't take seriously how much our moral self-determination (i.e. the human will) was affected by our internal sinfulness inherited from Adam. Historically, thinkers such as Pelagius of the 5th century and Socinus of the 17th century tried to make this "moral influence" theory of sin tenable. Both thinkers were regarded as heretics, since in severing the link between Adam's sin and my own, they taught it was technically possible to achieve sinless perfection in this life.

B. The second historical answer in relating to the question of "why we sin" has to do with the effects of the fallen world. Certainly, Scripture teaches how the fallen world, its decay, its "groaning", came forth as a result of Adam and Eve's disobedience (Romans 8:21-25). No doubt this too contributes to each person's individual sin. Afterall, no sin is committed in a vacuum. Most evangelical, Bible believing Christians will opt for this second explanation. 

    As much as I agree this is a necessary component to explain why I sin, it does not sufficiently, by itself, explain. It is a necessary condition, but not sufficient in unpacking why sinners sin. In other words, do I sin because I see other people sin (option #1)? Do I sin due to my environment (option #2)? Or is there more that can be stated? 

C. The third historical answer in the history of Biblical interpretation has offered that the reason why I sin is because of the vile, putrid, sinful fountain of original sin, contracted from Adam and Eve's rebellion, with its guilt imputed or credited to me as a member of the human race. We sin, because we are sinners. 

    This third option helps give Biblical clarity to the other two options. As unpopular as the teaching of original sin is in so many theological circles today, it is no mystery. To say the source of those sins inside of us is a putrid fountain, original sin, from which I sin, and in which I gladly cooperate, does not bode well with the popular notion that "deep down inside, we have an island of goodness". 

In other words, the guilt with which we are born as transgressors of the God's Law isn’t just the personal guilt that stems from my actual sins. I am responsible for the sins I commit as it pertains to my own personal sinning. The issue remains as to why I do those things, and why the pattern of sinning is so universal among the human species. 

    The answer lies in the fact that guilt was transferred onto us from Adam. We know this to be the case because even before we consciously sin, the Bible uniformly declares we are sinners from conception (Psalm 51); that when we're born we're predisposed to lie (Psalm 58:3); and that God judicially has imputed the sentence of condemnation on us as a human race (John 3:36). This spiritual condition is why human beings so readily reject the Gospel (see 1 Corinthians 1:14).

A Biblical illustration of imputed guilt.

To prove that imputation of sin isn't some invention of Augustine or the later Roman Catholic Church, an examination of the Biblical text shows the truth of this doctrine. We see examples of imputed guilt in the Bible. 2 Samuel 24, King David takes a census of his armies. David represented the people before the LORD as their King. He was a covenant head of the people. As a consequence of his actions, 70,000 men died from a plague of judgment from God. God had imputed guilt on the whole nation due to the actions of one man.

Job asked in Job 31:33,

 “Have I covered my transgressions like Adam, By hiding my iniquity in my bosom.” 

Israel’s history of treachery against Yahweh bears the marks of Adam’s transferrable sin and guilt. Hosea the prophet wrote in Hosea 6:7,

 “But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.”  

How original sin affects the Christian

This is what original sin does even to the Christian. Thankfully in Jesus we are declared righteous. We get a new nature, a new heart, and thus a new way of thinking (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Christians inner-most being is restamped in the image of Christ from salvation. Nevertheless, we still have this physical body, this flesh, which still contains the seeds of our corruption from Adam. 

The reader may refer back to one of my original illustrations of my grandfather's septic tank. Although the inside pipes in his home were cleaned out by the plumber, thus rendering the home habitable once again, it still remained that my grandfather had a septic tank that was cracked and seeping into the ground. 

For the Christian, the inside of the heart is cleansed and made new by the work of regeneration or the new birth (2 Corinthians 5:17). For the Christian, God the Father has the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, imputed, transferred, credited to their account in justification by faith (Romans 3:24-26; Romans 4:1-6; Romans 5:1-5; Galatians 3:26). But the fact of original sin, as to its left-over effects, remain in my physical being, my flesh, resulting in the internal struggle between the new nature in Christ and my old, unredeemed flesh (see Romans 7:14-25).

