HAMARTIOLOGY

I'm archeology is the study of sin for lesson 10 our objectives are one identify the correct theological understanding of God's permission of sin to identify the three logical possibilities regarding the origin of earthly sin three identify the correct biblical and Theological basis for human sinfulness four utilize a Bible to reference the effects of sin in terms of spiritual physical and eternal death five identify the correct theological understanding of the effects of sin on Adams descendants and six identify the four main theological understandings or views of depravity our study of harm archaeology will consist of three parts the first is the origin of sin next the nature of sin and finally the effects of sin and the origin of sin we'll divide this into these three areas permission of sin by God the origin of sin by creatures and the origin of earthly evil through human free will first we'll look at the permission of sin by God God we need to remember cannot produce sin is the standard of all perfection as Matthew 5:48 says your heavenly Father is perfect and a flawless being cannot act in a flawed way as Genesis 1:31 reminds us God saw all that he made and behold it was very good and God did not create evil and said it was humans and angels who fell into condemnation according to first Timothy 36 and remember from previous discussion that evil is not a thing in itself or a substance in itself instead it is a privation in things or substances hence God only creates and can only create good things or substances and also remember that man cannot know the imperfect unless he knows what the perfect is he cannot know that something does not measure up unless he knows what it is to be measured by since God cannot produce sin also the scripture tells us that God cannot promote sin he cannot do evil as Hebrews 6:18 says it is impossible for God to lie as well as Titus 1 to God who cannot lie and he cannot tempt anyone to do evil James 1:13 says God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt any and God cannot look on sin with approval according to Habakkuk 1:13 your eyes are too pure to approve evil and you cannot look on wickedness with favor and God cannot produce sin he also cannot promote sin however it is true that God can permit sin and permitting sin is not necessarily a sin for example our government permits sin by allowing cars on our roads but allowing cars in and of itself is not an evil even though evil can result from the permission of cars to be on the road in a similar way God can permit sin to take place but allowing sin to take place is not the same as committing sin by creating the good of free choice God did permit sin to take place but God permitted something that is good namely freedom in creatures is a good thing but a concomitant of this good thing can be evil as Genesis 5:20 says as for you you meant evil against me but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive in Hebrews 12:11 says all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful yet to those who are being trained by it afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness so God can permit sin and even have a purpose for sin as we've seen in these verses and can even bring as we'll see a greater good out of sin God can a greater good out of sin Romans 5:20 says where sin abounded grace abounded much more and he says in Romans 5:3 tribulation works patience and James says consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and that endurance have it's perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing so while God cannot produce or promote sin and evil he can permit it to take place and have a purpose for it and produce out of it a greater good the origin of sin by creatures here we need to recall that only rational creatures consent animals cannot sin in angels and men are rational creatures so here first we'll remind ourselves of the sin introduced by angels God created only good angels as Genesis 1:31 says everything he had made was very good and Satan in one-third of his angels according to revelation 12:4 were swept away third of the stars of heaven a reference to angels and threw them to earth and first Timothy three six the fall into condemnation that was incurred by the devil so heavenly beings or spiritual beings or angels constitute an origin of sin with respect to heaven and human beings are the origin of sin on the earth the result or consequence of sin is recorded for us in Genesis 3 then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden then the Lord God called to the man and said to him where are you he said I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself and he said who told you that you were naked have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat the woman whom you gave to be with me she gave me from the tree and I ate then the Lord God said to the woman what is this you have done and the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate the Lord God said to the serpent because you have done this curse it are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly you will go and dust you will eat all the days of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel to the woman he said I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth in pain you will bring forth children yet your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you then to Adam he said because you have listened it to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you saying you shall not eat from it cursed is the ground because of you in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you and you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return there are some important in interesting observations to make with regards to this text first of all their eyes were opened and they saw themselves as naked the use of the term naked here is a clear connective link with the previous chapters narrative where they were naked and had no shame this anticipates the problem with them now being seen by themselves as naked and clearly this has a deeper meaning than just without clothes something has been lost no longer did they see the good and enjoy the good now they see their own nakedness and that they were no longer like God and so they were ashamed and they tried to cover themselves and God comes walking in the garden which is likely a sign of judgment to come and they hide themselves into trees and trees are an important theme in Genesis two and three and it is God that brings conviction to them by asking questions that repeat their own words such as the use of naked and the extent of the fall is seen and that they blame each other they blame God's good gifts the woman that God gave to Adam and the woman is seen as the source of trouble and it is the woman who blames the serpent then God says to the serpent and this begins the curse which begins a long story of a struggle that will culminate by the act of some distant seed from the woman and the language that is used of the snake suggests that he is suffering in shame and total defeat enmity between the serpent seed and the woman seed extends beyond the woman but the way the language is the serpent is viewed as one with his own seed such that he is identical to his seed so that when his seed is crushed it is him who is crushed and of course the passage raises the question that does not answer who is the woman seed and what was originally intended as a blessing her husband and bearing children now her husband rules over her and she desires him and her pain is increased as a reminder of the consequences of her rebellion against God but also is a reminder of the means through which the snake will ultimately be defeated and blessing is restored not lying to humanity but also to all of creation and man who was taken from the ground and given breath now must return to the ground hence the promise of the consequence now comes to fruition man truly dies and his body returns to dust the origin of earthly evil is through human free will philosophically considered in the six kinds of causation these of course are secondary causes