Regardless of the way in which a person views the world, the question ultimately arises: What is my relation to the universe around me? The answer to this question rightly requires a knowledge of who "me" is, in order to know how "me" relates to everything else. Therefore, in any attempt at a meaningful examination of reality, a view of man is included. For example, Humanists say that man is basically good; however, because of ignorance as to what is genuinely good, men do what is wrong. If men could be educated properly in what is really good, then they will of course choose to do good. Hence the Humanist's solution to evil is education. Notice that this is essentially what liberal theologians and ministers say when they teach that Jesus is our model of how to live; they argue that if we all followed Christ's loving example, we could establish heaven on earth. They are saying that men innately have the desire to do right, and that Jesus' teachings and example should be the basis of men's education. Communists also say that man is basically good, but that he is in a world in which the evil capitalist principle of private ownership of property subjects him to evil. If the capitalist system were to be overthrown and eliminated (by cruel violence if necessary), the natural goodness of the simpler working class will be free to express itself and form a Utopian society. The communist solution to evil is eradication of capitalism (involving the extermination of capitalists and the elimination of their fruits, such as religion). In other words, if man's environment can be properly molded, this will enable him to become good.
So far in this course, we have seen what God is like, and found that He is good and loving, yet just at the same time. How do we stand in relation to this glorious being? In order to answer this question, we need to know how God views us. Philosophers attempt to figure out what men are like on the basis of their own assumptions, observations, and introspections; however, we can consult the Scriptures, for we know, on the basis of sufficient evidence, that it is truly the word of God. Considering the author of Scripture, we can have no surer testimony of our state before God than that which we find in the word.
This lesson will attempt to answer the following questions:
1) What is man's condition as he stands on his own?
2) Why is man the way he is?
3) How does man's condition effect his relations with other men, and more importantly, with God?
Isn't that an ego boast? Now most people would be willing to agree that men are not perfect, but this is going a little too far: how could men be so bad that God would condemn them (assuming that He even exists)? Everyone likes to think, and wishes that everyone else thought, that they were the greatest; however, the only opinion that counts on judgment day is God's, so it's important to know what God thinks of us. Even if we have to swallow our pride, it is far better to do it now, that to rebel and mold God into the idol that we would like Him to be, only to discover after its too late that our version of God is not the One who can save us from hell.
But are men really so bad? Surely men have some good in them, or at least there must be some good things that they can do in order to please God.
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You . . . ." Isaiah 64:6-7a
Here it is clearly stated that even our best attempts at doing good are viewed as trash by God. At our best we are repulsive to God because He judges us according to His standard: perfection. This might seem very harsh at first, but it is quite reasonable. Remember that God is Holy and is opposed to any evil. This means that He cannot even tolerate the imperfections (usually tainted motivations) that accompany our very best deeds. How can imperfect deeds please a perfect and holy being?
John 3:18 - Given the imperfection of men's deeds and God's opinion of those deeds, we see that the one who does not believe in Jesus has already been judged. Between these two verses, there is no room for anyone to believe that he can please God by being good enough (also see Titus 3:5), or that somehow God will not judge him. There is mercy and forgiveness with the Lord for those who will admit that they are in need of a Savior. But for those who will refuse to accept God's evaluation of them and who continue to try to please God with their own efforts, God has already objectively and honestly evaluated their works and has rendered unto them their just judgment.
All the Lord is asking anyone to do is to face up to the truth about himself. If we really are seeking the truth, we should want to do this anyway.
The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God," they are corrupt, and committed abominable injustice; there is no one who does good. God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Everyone of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 53:1-3
Corruption is seen here to express itself as atheism (cf. Romans 1:18-21). Man is so corrupt that he rejects submission to God by saying, at least in his heart, that God does not exist. Note that "Turning aside" implies knowing what is true and abandoning it. In God's sight, all men have willfully rejected what they knew to be right.
Romans 3:10-18 - Again we see that not even one man is good. Look at what corruption entails: deceit, poisonous words that hurt and bite, bloodshed, destruction, misery, and no fear of God. Far from realizing the horror of these evils and turning to seek the Lord's mercy, men (on their own) do not even bother to seek after God.
Romans 1:31- Paul argues here that man not only knows what God's will is, and yet continues to do things that are worthy of death, but he even encourages others to do the same wickedness.
Jeremiah 17:9, 10 - The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. The heart is not merely wicked, but it is deceitful about it. Consider Proverbs 21:2, Every manŐs way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.. Even though we refuse to accurately assess ourselves because of the deceitfulness of our hearts, we will nevertheless be judged by one who will justly evaluate us.