 In other words, original sin, though capped in regeneration, can still seep through into our thoughts, our flesh. This is why we need the Spirit and the Word to keep it at bay.

      So, original sin in Adam’s Fall initiated with Adam and imputed or credited to us guilt. In the next post, we will pick up on the last two of our four points pertaining to our definition of original sin (Original sin led to inherited corruption, Inward bent away from God.)

Post #3 The Doctrine of Original Sin teaches Adam originated original sin

 

Introduction:

    In the last post here Growing Christian Resources: Post #2 The Doctrine of Original Sin defined and illustrated, we defined and illustrated the doctrine of original sin. What follows are mainly notes from a couple of message I preached on this topic. In today's post we will look at our first truth about original sin, namely, Adam's sin resulted in his fallen nature and guilt being replicated in every human being in history (with the exception being Jesus, who was incarnated as a man without any sin).  

Adam initiated original sin.  

Genesis 3.

We distinguish “original sin” from “actual sin”, with the former referring to the source of our sin resulting in our personal corruption and the latter referring to the acts of sin spawning from that polluted fountain. (i.e. “origin of sin” = “original sin”). Sin in its moral opposition to God's righteousness revealed in the moral law of the conscience (Romans 2:14-15) and in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Sin, in its spiritual dimension, refers to falling short or missing the mark with God (Romans 3:23). Certain consequences followed when Adam and his wife, our original representatives, fell.

A. Disobedience in subduing the Serpent. Gen 3:1-2,6.

       Adam’s sin of omission (James 4:17) was a sign of the Serpent’s deception already affecting him. Sins of omission refer to "knowing to do right, and yet not doing it". God had told the man and the woman to take dominion over all of the creation (Genesis 1:26-31). Adam, as the representative head of humanity and God's co-regent on earth, did not stop the Serpent from his deception of his wife. 

    Adam was present when the Serpent was tempting Eve, as seen in Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”  As one writer has noted, it was Adam’s unfaithfulness that was the source of the Fall, spawning pride, fear, and anger.

B. Deception of changing God’s Word. Gen 3:2-4.

       Moses wrote in Genesis 3:1-3,

 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 

    Eve added to God’s Word. We already saw that Adam ignored the Word of God. You’ll notice the Serpent changes the “you’ll surely die” of Gen 2:17 to “you will not surely die” in Genesis 3:4. Note: ignorance plus adding plus altering God’s Word = disobeying God’s Words.

       C. Deliberate choice to do what was forbidden. Gen 3:5-7.

       This is Adam and his wife’s sin of commission. We saw already what are called "sins of omission", that is, neglecting to do what I ought to do. A sin of commission is doing the opposite of what I know I ought to do. What Adam and Eve did was an overt breach of God’s command to them (cf 1 John 3:4). All are related to God’s Word. Satan questioned it. Eve added to it. Satan reversed it. Adam ignored it.

    Now I won't expound in detail the next two points of our overall thought that original sin began with Adam. We've laid out so far how what he did sprang forth from his inward departure and neglect of God's covenant dealings with him. Adam and Eve were immediately impacted. The origin of all the sinful acts that would follow came forth from the origination of sin that began as they listened to the voice of the serpent (see Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Timothy 2:11-15). 

    This is the first major point of original sin - Adam and his wife (with Adam being our representative head of the whole human race) sinned, spawning forth the curse and consequences that would lead to the sinning of every member of the human race. Thus, when we consider the remainder of Genesis 3, we can spell out two other consequences in short order.

 D. Darkness of separation from God. Gen 3:8-1

 E. Devastation of the curse. Gen 3:11-14, 16-19.

      So, remember: Original sin is that willful act of Adam that transferred to the human race imputed guilt, inherited corruption, and an inward bent away from God. We've noted in today's post that original sin originated in Adam. In our next post, we shall see how the guilt of what Adam did was imputed to us by original sin.

