1. Statement of the Doctrine. 2. The Extent and
Effects of Original Sin. 3. The Defects in Man's Common Virtues. 4. The Fall
of Man. 5. The Representative Principle. 6. The Goodness and Severity of God.
7. Scripture Proof.
1. STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE
In the Westminster Confession the doctrine
of Total Inability Is stated as follows: -- "Man, by his fall Into a state of
sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying
salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in
sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare
himself thereunto." (Ch. IX, sec. III.)
Paul, Augustine, and Calvin have as their
starting point the fact that all mankind sinned in Adam and that all men are
"without excuse," Rom. 2:1. Time and again Paul tells us that we are dead in
trespasses and sins, estranged from God, and helpless. In writing to the
Ephesian Christians he reminded them that before they received the Gospel they
were "separate from Christ, alienated from the common. wealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in
the world," 2:12. There we notice the five-fold emphasis as he piles phrase on
top of phrase to stress this truth.
2. THE EXTENT AND EFFECTS OF ORIGINAL SIN
This doctrine of Total Inability, which
declares that men are dead in sin, does not mean that all men are equally bad,
nor that any man is as bad as he could be, nor that any one in entirely
destitute of virtue, nor that human nature is evil In Itself, nor that man's
spirit is inactive, and much less does it mean that the body is dead. What it
does mean is that since the fall man rests under the curse of sin, that he is
actuated by wrong principles, and that he is wholly unable to love God or to
do anything meriting salvation. His corruption is extensive but not
necessarily intensive.
It is in this sense that man since the fail
"is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly
inclined to all evil." He possesses a fixed bias of the will against God, and
instinctively and willingly turns to evil. He is an alien by birth, and a
sinner by choice. The inability under which he labors is not an inability to
exercise volitions, but an inability to be willing to exercise holy volitions.
And it is this phase of it which led Luther to declare that "Free-will is an
empty term, whose reality is lost. And a lost liberty, according to my
grammar, is no liberty at all." In matters pertaining to his salvation, the
unregenerate man is not at liberty to choose between good and evil, but only
to choose between greater and lesser evil, which is not properly free will.
The fact that fallen man still has ability to do certain acts morally good in
themselves does not prove that he can do acts meriting salvation, for his
motives may be wholly wrong.
Man is a free agent but be cannot originate
the love of God in his heart. His will is free in the sense that it is not
controlled by any force outside of himself. As the bird with a broken wing is
"free" to fly but not able, so the natural man is free to come to God but not
abIe. How can he repent of his sin when he loves it? How can he come to God
when he hates Him? This is the inability of the will under which man labors.
Jesus said, "And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and
men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil," John
3 :19; and again, "Ye will not come to me, that ye may have life," John 5:40.
Man's ruin lies mainly in his own perverse will. He cannot come because he
will not. Help enough is provided if he were only willing to accept it. Paul
tells us, "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can it be. So they that are in the flesh cannot
please God: Rom. 8:7.
To assume that because man has ability to
love he therefore has ability to love God, is about as wise as to assume that
since water has the ability to flow, it therefore has the ability to flow up
hill; or to reason that because a man has power to cast himself from the top
of a precipice to the bottom, he therefore has equal power to transport
himself from the bottom to the top.
Fallen man sees nothing desirable in "the
One who is altogether lovely, the fairest among ten thousand." He may admire
Jesus as a man, but he wants nothing to do with Him as God, and he resists the
outward holy influences of the Spirit with all his power. Sin, and not
righteousness, has become his natural element so that he has no desire for
salvation.
Man's fallen nature gives rise to a most
obdurate blindness, stupidity, and opposition concerning the things of God.
His will is under the control of a darkened understanding, which puts sweet
for bitter, and bitter for sweet, good for evil, and evil for good. So far as
his relations with God are concerned, he wills only that which is evil,
although he wills it freely. Spontaneity and enslavement actually exist
together.
In other words, fallen man is so morally
blind that he uniformly prefers and chooses evil instead of good, as do the
fallen angels or demons. When the Christian is completely sanctified he
reaches a state in which he uniformly prefers and chooses good, as do the holy
angels. Both of these states are consistent with freedom and responsibility of
moral agents. Yet while fallen man acts thus uniformly he is never compelled
to sin, but does it freely and delights in It. His dispositions and desires
are so inclined, and he acts knowingly and willingly from the spontaneous
motion of the heart. This natural bias or appetite for that which is evil is
characteristic of man's fallen and corrupt nature, so that, as Job says, he "drinketh
iniquity like water," 15:16.