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
Psalm 51:5 - This verse does not say that marital sex or childbirth are wrong, but that a child is in sin from the time of conception. There is no "age of accountability" beyond which a child knows better is thereafter held responsible for what he does by the Lord. A child does not need to be taught to lie or steal; as soon as he finds out that the truth and men's property rights are right and good, his sin nature will cause him to want to lie and to steal. Far from being an innocent blank slate who needs to be kept from being contaminated, a child is a sinner like everyone else, except that he needs to be taught discipline in order to keep the rebelliousness of his sin under control. Ask any mother of a child who is old enough to do what he wants to, yet is just at the age to start to be able to be disciplined. She will probably tell you what a little tyrannical monster that adorable tyke really is.
Romans 3:19-20 - Man has the law; he knows explicitly what God's will is. Yet no flesh can be made right with God by obeying the Law. Why? Because the purpose of the Law is to reveal our sin for what it is: disobedience to God (Romans 7:5,7-9, 13). It is not that men do not know what is right, and therefore must be educated; men know what is right, yet chose to do wrong anyway (Romans 1:32).
Romans 6:23 - Just as work must be rewarded by its wage, so must sin. Physical death as well as eternal spiritual death in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41) are the inevitable returns for sin.
Ephesians 2:3 - Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, describes what unsaved people are like: by nature they are children of wrath. Notice that man is not to receive God's wrath because of a few imperfections in his essentially good nature, but rather that man's whole nature is deserving of God's wrath.
Isaiah 26:10 - IMPORTANT!! {Though} the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD. We see here that even in a good environment, the rebellious person will continue to sin. Hence, any models for improving men that are based on improving their environment are doomed to failure. To really change a man so that he wants to do what is right takes more than modifying his surroundings.
John 3:3, 6 - Jesus taught that the spirit of a man needs to be made alive for him to enter heaven. A spiritual birth is necessary. The one who is born only physically (born of water) is not admissible into the kingdom of God. One needs to be born physically and of the spirit to be admissible into the kingdom of God.
Titus 3:5 - Notice again that people are not saved from God's wrath by their own deeds that are righteous enough, but according to God's mercy by the washing that regeneration does and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
I. THE ORIGINAL STATE OF MANKIND
A. The Image of God in Mankind
1. Scriptural background to the doctrine
a. Scripture tells us that mankind was originally created in the image of God Genesis 1:26-28 - "Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"
b. Scripture tells us that fallen mankind still bears the image of God in some meaningful sense Genesis 9:6 -- "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made them."
James 3:8-9 -- But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God."
a. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Man is a spirit (in union with a physical body), finite, temporal, and changeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
b. Various theologians have distinguished between the natural and the moral aspects of the image. Some have distinguished between the formal and the material aspects, or the structural and the functional aspects, or the broader and the narrower aspects of the image of God.
As originally created, mankind was like God in personal faculties and capabilities. Adam and Eve were rational beings, emotional beings, volitional beings, moral beings, aesthetic beings, social beings, and spiritual beings; with creative and languaging capabilities, and with dominion and responsibility for God's creation. These aspects may be viewed as comprising the image of God in the broader sense, which aspects were affected but not lost at the Fall. After the fall these faculties and capabilities were used in sinful ways
Also as originally created, mankind was like God in moral and spiritual qualities of character. Adam and Eve were upright, holy beings who were in right relationship with God, loved God, and were inclined to obedience to the will of God. These aspects may be viewed as comprising the image of God in the narrower sense, which aspects were lost at the Fall.
c. Christ was and is the perfect image of God, in both the broader and the narrower senses.
John 1:14, 18, 14:7-9, II Corinthians 4:3-4, Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3
d. The restoration of believers to the very image and likeness of Christ is the great goal of personal salvation.This restoration is progressive, involves growth and development, and will be completed at the Second Coming of Christ. Rom 8:29-30, II Cor 3:18, Col 3:9-10, Eph 4:24, I John 3:2
According to the Scriptures, Adam and Eve were created as mature, perfect, immortal beings, yet capable of falling.
1. Adam and Eve were created as mature not experienced
2. Adam and Eve were created as [morally and physically] perfect,
3. immortal
4. Adam and Eve were created as capable of falling from their original state
Archibald Alexander Hodge, in his Outlines of Theology, Revised Edition, p. 309, asks:
1. In what different senses is the term covenant used in Scripture?
1st. For a natural ordinance -- Jer. 33:20.
2nd. For an unconditional promise -- Gen. 9:11-12.
3rd. For a conditional promise -- Isa. 1:19-20.
4th. A dispensation or mode of administration -- Heb. 8:6-9.
In the theological phrases "covenant of works," and "covenant of grace," this term is used in the third sense of a promise suspended on conditions.
2. What are the several elements essential to a covenant?
1st. Contracting parties.