under the Providence of God and should be understood in a secondary sense the efficient cause of sin understood in a secondary sense is the person that by which sin came to be the final cause is pride that for which sin came to be in the formal cause is disobedience that of which sin came to be the material cause was eating the forbidden fruit that out of which sin came to be and the exemplar cause was none since this is the first human sin there is no exemplar cause that after which sin came to be and finally the instrumental cause of course is the power of free choice that through which sin came to be God is of course the efficient cause of Adam's good free actions which results in the sin of Adam but God does not choose for Adam nor does God force Adam to choose and therefore Adam should be understood as the efficient cause or secondary efficient cause of sin in human beings on the earth there are only three logical possibilities to explain the cause of sin in human beings on the earth one is determinism understood in a strong sense says that all human actions are caused by another not by oneself this comes in at least two forms hard determinism that says there's no free choice at all and soft determinism that posits free choice but sees it as ultimately controlled by God's sovereignty and of course here I'm using determinism as understood as all actions caused by God and in no free will in determinism says that human actions are not caused by anything this of course makes no sense since an action or an effect must have a cause so our only option is number three that is self determinism that is human free actions are self caused or caused by oneself god of course as we said can be the cause of free will but he is not the cause of our choice and Adam and humans can be spoken of as self determined beings either Adam's sin was caused by another that is determined uncaused in determined or caused by himself that is self determined it cannot be determined since God did not cause Adam to sin that is he did not choose or make the choice for him and neither did the tempter that is the devil forced him to sin in any way and it cannot be did in determinism since there is no lack of wholeness and Adam that would give rise to sin he was perfect and there are no such things as uncaused actions so it cannot be determinism and it cannot be in determinism that is used to explain Adam's sin therefore it must be self determine ISM you must have been the efficient cause of it himself that is his choice Adam was free in the sense that his act was self determined as implied in the command in Genesis 2:16 the Lord God commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden you may eat freely and his evil choice was not inevitable since he was given the consequence Genesis 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die hence he was held responsible knowing full well what the consequences were which implies that he has the ability to choose and to respond under the nature of sin will examine the biblical basis theological basis and objections to human sinfulness first we'll look at the biblical basis of human sinfulness there are many names or terms that are used for sin in the Bible these are just a few sin in the Old Testament and the New Testament means to miss the mark or to err so in 51 for says against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and as Doctor I read notes in the Old Testament as well as the new it's not just missing the mark but it's doing so knowingly and deliberately trespass to cover up to act covertly treacherously and the New Testament to slip or to stumble numbers 31 16 says behold these caused the sons of Israel to trespass against the Lord in Galatians 6:1 brethren even if anyone is caught in any trespass you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness iniquity is perversity fault morally wrong unjust and unrighteous isaiah 53:11 my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities James 3 6 says and the tongue is a fire the very world of iniquity evil bad harmful wrong calamity or evil in character Isaiah 7:15 says he will eat curd and honey at the time he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good Matthew 7:11 if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him wickedness means morally bad or ungodly Psalm 1:1 says how blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked in Matthew 23 28 in the same way on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness and finally desire desire is really a neutral term and it is only used three times in the New Testament for a wrong or strong desire or translated even lust Romans seven eight says but sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting where this could be translated lust of every kind for apart from the law sin and dead and Colossians 3:5 says therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality impurity passion evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry in 1st Thessalonians 4 5 not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God in Scripture there are two basic categories or we could say kinds of sin there are sins of commission James 3 4 says everyone who sins breaks the law in fact sin is lawlessness this is doing what we should not do this is doing something aggressive that is a breach of standards this is going past proper boundaries or breaking a just law the other category are sins of omission James 4:17 says anyone then who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it since this is not doing what we should do this is something negative something that is omitted this is missing a target when one should hit it it's failing when one should succeed or falling when one should stand or it's having ignorance of what one should know but does not and these together constitute the two categories of sin commission and omission which makes man blameworthy in the Old Testament Genesis 6:5 says 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 in in Genesis 8:21 I will never again curse the ground on account of man for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth so it is clear from the Old Testament that both in a general sense God sees man has continually being evil in Genesis 8:21 identifies this on an individual the heart of man from his youth is evil isaiah 53:6 all of us like sheep have gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him all of us includes all of humanity and sent us something that is universal and like sheep we collectively move yet also individually move in terms of going astray which gives the idea of an eighth weakness or a disposition and each of us has turned to his own way that is each individual chooses to sin and when it says the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him that has been Christ's sin has looked at as an unpaid debt that we owe because of divine justice that we cannot pay but God must pay in Leviticus 16 21 to 22 then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel in all their transgressions in regard to all their sins and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of the man who stands in readiness the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land and he shall release the goat in the wilderness the iniquities and transgressions constitute all their sins all the sins of the Israelites and they are placed on the scapegoat this is an example of commission and omission and confessed guilt and the final act of disposing of Israel sins the whole of sins is removed comprehensively and completely even their guilt is taken care of and this of course is a picture of what Christ did for us on the cross in Romans 1 24 through 32 Paul gives us lists of individual sins and links all such sin to idolatry he does this in giving three textual division where he says God gave them over in the first section he says God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them but they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever amen the first turn over he mentions here involves turning them over to their inward desires or lusts God gave them over to degrading passions