Post #2 The Doctrine of Original Sin defined and illustrated

Introduction:

    In our last post I laid forth an introduction to the Fall of Adam and Eve in comparison to what are the four main fall-like events spoken of in the Bible. I also set forth how studying Adam and Eve's Fall aids us in grasping the importance of the need for salvation in Jesus Christ. In today's post we begin to expound the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 

    What follows today and for the next several posts are notes from a couple of sermons I recently preached. What follows is a proposal that the doctrine of original sin explains what took place in the Garden of Eden. Some readers may have heard of this doctrine. Other readers may not be so familiar with his historic teaching. Still others may find it problematic. Whatever one's opinion, it is vital we subject any doctrine to the bar of sacred Scripture to discern its truth or falsity. Also, it is hoped that in defining what the doctrine of original sin teaches, we can then properly evaluate its Biblical fidelity. The objective of today's post is to set forth a definition of original sin, and then clarify it by way of illustration.

1. Defining and illustrating original sin.  1 Cor 15:22; Rom 5:18-19.

     A. Original sin defined.

    What is original sin? I define original sin is that willful act of Adam that transferred to the human race imputed guilt, inherited corruption, and an inward bent away from God. What this definition does is explain what relationship there is between Adam and his human posterity respecting sin. As for the term "imputed", the guilt Adam acquired in having violated God's covenant and commands about not partaking the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is credited onto the whole human race as a consequence of he being their representative head. As for "inherited corruption", we find that the sin we all have is passed down from generation to generation, going all the way back to Adam. Then lastly, the natural moral bent all people have to reject God is a consequence of the original sin or polluted fountain of sin residing within each person. Put another way, the doctrine of original sin states that our spiritual default position toward God is that of rejection, rather than neutrality or native ability to choose Him apart from the Holy Spirit's gracious working. 

    If we were to identify verses that alerts us to what original sin is, it would be these. 1 Corinthians 15:22 “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” Romans 5:18-19 “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”

Let me first set forth four main ideas that will show and defend this truth of original sin.  

(1). Adam initiated original sin. (Almost all agree on this first proposition, with some preferring not to call it “original sin”).

 

(2). Guilt was imputed by original sin. (Most debatable point).

 

(3). Corruption is inherited from original sin. (Some will dispute this, blaming our corruption on environment or our imitation of others).

 

(4). Inward bent from God is a consequence of original sin. (Many will dispute this point, arguing that mankind is neutral toward God or just needs grace to help Him choose God).

B. Original sin illustrated.

Think of original sin in each of us as a polluted, cracked, septic tank. To illustrate, my grandfather had a septic tank connected to his home. The plumbing got backed up. He had it cleaned out. This effort solved for a period of time the plumbing issues in the house. However, the tank itself would occasionally cause problems. Poor drainage was the issue, causing seepage up through the ground. Even when cleaned, the effects lingered. 

This is what original sin is like. It is a polluted fountain, begun when Adam, the representative of the human race in the Garden, transgressed God's original covenant commands to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-7; Hosea 6:7). Such a polluted fountain of sin spilled over to the ruination of Adam and all his descendants. This polluted fountain of sin is the source or origin of the actual sins each of us commit (hence the name "original sin".) The above four propositions I laid out earlier will aid us in unpacking this truth.  

David writes of what original sin does to all of us from birth in Psalm 58:3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb; These who speak lies go astray from birth.” 

Solomon, David's son and the wisest man who ever lives, wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:29 “Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.”

So far, we've seen that original sin is that willful act of Adam that transferred to the human race imputed guilt, inherited corruption, and an inward bent away from God. In the next post, we will take a closer look at the first point of our definition of original sin - namely how original sin originated in Adam. 

 

Post #1 The Doctrine of Original Sin - Four fall-like events in the Book of Genesis and an introduction to Adam's Fall

 

Introduction: Four Fall-like events in the Book of Genesis

    The Book of Genesis presents to us four fall-like events. 

1. The first is Satan’s Fall, wherein sin had its beginning. Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-16 each begin with God's judgment pronounced on certain kings, with the judgment speech switching to the primordial fall of Lucifer to become Satan. I take this first fall-like event to have occurred between the "white-space" of Genesis 2:25 and Genesis 3:1.      