2nd. Conditions. These conditions in a covenant between equals are mutually imposed and mutually binding, but in a sovereign constitution, imposed by the Creator upon the creature, these "conditions" are better expressed as
(1) promises on the part of the Creator suspended upon
(2) conditions to be fulfilled by the creature. And
(3) an alternative penalty to be inflicted in case the condition fails.
1. The parties to the covenant
The parties are the triune God and Adam (as head and representative of the human race)
2. The benefit of the covenant
The benefit promised was continuing and unending spiritual and physical life.
3. The condition of the covenant
The condition in this conditional covenant was that of implicit and perfect obedience to the revealed will of God, both before and especially during the temptation by Satan.
4. The penalty of the covenant :spiritual & physical Death
[Covenant of works was never made to merit eternal life but to keep eternal life]
A. Meaning of the Term "Sin"
A Definition of Sin: Sin is any transgression of, or lack of conformity to, the law of God (which at any given time is the will of God addressed to the obedience of moral beings).
I John 3:4 -- "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." Sin must always be defined in relation to the Law of God. Sin is rebellion against and transgression of the Law of God.
Romans 3:19-20 -- "Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." The Law of God not only tells us what sin is; it also uncovers the workings of sin in us. Thus the Law makes sin known to us, both cognitively and experientially.
James 2:8-11 -- "If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not commit murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law of God." Partiality, or "respect of faces," is a sin. If we regard the wealthy and disregard the poor we show partiality; thus even lack of conformity to the Law of God is sin (in this case, failure to show love to our poor neighbor). And James reminds us that whether we break one or all of the Ten Commandments, we are guilty of transgressing God's Law and thus have sinned.
James 4:17 -- "Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin." In this case, boasting apart from an appropriate submission to the will of God is called sin. From this specific instance James moves to the general principle that if we know what is right and fail to do it, we commit sin. This sets up the distinction between sins of commission and sins of omission. If we do what we know is wrong, that is sin. If we fail to do what we know is right, that is also sin! Cf. Romans 14:23.
(1) It is possible to sin in ignorance; i.e., while one is ignorant that what he or she is doing is in fact sin. In verses 2, 22, and 27 we read of persons sinning unintentionally; and in verses 14, 23, and 28 we read of a sin becoming known to the person(s) involved.
(2) Sins of ignorance need not be done intentionally; i.e., with deliberate purpose or intention; failure to fulfill the commands of God's law, whether intentional or not, is sin.
(3) Sins of ignorance make a person legally, objectively guilty, whether or not the person has any feeling of subjective guilt of blameworthiness.
(4) Sins of ignorance require confession of and identification with sin.
(5) Sins of ignorance require a sacrifice for their atonement.
(6) Sins of ignorance need forgiveness from the Lord.
These considerations raise serious questions about any definition of sin that requires willful disobedience or "voluntary transgression of known law."
Some important distinctions in the doctrine should be made, including the distinctions between sin as a principle and sin as an action, between sin as guilt and sin as corruption, and between sin as original and sin as actual.
1. The distinction between sin as a principle and sin as an action A man does what he is. Mat 7:15-20.
What a person is, is known by what he or she does.
Paul puts his finger on what it is in human beings that makes them sinners. He speaks of sin as a principle inherent in human nature, and sin as actions that human beings perform. In Romans 6:12-16
Sin is both something in our nature (not as created, but as fallen; thus we speak of a sinful nature) and expressions of that nature.
2. The distinction between sin as guilt and sin as corruption
Guilt refers to man's legal liability to the Law of God: as a sinner he is condemned; i.e., declared to be a transgressor and liable to punishment.
Corruption refers to man's moral character contrasted with the moral character of God: as a sinner he is disposed or bent or inclined toward sin, whereas God is holy and good through and through and wholly inclined toward moral uprightness. Corruption is also referred to as pollution or depravity.
3. The distinction between sin as original and sin as actual
Original sin is that sin in which every human being shares because of his or her relationship to Adam.
Actual sin (or individual and personal sin) is that sin which every human being (except Christ) commits in himself or herself; that sin whose guilt and corruption are uniquely his or her own and not shared.
1) The components of original sin are:
(a) negatively -- lack of original righteousness
(b) positively -- guilt & corruption
(2) Original sin refers both to Adam and to all who have descended from him by ordinary generation
(3) Original sin is the root of all actual (individual and personal) transgressions
1. Sin is not a physical substance or quality
2. Sin is not an unavoidable consequence of limitation or finiteness
3. Sin is not an illusion resulting from man's inadequate knowledge
4. Sin is not necessary antagonism
5. Sin is not merely self-love arising from the natural development of the appetites before the development of reason
6. The essence of sin cannot simply be reduced to selfishness or self-will
A. The Origin of Sin
1. The Origin of Sin in the Angelic World
a. Satan and the fallen angels appear to have originated sin in the angelic world
b. Basically, the sin of Satan and the fallen angels seems to have been pride -- the desire to be like God in power andd authority
c. Since Satan was already a sinner before he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we can say that Satan and the fallen angels originated sin in the universe.