for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural and in the same way also men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer in the second section God gives them over because they exchanged the truth for a lie in the third section God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper being filled with all unrighteousness wickedness greed evil full of envy murder strife deceit malice they are gossips slanderers haters of god insolent arrogant boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents without understanding untrustworthy unloving unmerciful and although they know the ordinance --is of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death they not only do the same but also give hearty approval to those who practice them in the third section he turns them over to a debased mind and knowledge these three sections in which God says he gives them over or an expression of the reason for God's wrath and the central problem is that man has dishonored God through idolatry which could be understood in two senses one is thinking that certain idols are gods that is thinking God to be something that is created or a creature in nature and putting an image to him or that God is not his invisible attributes such as being all-powerful or all-knowing when God represents man in corporeal form he Mars his own corporeal existence physical existence has no real meaning apart from the transcendent immaterial God the sanctity of physical human life is only preserved and we understand God has transcended who gives ultimate significance and value and it's also important to know in these texts that there is a tight connection between the sin and the judgment that which is receiving back in themselves an expression Paul uses here is not likely guilt itself which certainly it may include but is more likely a reference to something that is physical such as diseases that engaging and that which is not a natural function that is according to the nature of man the judgment of God is revealed in the consequences of such lifestyle and activity such as physical diseases which might be a reference to things like sexually transmitted diseases which was something known to exist in the Roman world in Roman times and was known to come from and be linked to promiscuity and homosexual activity in Romans 3:10 through 18 Paul gives a collection of Old Testament citations in what is referred to as a Catina which are closely linked series of verses from the Old Testament here Paul takes from Psalm Ecclesiastes Isaiah and proverbs and gives a description of what man really is as God sees him verses 10 through 12 deal with what man does not do that is his deficiencies or as we've categorized them omissions and in verse 13 to 17 he deals with what man does do that is his depravity of commission 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 the manner in which he falls short that his man's unrighteousness is universal since it says not even one and he does not understand that is he is deficient in spiritual perception and he does not seek God he's deficient and spiritual devotion there's no effort that can be identified in man or even in his religious pursuits that is to be considered genuine knowledge of his creator such an expression here may allow for superficial or sporadic seeking but all have turned aside even man considered together or where it says not one considered individually man accomplishes nothing worthwhile when considered from God's vantage point everything that man does is tainted by sin 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 they have not known here Paul stresses the members of the body as a vehicle of sin coming to fruition or reality words are emphasized in verses 13 to 14 and then actions are emphasized in verses 15 to 17 such descriptions emphasize that man privately considered and collectively exhibit a deep sinfulness resulting in Paul's bottom line in verse 18 there is no fear of God before their eyes man pursues his own agenda and his words and his actions have no fear of God in Scripture it is clear that there are degrees of sin not all sins are considered by God to be equal jesus said that there were wait year matters of the law in Matthew 23:23 and he spoke of a higher duty in the first and greatest commandment Matthew 22 38 and there are some who are guilty of a greater sin according to John 1911 and some sin can lead to God even taking the person's life as first John 5:16 says if anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death he'll ask he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death there is a sin leading to death I do not say that he should make requests for this so there is sin in a believers life that could lead to the death of the believer as John has identified here and Paul seems to make reference to the same thing in 1st Corinthians 11 29 in relationship to the Lord's Supper the greatest sin as we have seen is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit according to Matthew 12:30 - and according to revelation 20:12 another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds this phrase according to their deeds suggests a severe eternal punishment for the heaviness of the sins that they commit since some deeds in some sins are more severe than others sin is something that is primarily against God but scripture makes reference to its effects against ourselves and others proverbs 8:36 says but he who sins against me injures himself all those who hate me love death and proverbs 632 says the one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense he who would destroy himself does it which are clear indications that the consequences of sin clearly affect ourselves and it also includes offense against others in society as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15:33 do not be deceived bad company corrupts good morals and of course ultimately sin is against heaven or against God as Luke 15 18 in the parable of the prodigal sun-hee expresses this and saying against God where he says I will get up and go to my father and will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and sin ultimately is primarily against God sin is unbelievable cording to Romans 14:23 but he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith whatever is not from faith is sin which is an expression of a moral principle that when someone does not show reverence to God or showing a reverence to God they're committing sin which of course is against God and sin is rebellion first Samuel 15:23 for rebellion is as the sin of divination an insubordination is an iniquity and idolatry because you have rejected the word of the Lord and it is transgression as Paul says in Romans 5:14 nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam in sin is pride as we've seen in 1st Timothy 3 6 where we should not become conceited and fall into the condemnation that was incurred by the devil hence in contrast we can see that sin is being unholy since God is holy sin is being unrighteous but compared with God's righteousness sin is moral and perfection and compared with our Heavenly Father who is perfect and sin is being unloving when God is love and sin is being untruthful when God is truthful so we see that sin is primarily against God because he created man a certain way according to a certain nature and upheld that nature originally and man has now fallen from that nature and cannot function even in accordance with the way God created him and the holiness righteousness perfection love and truth of God in this comparison it is God who functions perfectly according to his nature it's not a comparison to show that we must be God but that just says God functions properly and correctly according to his nature man does not function properly in according to his nature the way God originally created man and intended him to function and hence regattas perfect in terms of his character holiness righteousness perfection love and truth man is imperfect fallen and as his finite state functions imperfectly in opposition to the perfection of God since man is unholy unrighteous imperfect