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.
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.