2. The Origin of Sin in the Human Race
Adam originated sin in the human race at his Fall. Romans 5:12
B. The Fall of Mankind
1. The Nature of the Fall
The Fall event may be analyzed into components or stages:
a. First, we have a man and a woman inclined toward God and holiness, with everything their hearts could need or properly desire, and walking in communion with God.
b. Second, we have a simple probation, a test involving a simple command in the form of a prohibition, with regard to a specific object (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), and an announced penalty for disobedience.
c. Third, we have a tempter, Satan (that old Serpent!) presenting the forbidden thing as a temptation, an enticement to evil.
(1) It was an enticement to have what God had forbidden
(2) It was an enticement to know what God had not revealed
(3) It was an enticement to be what God had not intended them to be
d. Fourth, we have a response in the heart of the woman (self-initiated) to the external object of temptation, then an act of her will, and then the resultant external act of disobedience.
e. Fifth, we have the participation of Adam in this disobedience, following the same course -- inclination in the heart, self-determination, and external action.
f. Sixth, we have the immediate results of their sin:
(1) spiritual death and moral depravity, as shown by their defiled conscience
(2) the inception of the process of physical death, as shown by the statement that Adam (and Eve) would return to the dust of the ground
(3) curses on the ground, on Satan, on Eve (in childbearing), and on Adam (in hard labor on the soil)
g. Seventh, we have Adam and Eve driven out of the Garden of Eden, as a symbol of their loss of communion with God and all of its attendant blessings.
a. How could a holy being fall?
The inclination against God that led to his external act of disobedience was originated ex nihilo by Adam himself. The efficient cause of Adam's sin was Adam! No one made him sin.
b. How could a just God justly permit mankind to be tempted?
What was the purpose of the test? To confirm Adam's character in holiness and righteousness.
c. How could so great a penalty be attached to so slight a command?
The significance of the command was not slight. This may be seen:
(1) by God's solemn warning not to disobey
(2) by the announced penalty attached to disobedience
(3) by the terrible results, both immediate and subsequent, of that disobedience
The substance of the command was slight. This shows:
(1) the simplicity of the test that God placed before Adam and Eve
(2) the ease with which our first parents could have obeyed the command
(3) by contrast, the heinousness of disobedience, in the light of all of God's goodness to them in the Garden
A. Immediate Results of the Fall, to Adam and Eve
By their sin our first parents suffered:
1. Spiritual death
Spiritual death in the case of Adam and Eve meant a judicial cessation of those (spiritual) life-giving influences of the Holy Spirit graciously bestowed on Adam and Eve at their creation, resulting in the extinction of spiritual life and the consequent corruption and depravity of their moral nature.
2. The loss of original righteousness
3. The loss of communion with God
4. Guilt and condemnation
5. The incurring of God's wrath and curse
6. Bondage to Satan
7. Physical death
Physical death in the case of Adam and Eve meant a judicial cessation of those (physical) life-giving influences of the Holy Spirit graciously bestowed on Adam and Eve at their creation, resulting in a weakening of bodily powers, the gaining of a susceptibility to disease, a decaying of the physical organism, and the ultimate dissolution of the union of the soul/spirit and the body, with the consequent extinction of physical life.
As a result of the Fall, all of Adam's posterity come into the world spiritually dead, lacking original righteousness, cut off from communion with God, guilty and condemned, under God's wrath and curse, in bondage to Satan, and physically dying.
Two areas of this great loss need expansion and explanation: the imputation of Adam's guilt and the impartation of Adam's corruption.
1. The imputation of Adam's guilt to his descendants
In Scripture, "to impute" means to mentally charge something negative against a person, or to mentally credit something positive to a person. Thus in Psalm 32:2 the person whose sins are not charged against him is called blessed; and in Romans 4:6 the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works is called blessed.
In II Corinthians 5:19 Paul says that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." And in II Corinthians 5:21 Paul says that God "made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." God did not make Christ sinful in nature or deed, but charged our sin against His Son, in order that He might credit His righteousness to us. This is imputation.
The classic passage on the imputation of Adam's guilt is Romans 5:12-19. In the NASB the passage reads as follows:
(12) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--
(13) 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.
(15) 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 gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to many.
(16) And 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.
(18) 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.
What can we say from this passage:
Rom 5:12-19
If in some sense all sinned when Adam sinned, then the two concepts that "death entered the world" and "death passed over to all men" can be seen as a single event that occurred at the Fall.
it is difficult to see how there could be guilt in the world without Law to condemn sin, unless that guilt was imputed to human beings, not because of their individual sins, but because of their corporate involvement with Adam's sin.