unloving and untruthful the occasion our process that man falls into sin is described in James 1:13 2:15 but no one say when he is tempted I am tempted by God for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed then when desire has conceived it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death God certainly does test us in terms of our faith Genesis 22:1 God tested Abraham but God does not induce or entice us to sin each occasion for sin that we face is also an occasion for obedience as well in Christ of course is our example in terms of his temptation and also as mentioned in Hebrews 12:14 the process is described here in James is that we are drawn away our will allows desire to come out of a disciplined control and become undisciplined and manifests itself in terms of an evil desire or lust our enticement here is a word that can be depicted as catching someone by bait it is an imagined pleasure and when lust is conceived it is no more an innocent desire but it is something that is pregnant and Paul's analogy with pregnancy is very strong since when the desire is conceived the end result has to be birth of sin pregnancy is never partial and it cannot be terminated a seed planted will result in a remorseful conscience and even the expression full-grown gives the notion of indulgence for a long period of time but certainly not forever because as Paul says in James says here it brings forth death the wages of sin is ultimately death whether it be spiritual or physical death the theological basis for human sinfulness first to remind ourselves of the metaphysical nature of sin some have argued against our position that God created everything sin is a real thing therefore God created sin it would seem that a theist must either reject one or two in order to deny three and of course we must hold that God created everything that is every substance since scripture affirms this and reason does as well but sin we need to understand is not a substance or a thing in and of itself so we do reject number two sin is real but it isn't a substance it is a privation or a lack in a good substance and can only exist because something good exists and it exists in something that is good as a corruption or a privation of its goodness for example as rot is to a tree or rust is to metal hence we can reject the conclusion that God created sin also we need to bring into our discussion of God's providence the issue of sin God's sovereignty in terms of the primary and secondary causation that we discussed an anthropology says that God upholds all things by the word of his power according to Hebrews 1:3 and we need to remember what James says that God does not tempt us or entice us to sin if we look at Scripture comprehensively we'll see some scripture speak of God testing us in terms of our faith but this is not the same thing as tempting us and we even see in the New Testament second Thessalonians 2:11 and for this reason God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie so we need to account for instances in scripture where God clearly within his evidence uses evil to achieve his ends and we do that there are at least four categories that we can put such instances in the first one is pervy Myint control god prevents some sins from happening Genesis 26 says then God said to him in a dream yes I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this and I also kept you from sinning against me therefore I did not let you touch her so here God prevents sin from happening to achieve his purposes this can be seen perhaps in the New Testament as we've identified in 1st John 5:16 that there is a sin that leads unto death in first Corinthians 11:30 reminds us that even weakness and illness because of people's irreverence towards the Lord's Supper may be used in a pervy nion to control with respect to God's sovereignty also there is his permissive control God permits us and to fulfill his own plan in fact Psalm 81 12 says God gave his people over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils and so while we would not say that God is indifferent to sin he certainly uses it to achieve his own end there's also his directive control God guides evil efforts of sinful men to ends of his own choosing a psalm 7610 says surely the wrath of man shall praise God in Genesis 5:20 says you meant it for evil but God meant it for good this clearly shows his directive control of wicked acts of sinful men but still we can hold that he is not enticing men to sin but because of his Providence he uses sin but because of his Providence he uses sinful men to achieve his ends and for is the limited control even though man's heart is continually evil there are limits beyond which they cannot go the flood for example was used to bring judgment on all of mankind because of the evil that existed in the day of Noah and Paul speaks in 2nd Thessalonians 2 3 through 6 of a time of restraint and now you know what is restraining that he that is the Antichrist may be revealed in his own time and God may also use civil control and justice in even nations in order to restrict and control the sin of men so these theological categories have scriptural support in which we can identify different ways in which God uses sin under his divine providence there are also categories of sin we've identified two biblical categories already commission and omission but Roman Catholic theology has identified many other categories with regards to sin and some of these have biblical support dr. Robert Culver and his systematic theology says evangelical doctrine made judiciously employ some of these and other traditional distinctions and terms with approval but we must part company with Rome because many of these are used to send people to the sacraments in order to get forgiveness such as penance and they cannot find forgiveness without going through the Sacrament of Penance and Rome's view which we object to is that if people do not repent of some of these sins then they lose their salvation so these must be used with care in a Protestant context because many would object to the Roman use of these but nonetheless there are some scriptural grounds for understanding the concept that they have identified behind the use of these categories there are grave sins for example mortal sins that Protestants would easily recognize as more severe than other sins homicide adultery and the like are mortal sins venial sins offend and wound but are considered minor infractions and not a grave matter things that are easily forgivable since they still allow charity and love to exist capital sins are called capital sins because they engender other sins to take place or we might look at them as promoting vices instead of virtues so things that would be done that would prevent virtues of prudence and justice and fortitude and temperance as well as the theological virtues of faith hope and love would be considered capital sentence material sins are doing evil but not knowing it as evil and formal sins are doing right but in a bad conscience which likely could be subsumed under the biblical categories of commission and omission internal sins are sinful thought or imagination that we would have when there is no intention to do what is imagined this is taken from Jesus words in Matthew 5:28 but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart in Romans 6:12 also makes notion of the internal dimension of evil desires and man and then there are external sins which would be things like obscene speech gestures speaking evil cursing and line being against what Ephesians 4:29 says let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth but only such a word as is good for edification according to need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear so as Protestants while we would object to the use of these in Roman Catholicism to drive people to the sacraments and penance and their failure to show people that they can be forgiven simply by going to God directly through Jesus Christ in confession and repentance some of the concepts here do have a biblical basis but we must remind ourselves as dr. Culver says in his