    The seventeenth century theologian Thomas Watson in his "Body of Divinity" summarizes this initial cosmic fall:

 The origin of sin, from whence it comes. It fetches its pedigree from hell; sin is of the devil. 1 John 3:3 ‘He that committeth sin is of the devil.’ Satan was the first actor of sin, and the first tempter to sin. Sin is the devil’s first-born. 

2. The second fall-like event, which will be the focus of today's post and the next several, is the fall-like event most familiar to students of the Bible - namely the fall of Adam and his wife in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. 

    Sin was sourced in Satan, and then became distributed through our first parents. As we shall see in later posts, Adam and Eve were like gateways through which sin was distributed to the human race and onto the whole physical creation (1 Corinthians 15:20-22; Romans 5:12-21; Romans 8:21-25). 

3. The third fall-like event occurred in the events that led to God judging the world with the world-wide flood (Genesis 6-9). 

4. The fourth fall-like event we find in the book of Genesis is that of the Tower of Babel incident, recorded in Genesis 11:1-9. 

    All four of these fall-like events, with Adam's fall being most prominent, function together to explain what theologians call "the noetic effects of the fall", that is, the decay, moral ruin, spiritual darkness, and posture of judgment by God upon the fallen race of Adam. 

Why Adam's Fall is important to understanding the significance of Christ's accomplished work of salvation as the second Adam

    It is against such an otherwise bleak backdrop that God's redemptive plan of salvation, no doubt planned between the Father and Son before time began (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2), and worked forth through God's covenants with Eve (Genesis 3:15,20-21), Noah (Genesis 8-9), Abraham (Genesis 12; 17; 22), David (2 Samuel 7:13-16), the New Covenant itself (Jeremiah 31:31-34), would be revealed and worked out in history. 

    When a Jeweler wants to accentuate the beauty of a gem, they'll place it on a dark cloth. God's decree to permit sin to intrude into His creation was part of His plan. The 1689 2nd London Baptist Confession, in its sixth article, first paragraph, summarizes:

"which God was pleased, according to His wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to His own glory."

    God permits what He hates to achieve the great good He intended (see Genesis 50:20; Acts 2:23-24; Romans 8:28). God is not the author of evil. The Westminster Confession of Faith, in its third article "Of God's Eternal Decree", paragraph one, summarizes with Scripture proofs:

"God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: (Eph. 1:11, Rom. 11:33, Heb. 6:17, Rom. 9:15,18) yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, (James 1:13,17, 1 John 1:5) nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. (Acts 2:23, Matt. 17:12, Acts 4:27–28, John 19:11, Prov. 16:33)"

    As we understand how God had already foreknown of the intrusion of sin into our world, we come to realize that the Father, Son, and Spirit had planned the redemption needed to counteract the evils of sin and its effects on the human race and creation. The Son Himself came as the Father's appointed Redeemer, the Son of God incarnate, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:21-23; John 1:14; Titus 2:11-13; 1 Peter 3:18). 

    Other New Testament passages bear-out that the incarnation of the Son of God to be a man. Jesus came as "the Second Adam" (Romans 5:12-14; 1 Corinthians 15:45-47). Christ's perfect life, substitutionary death on the cross, glorious resurrection, and ascension is contrasted with the failure of the first Adam. Christ came to undo what had been done by Adam, as well as to destroy the work of the Evil one who tempted our original parents (Hebrews 2:11-15; 1 John 3:8).  

The importance of studying the Fall of Adam 

      As we turn our attention to Adam's fall in Genesis 3, we cannot overemphasize the importance of that chapter in Genesis. One writer has noted, 

“Genesis 3 is unquestionably one of the most important chapters in God’s revealed Word. Without the historical record of the plight of man, and indeed all the trouble in the world caused by sin, would be an unfathomable riddle.”

    In the church I pastor, our children have been studying through Adam Murrell's "Young Baptist Catechism". In that work, questions pertaining to Adam's fall are asked.

Question 29: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s Sin? 

Answer: All mankind, descending from Adam, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. 

Question 30: Into what state did the fall bring mankind? 

Answer: The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery.

        These questions, and the foregoing introduction, serve to get our thoughts in gear a closer look at the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. In this post and the next, we are going to understand Adam’s Fall through what is called the doctrine of original sin.