The answer appears to be that, just as human beings did not incur the penalty of death for their own personal acts of sin, so they did not incur guilt for their individual acts of sin alone. Rather, they were born guilty and born dead!
On the other hand the likeness may lie in the involvement of human beings in Adam's transgression through imputation of guilt, and the involvement of human beings in Christ's obedience through imputation of righteousness; the unlikeness may lie in the fact that the imputation of guilt is, by representation, earned and deserved, whereas the imputation of righteousness is a gift and undeserved.
It also appears that the representative principle -- Adam and those he represents, Christ and those He represents -- is at least preliminarily established from this verse. (15)
Here the argument is made even clearer (18). By Adam's one act of transgression, condemnation (guilt and its penalty, death) came to all men; whereas by Christ's righteousness, justification of life came to all men. The text also says that justification came to all men; but this is qualified in verse 17. There we read that only those who are justified receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness.
By the disobedience of Adam, his descendants were made guilty sinners; by the obedience of Christ, His spiritual children are made justified saints (19).
Adam may now be seen as the type of Christ, the "coming one." As the antitype (the one who fulfills the type), Christ did what Adam failed to do: He obeyed God's Law, did God's will, and earned for His spiritual children the gifts of righteousness, justification, and life, which God in turn bestows on them by His grace.
(a) The human race was an organic unity in Adam. Augustine viewed the individual as part of the whole. Adam was the entire race and possessed the whole human nature.
(b) The entire race sinned in Adam, and thus the whole human nature became guilty, corrupt, and liable to death.
(c) Individual human beings are particular manifestations of the universal human nature.
(d) Individual human beings are guilty of Adam's sin because they really and actually sinned in Adam, being in his loins. The principle employed in Hebrew 7:9-10 is applied to the descendants of Adam. Hebrews 7:9-10 states: "And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." Since we were in Adam's loins when he sinned, his sin is properly our own. Augustine wrote: "As all men have sinned in Adam, they are justly subject to the condemnation of God on account of this hereditary sin and the guilt thereof."
(e) The statement in Romans 5:12b -- "death passed over to all men, in that all sinned" -- means that all sinned in Adam, their natural head, and thus all incurred the consequences of Adam's sin.
(a) When God entered into the covenant of works with Adam, He made him the representative of the whole human race.
(b) Since Adam was truly the representative of the race, God imputed the guilt of Adam's sin to the whole race, imparted the depravity of Adam to all of his natural descendants, and condemned the whole race to death.
(c) Individual human beings are guilty of Adam's sin because they really and actually sinned in Adam, their true representative.
(d) The statement in Romans 5:12b -- "death passed over to all men, in that all sinned" -- means that all sinned in Adam, their true representative and head, and thus all incurred the consequences of Adam's sin.
(1) In the passage (Romans 5:12-19) Adam and Christ and those connected with them are shown to be contrasting parallels. Death is spoken of as the result of the sin of all men in verse 12, and as the result of the sin of one man in verses 15-19. The connection between these two assertions must be some kind of a solidarity, so that the sin is at once the sin of the "one" and the sin of "all."
(2) The nature of this solidarity is interpreted naturally and representatively. Both views hold that human nature became corrupt in Adam and that this human nature which became corrupt in Adam is transmitted to his posterity by natural generation! So the answer is that human nature was numerically and specifically one in Adam and Adam was the appointed head and representative of the whole race.
Must we choose between the Realistic (Natural Headship) and the Representative (Federal Headship) views?
Is it possible to see a dimension of the scriptural truth in each of these views? Is it possible to espouse both rather than choose one? Could Adam be viewed as both our natural and our representative head? Is there a sense in which we were really in Adam's loins when he fell, so that when he sinned we also sinned? Is there also a sense in which we were genuinely represented by Adam when he fell, so that when he sinned we also sinned? If both senses are true, do we need to choose between the two views? Or can we espouse the facets of both and see them as complementary? Such a combination view has much to commend it and appears very attractive!
a. Scriptural background to the doctrine
Genesis 6:5 -- "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Genesis 8:21 -- "And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, 'I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.'"
Psalm 14:1-3 -- "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become
corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one."
Psalm 51:5 -- "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me."
Psalm 58:3 -- "The wicked are estranged from the womb Those who speak lies go astray from birth."
Jeremiah 17:9 -- "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?"
Ezekiel 11:19-20 -- "And I shall give them one heart, and shall put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances, and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God."
Mark 7:20-23 -- "And He was saying, 'That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.'"
John 3:5-7 -- "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'"
Romans 3:9-18 -- "What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written,
'There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.'
'Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,'
'The poison of asps is under their lips';
'Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness';
'Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace have they not known.'
'There is no fear of God before their eyes.'"
Romans 7:18, 23 -- "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; . . . But I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."
Romans 8:5-8 -- "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
Galatians 5:19-21 -- "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
Ephesians 2:1-3 -- "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 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. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."
Ephesians 4:17-19 -- "This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness."
Colossians 2:13 -- "And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions."
James 1:13-15 -- "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death."
(1) What depravity is not
(a) Depravity is not a corruption of the essence of the soul-spirit
An essential quality is one which is part of the essence of a thing.
An accidental quality is an additional quality, one which is not part of the essence of a thing, one which can be gained or lost without changing the essence of a thing.
The essence of a thing is its intrinsic fundamental nature, described in terms of the indispensable qualities that make it what it is.
The essence of mankind refers to those characteristics which are essential to human beings as human beings, without which they would cease to be human.
Depravity is not an essential quality of humanity, but an accidental quality. Depraved mankind is still human; sinful human beings are still human beings.
(b) Depravity is not a "stuff" or substance infused into the soul-spirit
(c) Depravity is not merely a privation or loss of good-- it is also the presence of a constitutional disposition or bent or inclination or tendency toward sin.
(a) It is truly of the nature of sin
(b) It flows from our first parents as the originators of our race
(c) It consists in the loss of original righteousness and consequent moral depravity of our nature, including and manifesting itself in an aversion to all spiritual good and to God, and an inclination to all evil.
(d) It affects the whole person, all the faculties and capabilities of human personality (total, holistic, or pervasive depravity)
(e) It renders the soul-spirit spiritually dead, so that the natural or unregenerate person is entirely unable of himself or herself to do any spiritual good in the sight of God (total inability)
(f) It is the fountain of all other sins
(g) It is in its nature distinguished from acts of sin
(h) It retains its character as sin even in the regenerate
Louis Berkhof, in his Systematic Theology, Fourth Revised Edition, pp. 246-247, states:
Negatively, it does not imply:
(1) that every man is as thoroughly depraved as he can possibly become;
(2) that the sinner has no innate knowledge of the will of God, nor a conscience that discriminates between good and evil;
(3) that sinful man does not often admire virtuous character and actions in others, or is incapable of disinterested affections and actions in his relations with his fellow-men; nor
(4) that every unregenerate man will, in virtue of his inherent sinfulness, indulge in every form of sin; it often happens that one form excludes the other.
(1) that the inherent corruption extends to every part of man's nature, to all the faculties and powers of both soul and body; and
(2) that there is no spiritual good, that is, good in relation to God, in the sinner at all, but only perversion.
Depravity is Holistic The fleshly desires of the human heart affect every human capacity of the whole person
. . . . Our sins have corrupted all our personal capacities and relationships. The taint of idolatrous passions affects us holistically. The mind is not exempt, as some rationalists imagine. The conscience is not exempt, as some moralists think. The emotions are not exempt, as some romanticists might wish. And the will is not exempt from the taint of sin, as some activists might hope. . . .
"Holistic depravity" conveys better than "total depravity" the fact that all our abilities and our best achievements are tainted by evil without implying that we are all as bad as we could possibly be. No capacity of our unrenewed nature escapes the taint of our sinful hearts.
(a) It means that all of a person's faculties and powers are corrupted by sin (thus depravity is total in extent).
(b) It does not mean that any person is as corrupt as he or she can be in any or all of his or her faculties or powers (thus depravity is not total, but only partial, in degree).
(c) It means that human beings are born totally depraved in extent, but not in degree.
(d) It includes the idea that it is possible for a person to become more corrupt or (temporarily) less corrupt in degree than he or she has been.
(e) It implies that although all human beings are equally depraved in extent, they may be unequally depraved in degree.
Some sinners may be more sinful in degree than others; some may be less sinful in degree than others. Though all are equally sinners, some may be more depraved than others.
Some may be more cruel than others, more hateful, more malicious, more lascivious, more adulterous, more dishonest, more untruthful, more spiteful, more slanderous, more greedy, or more dissatisfied with their possessions or their lot in life than others.
(f) It suggests the possibility that at birth, infants, who are born equally depraved in extent, may be born unequally depraved in degree.
Man in his dismal condition because of sin. Notice that it is because of "sin" not because of "sins" that man is in such a bad state. "Sin" is the inner corrupt nature that causes individual sins (Psalm 51:5; Ephesians 2:3). Where did this corrupt nature come from?