systematic theology Protestant interpretation of Scripture insists that all sins of men are venal and that they are remediable through the blood of Jesus Christ which is sufficient atonement for any and every sin all sins are likewise mortal in the sense that they proceed from a fallen sinful heart which is in itself guilty and culpable one objection will respond to concerning human sinfulness says that God's absolute standard of perfection makes it irrational to demand for mortal humans to comply but our answer is to look at the entirety of humanity beginning with Adam Adam was created with the ability to adhere to the standard as we've seen in the perfect state with regards to his creation and his righteousness and we've also pointed out that he was not tempted on moral matters since such a temptation would mean nothing to him he was simply tested with regards to his obedience to the Word of God and we must think of humanity in terms and we must understand humanity in terms of Adam being our federal head that is the one appointed by God of course to represent all of humanity and to make the decisions for all of humanity since he was the first man and just as being the head of a body what the head decides and what the head does affects the rest of the body and God cannot lower or diminish his ultimate standard and so the answer really lies in enabling grace which we will have more to say about later but here we need to recognize that the objection issues and ignorance of what God has done to bring man back to himself and this of course is the idea behind enabling grace it is impossible for us to please God in our own sinful flesh we cannot do it of our own strength but God has given us grace and by His grace this is possible and since autumn plies can we can and only can buy his enabling grace that is what we cannot do of our own state in existence bring ourselves to God God can bring us to him by His grace hence the objection does not consider all of humanity and what has taken place with respect to all of humanity and how God originally made Adam and Adams response to God in his word and how God has reached out to man and provided His grace to bring him to him without diminishing or altering his ultimate standard whatsoever hence the objection does not stand and also we must identify a theological debate on depravity that has exist at least since the time of the Reformation and it seems to be centered on one of our words for sin if you remember the word desire or in the Latin concupiscence was used by Paul in Romans 7 8 Colossians 3:5 in 1st Thessalonians 4 5 being the Greek word epithelia at least two theological positions have developed over the years regarding how deeply the fall affects human desire the Roman Catholic view which is also held by armenian in Wesleyan so understand that this is not necessarily an issue between Roman Catholics and Protestants they see concupiscence as something that is neutral and man even since the fall and this neutral desire or will can be controlled either by right or good or wrong or evil reason they say that as a result of the fall the supernatural grace of righteousness was withdrawn but rational spiritual nature remained in man and sin is primarily confined to deliberate and willful acts and the rational spiritual nature remained unaffected by the fall and is able to perform acts according to the will freely the other position following the Lutheran's in the Calvinists see it as deeply affected by the fall in terms of wrong or evil choices actions and habits here they see the fall deeply affecting the desires and concupiscence of man in terms of his conscious choices spontaneous actions rooted even in his affections and taste and also his fixed habits and states of disposition and this they see as even the case for regenerate man that is even those that have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit that is believers still have this deeply affected sinful nature in them in short we can say Confucians according to the Roman Catholic view even according to the Council and Trent says that contaminants can lead to sin but the Reformation following at least Lutheran's and Calvinists say it is then so what is Protestant evangelical theology to do is there a moderate or middle view to be identified can we affirm one that everything about us became tainted with sin and as corrupt and at the same time not extend such sin and corruption to the erasing or eliminating of the image of God and man in terms of his functions regarding his intellect and will and I think such a mediating position can be identified and properly upheld in a systematic theological sense in other words you can take from both views but not to the extent that you one say the image of God and man has been erased in terms of the functions of the various aspects of humans and - you cannot say that depravity does not affect every aspect of human beings that is body soul intellect emotions and desire or to put it positively we must preserve the image of God and man and preserve the total depravity of man as well and so far view implicitly or explicitly denies one in two then we would say it has gone too far the effects of sin here we'll look at the effects of sin on Adam and Eve on Adams descendants and the biblical basis for the effects of human sin as well as the extent of sin which is depravity first the effects of sin on Adam and Eve there are three primary effects or deaths with respect to Adam concerning his sin the first is spiritual death the moment that Adam sinned he experienced spiritual isolation or separation from God this we know from Genesis 378 which we've already looked at and as a result of this all humans are already spiritually dead when they are physically born and unsaved humanity actually only undergoes and eternal death in terms of what they experienced since Genesis 3 and the need to be born again according to Jesus's teaching in John chapter 3 the implication is that we are born spiritually dead or spiritually separated from God and that what Adam experienced as the result of his sin is true for all of us and only the new birth can reverse this according to John 3:3 jesus answered and said to Nicodemus truly truly I say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God and 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 be amazed that I said to you you must be born again he also suffered physical death the moment that Adam partook of the forbidden fruit he began to die physically Adam before he sinned was immortal he would never have died had he not sinned he would have never died or suffered physical death had he not sinned but because of his sin physical death is the inevitable and the natural result not only for Adam but all of his descendants except for Christ and Adam died and eternal death also resulted from Adam's sin and extends to all of humanity as well because of Adam's sin the end of man which was to be in growing fellowship with God resulting in the beatific vision is now reversed and the final end of man is eternal separation from the beatific vision the opposite of being with God in this in Scripture is referred to as the second death revelation 20:14 says then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into lake of fire and as dr. geyser succinctly states those who are born only once physically will die twice physically and eternally however those who are born twice physically and spiritually will die only once physically John 11:26 says everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die do you believe this the effects of sin on Adams descendants Adam's sin affected his offspring and that all have sinned through one man that is Adam Romans 5:12 says 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 all have sinned Paul says in Adam Paul said all sinned in Adam there's much theological discussion as to what he means by that and many admit that we do not know but theologically it has been spoken of in at least three senses potentially seemingly and legally the first one is potentially all of us were there in a potential sense we were also there seemingly in a genetic