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Scripture Reading: Romans 5:12-15

The Bible and Original Sin

 

Intro.

1.  The doctrine of original sin is a component of Augustinian and Calvinistic theology (TULIP - total, hereditary depravity).

2.  Define “original sin”.

3.  What does the Scripture say? (Rom. 4:3)

 

I.  MAN AND SIN.

  A.  God Created Man and Woman without Sin, Gen. 1:27; 2:25.

  B.  Adam and Eve Chose to Sin, Gen. 2:16-17; 3:1-6 (1 Tim. 2:14).

    1.  Sin entered the world through Adam (and death through sin), Rom. 5:12. This death is warned of in Gen. 2:17 (spiritual).

    2.  Death (spir.) passed to all men “because all sinned”, Rom. 5:12.

  C.  Sin and its Guilt is Individual, Ezek. 18:4, 20.

    1.  The consequences of individual sins may (often does) affect others and future generations, Exo. 20:5 (34:7).

    2.  Physical death is a consequence of Adam’s sin that passes to us all, Gen. 3:19.

  D.  Human Beings are not Born with a “Sinful Nature”.

    1.  Sin is chosen, not inherited, Rom. 5:12; 3:23.

    2.  God made us upright; we go away from God, Eccl. 7:29; Rom. 3:12.

      a.  Children are innocent, not guilty and cursed, Matt. 18:3.

      b.  Paul’s innocence could only have been infancy and childhood, before moral perception and accountability, Rom. 7:9.

    3.  What about Jesus: Did He have original sin and a sinful nature? Heb. 2:14, 17

      a.  Some have proposed the virgin birth as His exemption. If that is correct, then what about Mary’s sins? Matt. 1:23

      b.  Roman Catholic Church: Immaculate Conception (of Mary): “In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary ‘in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin.’” (New Advent Encyclopedia, http://goo.gl/kSnQ4)

      c.  Jesus, like us, was not born with guilt of sin, Heb. 2:14.

  E.  Redemption from Sin is not Inherited, but Obtained by Faith, Rom. 1:16-17; 3:21-26. Neither sin nor righteousness are inherited.

 

Start Part 2

 

II. WHAT ABOUT THESE SCRIPTURES? DON’T THEY TEACH ORIGINAL SIN?

  A.  Job 14:1-4: Job Mourns Life’s Brevity and Travail.

    1.  Job’s complaint to God is man’s life is “full of trouble” – look away (14:6) and allow him to perish rather than prolong life’s pain (14:13-14).

    2.  14:1-4: A flower that fades. Original sin has the flower faded from the start!

    3.  Furthermore, God said Job was “blameless and upright”, not sinful in nature and under wrath, Job 1:8.

  B.  Psalm 51:5: David was Surrounded by Sin from Conception.

    1.  Not: David was a sinner from his conception.

      a.  “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (NKJV).

      b.  “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (NIV)

      c.  “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. (HCSB; Holman Chr. Standard Bible)

    2.  Parallelism: David had been surrounded by sin from conception – even his mother had sinned.

    3.  David is confessing his own sins in Psa. 51, not Adam’s (1,2,3,4,7).

    4.  David did not know good or evil as a child, cf. Deut. 1:39.

    5.  cf. Psa. 58:3: Consumed by sin from birth...speaking lies. Not that an infant sins (or speaks!); this is a way of expressing complete wickedness.

  C.  Rom. 3:10: No One is Righteous (without sin).

    -True, because “all have sinned”, 3:23; not because Adam sinned.

  D.  Rom. 5:12-19: Death in Adam, Life in Christ.

    1.  Death passes to each one the same way it came upon Adam, 5:12.

    2.  Adam (type) of Christ: Just as Adam was the door through which sin an death came into the world, Christ is the door through whom grace and justification came into the world, 5:14-16

    3.  If this verse teaches universal guilt and wrath due to Adam’s original sin, then it also teaches universal justification in Christ, 5:19.

    4.  Teaches the voluntary reception of death (by committing sin, 5:12) and the voluntary reception of grace (righteousness according to faith, 5:17, 19, 21).

  E.  1 Cor. 15:21-22: Body Dies due to Adam, and the Body will be Resurrected due to Christ.

    1.  Our bodies die as the result of Adam’s sin (Gen. 3:19).

    2.  If this verse is original sin, then also universal salvation, 15:22.

  F.  Eph. 2:3: By Nature Children of Wrath.

    1.  “Walked” in sin, being “disobedient”, 2:2; Lustful conduct, fulfilling desires of the flesh and of the mind, 2:3. Nature: “habit, course of conduct”, properties.

    2.  Practice sin...child of wrath. Practice righteousness...child of God, 1 Jno. 2:29.

  G.  Hebrews 2:14-15: All Their Lifetime Subject to Bondage.

    1.  Not until knowledge of and practice of sin, Deut. 1:39; Rom. 7:9.

    2.  This verse refutes OS, since Jesus shared in flesh and blood with us, cf. 2:17. Jesus never chose to sin – we did! He was human to become the sacrifice for our sins, Heb. 10:5, 10.

 

Conclusion

1.  The soul who sins shall die, Ezek. 18:4, 20.

2.  The sins you have “committed” bring God’s wrath upon you. So, cast away your sins, repent and live, Ezek. 18:31-32; Acts 2:37-38.

 

 

Definitions

 

a.  “In Christian theology the state of sin into which everyone is born as a result of the fall of Adam...According to this, Adam’s sin has been transmitted from parent to child ever since. The human race has thus become a ‘lump of sin’ (massa damnata).”

JOHN BOWKER. “original sin. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 5 Mar. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

 

b.  “Original sin may be taken to mean: (1) the sin that Adam committed; (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam. From the earliest times the latter sense of the word was more common, as may be seen by St. Augustine's statement: "the deliberate sin of the first man is the cause of original sin” (De nupt. et concup., II, xxvi, 43).  (New Advent Encyclopedia, “Original Sin”, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11312a.htm

 

c.  “...the deliberate sin of the first man is the cause of original sin”.  -Augustine, cited op cit.

 

d. “Original Sin is the genetic defect we all inherited from Adam and Eve. Through this genetic defect we all inherited death -- both physical and spiritual – and were separated from God. Through Jesus Christ, we all have the ability to conquer this genetic defect – sin and death – and be reconnected to God eternally.” (http://www.allaboutcreation.org/original-sin.htm)

 

e.  “ in Christian theology, the sin of Adam, by which all humankind fell from divine grace. Saint Augustine was the fundamental theologian in the formulation of this doctrine, which states that the essentially graceless nature of humanity requires redemption to save it. The purpose of baptism is to wash away original sin and to restore the individual to an innocent state, although even after baptism a tendency to sin remains as a result of original sin.”

original sin.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2012. Encyclopedia.com. 5 Mar. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

 

f.  “original sin the tendency to evil supposedly innate in all human beings, held to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall. The concept of original sin was established by the writings of St Augustine and the view of some early theologians that the human will is capable of good without the help of divine grace was branded a heresy.”  ELIZABETH KNOWLES. “original sin. The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 5 Mar. 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

 

 

 

By: Joe R. Price

Posted: March 6, 2013