Romans 5:12-21 - Here is the brunt of the argument presented in this crucial passage: Sin entered the world by one man. Death entered into the world through sin. So, because all die, this implies that all have sinned (vs. 12). Sin is universal. Also, through one transgression condemnation came to all men (vs. 18); that is, through one man's disobedience the many were made sinners (vs. 19). In other words, because of Adam's disobedience to God, sin entered into the world universally, making every man a sinner and condemned before God.
a) Adam's sin was eating the forbidden fruit.
Genesis 3:1-12 - Note that Adam did not sin out of ignorance, but out of his free will. Notice also that, even from the beginning, Adam tried to blame his sin on someone else so as to look good himself (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). Adam tried to blame his sin on the woman and ultimately on God who gave him the woman.
i) Adam, in sinning, was corrupted in such a way that all of his offspring were corrupted also. Given the opportunity, we would also willfully sin and condemn ourselves. This is why God is just in condemning all men with Adam: Adam's corruption is now ours as well. This is strongly implied in Romans 5:19.
Imagine that one of the helpful microorganisms in your colon were to willfully mutate into a harmful organism. Now, instead of fulfilling its intended function of providing you with vitamin K, it is secreting a toxin that will destroy you. This microorganism reproduces itself, producing more of the same lethal organisms. After one hundred generations of these organisms are produced, you develop a serum that will kill them. As you are about to inject yourself with it to rid yourself of this loathsome organism, one of the hundredth generation stands up to you and says, "You have no right to wipe us out with that serum. We didn't mutate to produce this toxin that is killing you, our ancestor did. We didn't ask to be born this way. Why should we suffer because of his mutation?"
The origin of the destructiveness of the organisms in no way affects their unfitness to live in your body. As long as they continue to live, they will continue to fill your body with deadly toxins. They should obviously be killed with the serum.
While this illustrative analogy falls short of describing the relationship of willfully rebellious beings with God, the basic idea is still seen: our rebelliousness against God and our abuse of His creation makes us unfit to live with God and to continue to enjoy His creation forever. This is especially true since God has offered atonement and regeneration for repentant sinners. Man's continued rebellion against God, his scoffing at God's view of himself, and his continual rejection of God's gracious offer of salvation renders him rightly deserving of God's wrath.
ii) God views man as having a common nature: He sees that an individual person would have done the same thing as his ancestor if he were in his ancestor's place. This unity is sufficiently strong that God views people as having taken part in their ancestor's actions.
Hebrews 7:9-10 - The argument presented here is that when Abraham paid tithes to the priest Melchizedek, Levi (one of Abraham's as yet unborn descendants) also paid tithes to Melchizedek. In the same sense in which Levi was involved in Abraham's payment of tithes to Melchizedek, God involves us in Adam's transgression and in its guilt. Again, one way in which this can be seen to be reasonable by us is that God knows whether or not we would have done the same thing in Adam's place. Since we know that God is just, it is very likely that each of us .would have rebelled against God just as Adam did.
Romans 3:23 - Notice the universality of sin taught here. See also Ecclesiastes 7:20.
Isaiah 53:6 - Here is taught the heart of sin. We have turned aside from what we knew to be true and right so that we could turn to our own way of living. We value our ego more than what is right.
1 John 3:4 - Here is a good definition of sin: sin is lawlessness (i.e. transgression of the Law). In that we tend to rebel at externally imposed standards (even holy ones) we have the principle of sin working in us. To the degree that we have rejected God's Laws in order to follow our own way, we have sinned.
Matthew 12:30 - We are either with the Lord or against Him. If we are not fully on the Lord's side, the Lord considers us His enemies. As is warned here the Lord's enemies will be scattered.
Romans 8:6-8 - Throughout the context of Romans 8:1-14, two kinds of people are discussed: those who walk after the Spirit (the regenerate) and those who walk after the flesh (the unregenerate). The mind set on the flesh (the pleasure-centered person) is hostile to God. Such a mind is not able to subject itself to God; and it cannot please God. The unregenerate person is such a slave to gratifying his own desires that he is not able to subject himself to God.
Ephesians 2:3 - Again we see that the unsaved person is so given over to gratifying his own desires that he is, by his very nature, deserving of God's wrath.
There are some unsaved people that we can all think of that seem to us to fit the above description of enslavement to pleasure to the point of being incapable of a decent or self-sacrificial action. These people can be irrational in their insistence on their own way. However, most unregenerate people that we know at work and at school are not, for the most part, visibly irrational and wicked. They seem to us to be nice people, following at least the minimal social conventions in order to interact smoothly with other people. Some unsaved people are very deeply involved in volunteer work in hospitals, tutorial services, and civic organizations. These people do not seem to fit the flesh-centered description of Romans 8 and Ephesians 2 very well. How can these people be the enemies of God?