or physical sense in the biblical understanding and from God's vantage point the human race is viewed as one organism with a head and since all of humanity will be derived physically and metaphysically from Adam and will receive his nature that they pass on through him Hebrews 7 9 through 10 speaks of this through Abraham even Levi who received tithes paid tithes for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him so a picture is given biblically of the human race as being one organism this is analogous to the way Paul teaches about the church as the body of Christ and Christ being the head with various members this is the way God views and the biblical picture is presented with regards to the human race as well so all of us are present in Adam with him as the head of the human race and since Adam is the head he is the one who is legally in a judicial sense making the decisions for and representing the entire human race before God hence we are all present potentially seemingly and legally in Adam as our head the transmission effects of Adam's sin sin is imputed to us through Adam fallenness and depravity were imputed to his descendants directly and immediately to impugn to attribute or give which means the responsibility for what has taken place or occurred is passed on to us and also we inherit original sin which is transmitted indirectly immediately to everyone generated naturally from Adam hence we are sinners by Nature this is because we are born into it and because we inevitably do what is natural or according to our nature which is now fallen hence we sin Ephesians 2:1 4:3 says 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 the flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath even as the rest here Paul identifies the environment in which we are born into and also the corrupt and deprived nature our flesh that we inherited from Adam how is the sin transmitted and this of course is according to the tradition view dr. Riley has an excellent chart to show the difference between imputed sin and inherited sin imputed sin is transmitted directly from Adam to each individual in every generation that is directly from Adam to me since I was in Adam potentially an inherited sin is mediated or transmitted through the generations between Adam and me and this is why the imputed righteousness of Christ at the moment I believe is so important because when one believes the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them and they go from being in Adam to being in Christ such that the imputed sin is immediately reversed upon someone's believing in Christ but the inherited sin the sin nature still remains yet to be done away with at glorification there are judicial or legal effects of Adam's sin Adam has the god-given power of attorney for the whole human race he is the head of the human race being the first one created by God and hence he is given the authority to make the decisions for the entire human race as Romans 5:18 says so then as through one transgression that is Adamson the resulted condemnation to all men even so through one act of righteousness that is Christ death that resulted justification of life to all men for us through the one man's disobedience that is Adam the many were made sinners even so through the obedience of the one that is Christ the many will be made righteous dr. geiszler says all were not made sinners actually since they did not actually exist at the time however they were potentially and legally present in Adam as such they received the imputation of the consequences of his sin dr. Riley compares in this chart the inherited imputed impersonal inherited sin according to Ephesians 2:3 among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind is transmitted from generation to generation and the principal consequence of inherited sin is spiritual death the remedy for this of course is the gift of regeneration by the Holy Spirit imputed sin Romans 5:12 therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death for sin and so death spread to all men because all sin is what is imputed directly from Adam to me or each every human individual in the world except for Christ and the principle consequence of this is of course physical death the remedy for this is the imputed righteousness of Christ who alone has no sin either inherited or imputed and of course we do in our lifetime commit personal sins as Romans 3:23 says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God none of our personal sins of course are transmitted from anyone else or to anyone else and the principal consequence of this of course is loss of fellowship with God and of course for believers first John 1:9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and the remedy of this is confession and forgiveness to reestablish fellowship with the Lord the effects of sin on our relationship with God spiritual separation needs to be understood as dr. geyser says as the total inability to achieve or obtain the solution to our sin that separates us from God by ourselves that is there's nothing we could do nothing we could say nothing we could achieve that would solve the problem of spiritual separation from God however this does not entail as he says our total inability to accept the solution from God also guilt and shame result as effects of our sin in relationship with God the Genesis 3:7 says then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings guilt and shame come from the reality of his failure guilt comes from the reality of his failure and shame comes from the recognition of this failure and loss of fellowship Adam no longer wanted to talk with his creator but instead hid from him in the trees and at first John one sixth or seven says if we say that we have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not practice the truth but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin and there are also volitional effects of Adam's sin which we will cover on the effects of sin on the image of God the biblical basis for the effects of human sin the image of God and humans is effaced but it is not erased fallen state includes the image of God we have seen this in Genesis 9:6 as well as James 3 and these are clear indications that the image of God continues in man even after his fallen state and sin of faces but it does not erase the image of God it is marred but it is not eliminated while it can be said that sin affects human reason it cannot be possible that sin completely destroys human rationality for not only would we be unable to reason about that truth we would also no longer be able to sin and sin is extensive not intensive with respect to total depravity sin is pervasive it extends to every dimension of human beings body soul will and so forth but this does not mean that we are as sinful as we could be and apart from Christ we are not as good we should be dr. geyser says sin does penetrate and permeates our whole being no element of human nature is unaffected by inherited evil even though no aspect is completely destroyed by it total depravity total depravity taken too far eliminates the ability for one to be depraved one's ability to know and choose good over evil is destroyed the noetic effects of human sin are included in the private ii depravity brings spiritual darkness and blindness second Corinthians 4:4 says in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God and Jesus said I have come as light into the world so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness so while depravity certainly darkens us spiritually and blinds us because of Christ's coming into the world it is possible for humans to escape this darkness and blindness Ephesians 5:8 says for you were formerly darkness but now you are light in the Lord walk as children of light there are volitional effects of human sin it is true that we cannot unmoved by divine grace seek God as we saw in Romans 3:11 there is none who understands there is none who seeks for God and we cannot initiate salvation as John 1:13 says we were born not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of the will of God and we cannot attain