Remembering that the heart of sin is seeking one's own way, the question to ask ourselves is: do these "nice" people, who go out of their way to be nice to others, subject themselves to God's standards? Would they be willing to accept God's view of themselves: that even their best volunteer efforts are as filthy rags when offered to God in attempts to earn His favor? Usually, these "nice" people do their work in an effort to justify themselves (Romans 10:1-3).
These people can be the hardest ones to witness to, since they view themselves as good people. Quite often, these people do not care anything about God at all. They care only about other people, and they treat God as if He did not even exist. The only standard of right and wrong which they respect is their own standard. Most of these people are described in Romans 1:25. They serve the creation rather than the Creator of it all. God is rightly angry with these people who love the gifts more than they love the giver.
1. We are not to trust the natural man.
John 2:24-25 - Jesus knew what men were like, and He did not entrust His well-being to them. We would be wise to realize how fleeting man's standards of right and wrong are, and how much more fleeting is his dedication to live up to those standards. We would be wise not to put ourselves in positions in which our well-being depends on natural men living up to an essentially Christian moral standard.
Jeremiah 17:5 - Here the Lord says that a man who puts his trust in mankind, and who turns his heart from the Lord, is cursed. In Israel's history, the people of Israel would depend on other nations to help defend them against attackers. Time after time, these other nations did not live up to their agreement to help defend Israel. While trusting these others to help them, Israel did not feel a need to depend on the Lord to be their defense. When these other nations failed to help, Israel was left defenseless and overtaken. A Christian's confidence should be only in the Lord, rather than in the very uncertain word of men who at heart rebel against God's good standards (cf. Jeremiah 17:7).
Proverbs 29:25 - To fear man is a narrow view of reality. Those whom we fear, we tend to want to please. A Christian who fears what men can do to him will be far less likely to faithfully serve the Lord, and to bear men's reproach. When the Lord is properly feared and trusted, serving Him comes far more naturally. Such a man has many rich rewards to look forward to from the Lord. He is truly blessed. Luke 12:4-5 - If the promise of blessings to those who fear the Lord rather than men is not enough to motivate Christians, Jesus gives a more compelling reason to fear the Lord. The worst that men can do to anyone is to kill the body: there is no more they can do. But the Lord, after He has killed the body, still has the power to cast into hell. Jesus sternly warns us to guard against our tendency to fear men and please them more than we strive to fear God and please Him.
Psalm 49:10-20 - We need to see even the most important men in relation to the Lord. Without Christ, any man will die, only to face eternal torment in hell. The Christian, on the other hand, has an eternity full of the mercy and love of God to look forward to. Is there anything that any unsaved man has that would be worth exchanging for the eternal blessedness of the believer? As for an unsaved person's gifts or brains, what is to be admired in his use of those gifts to continue his rebellion against submission to the Lord? By being unsaved, these men show themselves to be lacking in true wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). In viewing unsaved people this way, we must be careful not to be arrogantly looking down at them; rather, by having a proper view of them, so as not to fear or admire them, we should have a heart to help them to come to a true knowledge of God.
Psalm 1 - As the first verse of this Psalm teaches, we are not to desire to be with the natural man on his terms; that is, doing what he does and liking what he likes. Rather, our delight should be in the Lord's standards, and we should be as independent of the friendship and favor of unsaved people as is necessary to really embrace God's standards as our own. Think of the most intelligent, most personable, best-dressed unbeliever you know: the unbeliever by whom you would most like to be befriended. What does God see in him? Just another man who, by his own rebellious will, is a slave to sin in this life and a just recipient of wrath in the next. Now think of the least impressive, least likable believer you know. What does God see in him? One of those who is working toward the building of an eternally glorious kingdom in this life and one of its inhabitants in the next. Surely fellow Christians are the best people to have as our friends.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18 - Here it is taught that a believer has nothing essential in common with a natural man. The believer's goals and those of the natural man are directly opposed: we walk after the Spirit, he walks after the .flesh. How can we build a productive, lasting relationship with a natural man when such a conflict is at its foundation? Not being bound together with unbelievers does not only deal with marriage (although marriage is certainly a binding relationship), but deals with any relationship in which a believer can be legally, or otherwise bound. This would include business partnerships, co-leasing an apartment, in short, any commitment which would put a believer in partnership with an unbeliever.
2 Chronicles 19:2 - This commandment to believers to keep free from partnerships with unbelievers also applies to common work projects which might, on their own, be profitable and good. King Jehoshaphat, a Godly king of Judah, went to war with Ahab, a very ungodly king of Israel. Upon his return from battle, he was met by a prophet of God. This prophet accused King Jehoshaphat with helping the wicked, and loving those who hate the Lord. King Jehoshaphat was told that he had brought wrath upon himself from the Lord. It is a very serious and wrong action to be involved in any partnership with an unbeliever.