salvation Romans 9 16 so then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy and as we have seen in anthropology we are free in things below social and moral choices that we make and we are free to receive or reject the gift of salvation John 1:12 says but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God even the those who believe in his name the act of faith is prompted and it is aided by God but he does not perform it or choose it for us Corinthians 2 4 through 6 and my message and my preaching we're not in persuasive words of wisdom but in demonstration by the spirit of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God and second Corinthians 3:5 not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves but our adequacy is from God so what does it mean to have a fallen human nature it means that we are born this way as we've seen in psalm 51:5 we are conceived in sin it is our nature so it is natural for us to sin it's an inclination it's not something that has to be learned or taught it's what we are by nature since the fall and sin is inevitable given an opportunity to manifest itself it will come about and we are incapable of saving ourselves because of this fallen human nature because we sin by Nature and practice it makes it impossible for us to enter God's perfect heaven since we are imperfect by Nature and what does it not mean to have a fallen nature that everyone is as sinful as they could possibly be that's not the case there are graduations of sin some are more sinful than others and that our sin fallen human nature is somehow excusable for what we do and what we are God still holds us responsible for what we do and who we are in terms of the entirety of the human race as well as each of us individually that we are unable to avoid sin since he still holds us accountable Romans 14:12 says so then each one of us will give an account of himself to God and that any particular sin is inescapable for believers and unbelievers for believers first going and 10:13 says no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to men and God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure it since God provides salvation for all for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age the way that unbelievers escape sin is to be saved and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and hence they also are unexcused since salvation has appeared to all men and it also does not mean that we have no choice in our salvation since again our depravity does not eliminate free will so we are free to choose in vertical matters as well as horizontal matters and of course all of this is initiated by the grace of God dr. geyser says in his systematic theology he that is God not only once all to be saved he provides the ability for all who desire it our free choice does not initiate and cannot attain the unmerited gift of salvation but by God's grace our will can receive it the extent of sin or depravity in developing the doctrine of depravity or total depravity it needs to be kept in mind that this doctrine cannot be generated apart or separate from other theological doctrines that we have put forth such as our theology proper that is preserving the attributes of God such as Omni benevolence and also our anthropology that preserves the image of God and man even after the fall even keeping intact his reasoning and free will and also it must give great respect in regard to the biblical data regarding sin that we have done here in harm archeology so this is our criterion to develop the doctrine of depravity and also our criterion to assess other views with charge to total depravity here we'll examine pelagianism Arminianism also known as semi-pelagianism moderate Calvinism and strong Calvinism Pelagianism pledgee anism comes from Plagueis who is a British monk who lived about 354 to 420 AD this view was condemned at the Council of Carthage in 416 and for 18 and it rightly should be called a heresy or an anti-christian doctrine we considered here as a heretical view because it is held today by Unitarians which developed in the 17th and 18th century and some liberal theologians endorse a similar view of plague lien ISM play Gian ISM says human beings are born innocent just as Adam was created innocent so each of us individually is born innocent as well we inherit from Adam no sin whatsoever hence we are able to obey or disobey God just as Adam was and the only thing that Adam bequeathed to us is really just his bad example of disobeying God and only our individual sins are imputed to us nothing from Adam is imputed to us and even physical death is not the result of Adam's sin we are simply created in a moral state and the image of God in us is untarnished and grace of course would not be needed for salvation this view attributes goodness to man at such a level that it opens up the possibility of someone living in a state free from sin if he so is able to will it and of course this position is rejected for the sole reason that it does not take the biblical data regarding depravity and sin seriously it is rightly called a heresy Arminianism also known as semi-pelagianism this comes from the reformed theologian Jacobus or james Arminius who lived 1560 to 1609 at with regards to depravity that all are deprived but are still able to obey God some holding this view may not add grace to it but others may imputed sin they say that all are born with a weakened nature since we existed potentially or seemingly in Adam and hence we have a bent towards sin so the primary effects of Adam's sin on the race was to give man a proneness to sin without implying guilt and we are viewed as only weakened by sin the image of God in man is simply effaced man is not dead in the sense that he is unable to function and turn to God or to initiate repentance of sin all are spiritually separated from God from birth but they have not lost the human ability to respond to God humans are weakened by sin but they're not dead in the sense that they are unable to function and turn to God and initiate repentance of sin grace they say does not work irresistible on all it works only on the elect and it works sufficiently on all awaiting their free cooperation before it can become saving in this view humans have sufficient knowledge of God and will to turn to God and some of course ad God's special grace to this some who have read Arminius closely are unclear as to whether he posited grace on the willing or not but many sense him adopting his view have added it the Lutheran formula of Concord seems the first to have adopted the term semi-pelagianism and it has become a view for our minions Wesley uns have adapted some aspects of it some Baptist theology has adopted it Mennonite and Roman Catholic theology as well as Greek Orthodox theology moderate Calvinism there are two versions of Calvinism that both trace their origin to the works of John Calvin who lived 1509 to 1564 we'll look at moderate Calvinism here and then strong Calvinism next monitor Calvinism says with respect to imputed sin that all human beings sinned in Adam legally or naturally and inherited a sinful nature for depravity all are depraved totally in extent not intensively or an intensity but every aspect of human nature is affected tarnished or darkened but not to the point of being an operative since man can understand and obey God's saving grace the image of God is effaced but it is not erased it is marred and tarnished but again it is not erased and with respect to being dead all are spiritually separated from God from birth but this has not entailed the loss of human reason and freewill these certainly can be spoken of as being influenced by sin but they cannot be spoken of as being non-functional or gone and grace guilt can only be overcome by God's saving grace and grace is not merely sufficient for all it is efficient for the elect an irresistible grace is only on the willing not on the unwilling in this view sin does penetrate and permeate our whole being no element of human nature is unaffected by inherited evil even though no aspect is completely destroyed by it strong Calvinism also finds its roots in John Calvin and this is the reformed theological view some may refer to this as extreme Calvinism the term hyper Calvinism will be reserved for those that hold double predestination this D says that all human beings send in Adam legally or naturally and inherited a sinful nature depravity is total in the sense of its extent and intensity and not all who write in the reformed tradition will speak of it in this sense but it is a logical outworking of the position the image of God they say is destroyed it's not just a face but it is completely erased in as being a logical outworking of their position and view and with respect to being dead they said that all cannot understand or respond to the gospel since they are dead from birth and so this carries the sense that they are unable to respond to God's invitation to be saved and this carries the sense that they're unable to respond to God in any way grace they hold God must use irresistible grace and must regenerate the sinner regardless of where his will stands since his will in this view is not operative such could be done even against the will of the person in order to be saved only the elect have irresistible grace whether with their choice or against their choice to understand and believe I should stress again that strong Calvinism as I've explained it here is an expression of the position as it is drawn out from its logical conclusions that are based in things that are said or implied about total depravity to clarify strong Calvinism in moderate Calvinism dr. geyser provided this chart with respect to grace strong Calvinism sees grace as something that is operative regardless of the person's will monitor Calvinism sees it as cooperative with the will of the person actions and strong Calvinism since the person is dead due to total depravity being extensive actions are monastic which refers to only the actions of God only God is operative with respect to his grace there is no action with respect to the person who is dead in modern Calvinism dead does not eliminate spiritual deaths does not eliminate the willful functions of man hence he is looked at as being synergistic that is cooperative with regards to actions and while grace is required in order to bring someone from God it is never against the person's will the recipient and strong Calvinism has looked at it as a passive object in moderate Calvinism they are still an active who wills and the free act or free will is not even present in strong or extreme Calvinism while it is present in moderate Calvinism and the resist ability with respect to grace the strong Calvinists hold that it is irresistible even on the unwilling and the moderate view says that it is irresistible only on the willing in short we can summarize the views as follows clayji anism says that humans are innocent at birth and can obey God which as was shown is heretical the Arminian position or semi-pelagianism says that humans are deprived in a weakened sense but can cooperate with God moderate Calvinism says that humans are totally deprived in an extensive sense and the image of God in humans is of course effaced but humans can still cooperate willfully with God and strong Calvinism says that humans are totally deprived in an extensive sense and that the image of God at humans is destroyed and humans cannot cooperate with God and dr. geyser provides an invaluable chart in his systematic theology comparing and contrasting the views that we have just reviewed play jian ISM arminianism moderate Calvinism and strong Calvinism can everyone believed all are responsible to believe John 3:16 218 for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life for God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world but that the world might be saved through him he who believes in Him is not judged he who does not believe has been judged already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God some have looked at John 12 37 through 40 as an indication that not all can believe it says but though he that is Jesus have performed so many signs before them yet they were not believing in him this was to fulfill the word abides had the profit which he spoke Lord who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for this reason they could not believe Brides eya said again he has blinded their eyes and yet hardened their heart so that they would not see with their eyes and perceived with their heart and be converted and I heal them the context of this passage is the hard-heartedness of Jews who had witnessed Jesus's miracles and were called upon repeatedly to believe as indicated in John chapter 8 they had the responsibility to believe and they had the ability to believe and God held them responsible for not believing and therefore continued to hardened their heart just as he did with Pharaoh in the days of Moses and it was their own stubborn unbelief that caused their blindness as John 8:24 says therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins and also it can be pointed out that sometimes it is Satan who blinds men and this shows that men can believe 2nd Corinthians 4 3 through 4 says and even if our gospel is veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God it's interesting to note that this verse shows that Satan himself does not regard man as incapable of faith or incapable of believing instead Satan views men as being in danger of believing or exercising belief and therefore he acts to blind them because unless he actively blinds them they might come to faith in Christ and so this shows that Satan works against man by blinding him because he regards them as capable of having faith or belief and some have used Ephesians 2 to argue that even faith is something that is given to men and hence men don't have faith but have to be given it to them by God since they are unable to believe or have faith but it must be pointed out that faith is not a gift that is offered only to the elect Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God the construction of this sentence in the Greek clearly shows that it is not faith alone that is being referenced to as the gift of God that is because grace is in the feminine and faith is in the feminine but the word that is in the neuter which means which means the antecedent cannot be faith alone and it cannot be grace alone but instead the antecedent of that must be the entire phrase that includes grace and faith for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it again being grace through faith is the gift of God and the question can anyone believe without God's special grace so here we first need to define what grace is Thomas Aquinas says now the gift of grace surpasses every capacity of created nature since it is nothing other than a certain participation in the divine nature which surpasses every other nature by grace we mean God's action in us leading us to union with him and it is something that is supernatural done by God and God alone grace is not God helping us to do what we could do or finally end up doing on our own instead grace is something that God wholly does and only can do only God is the cause of grace and no creature can ever be the cause of grace faith is possible for the unsaved but no one can have saving faith without the aid of God's grace as 6:44 says no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day and as we've shown human freedom is not a case of God leaving us alone my actions are caused by God without ceasing to be free and people are free when they turn to God but the free decision can only be turned to God when God turns it to himself gracious action of salvation is not monastic that is acts of God alone it is synergistic an act of God and our free choice together and this is also the case as we act and live out the Christian life as well as John 15:5 says I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing

Channel: Doug Potter

Views: 6,891

Rating: 4.8319325 out of 5

Keywords: Sin, Hamartiology, Theology, Systematic Theology, Christian Theology

Id: 9Zp5d0z_LV0

Length: 87min 37sec (5257 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 25 2017