We read that "The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know
them, for they are spiritually discerned," I Cor. 2:14. We are at a loss to
understand how any one can take a plain common sense view of this passage of
Scripture and yet contend for the doctrine of human ability. Man in his
natural state cannot even see the kingdom of God, much less can he get into
it. An uncultured person may see a beautiful work of art as an object of
vision, but he has no appreciation of its excellence. He may see the figures
of a complex mathematical equation, but they have no meaning for him. Horses
and cattle may see the same beautiful sunset or other phenomenon in nature
that men see, but they are blind to all of the artistic beauty. So it is when
the Gospel of the cross is presented to the unregenerate man. He may have an
intellectual knowledge of the facts and doctrines of the Bible, but he lacks
all spiritual discernment of their excellence, and finds no delight in them.
The same Christ is to one man without form or comeliness that he should desire
Him; to another He is the Prince of life and the Savior of the world, God
manifest in the flesh, whom it is impossible not to adore, love and obey.
This total inability, however, arises not
merely from a perverted moral nature, but also from ignorance. Paul wrote that
the Gentiles "walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in their
understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that
is in them, because of the hardening of their heart," Eph. 4:17, 18. And
again, "The word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us
who are saved it is the power of God," I Cor. 1:18. When he wrote of "Things
which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not into the heart of
man, Whatsoever things God hath prepared for them that love Him," he had
reference, not to the glories of the heavenly state as is commonly supposed,
but to the spiritual realities in this life which cannot be seen by the
unregenerate mind, as is made plain by the words of the following verse: "But
unto us God revealed them through the Spirit," I Cor. 2:9, 10. On one occasion
Jesus said, "No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know
the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him,"
Matt. 11:27. Here we are plainly told that man in his unregenerate,
unenlightened nature does not know God in any sense worthy the name, and that
the Son is sovereign in choosing who shall come into this saving knowledge of
God.
Fallen man then lacks the power of spiritual
discernment. His reason or understanding is blinded, and the taste and
feelings are perverted. And since this state of mind is innate, as a condition
of man's nature, it is beyond the power of the will to change it. Rather it
controls both the affections and volitions. The effect of regeneration is
clearly taught in the divine commission which Paul received at his conversion
when he was told that he was to be sent to the Gentiles "to open their eyes,
that they might turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto
God," Acts 26:18.
Jesus taught the same truth under a
different figure when He said to the Pharisees, "Why do ye not understand my
speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the Devil,
and the lusts of your father it is your will to do," John 8:43, 44. They could
not understand, nor even hear His words in any intelligible way. To them His
words were only foolishness, madness; and they accused Him of being demon
possessed (vss. 48, 52). Only His disciples could dnow the truth (vss. 31,
32); the Pharisees were children of the Devil (vss. 42, 44), and bondservants
of sin (vs. 34). although they thought themselves free (vs. 33).
At another time Jesus taught that a good
tree could not bring forth evil fruit, nor an evil tree good fruit. And since
in this similitude the good and evil trees represent good and evil men, what
does It mean but that one class of men is governed by one set of basic
principles, while the other class is governed bv another set of basic
principles? The fruits of these two trees are acts, words, thoughts, which if
good proceed from a good nature, and if evil proceed from and evil nature. It
is impossible, then, for one and the same root to bring forth fruit of
different kinds.Hence we deny the existence in man of a power which may act
either way, on the logical ground that both virtue and vice cannot come out of
the same moral condition of the agent. And we affirm that human actions which
relate to God proceed either out of a moral condition which necessarity
produces good actions or out of a moral condition which necessarily produces
evil actions.
"In the Epistle to the Ephesians Paul
declares that Prior to the quickening of the Spirit of God each individual
soul lies dead in trespasses and sins. Now it will surely be admitted that to
be dead, and to be dead in sin, is clear and positive evidence that there is
neither aptitude nor Power remaining for the performance of any spiritual
action. If a man were dead, in a natural and physical sense, it would at once
be readily granted that there is no further Possibility of that man being able
to perform any physical actions. A corpse cannot act in any way whatever, and
that man would be reckoned to have taken leave of his senses who asserted that
it could. If a man is dead spiritually, therefore, it is surely equally as
evident that he is unable to perform any spiritual actions, and thus the
doctrine of man's moral inability rests upon strong Scriptural evidence."
(Warburton, Calvinism, p. 48)
"On the principle that no clean thing can
come out of what is unclean (Job 14:4), all that are born of woman are
declared 'abominable and corrupt,' to whose nature iniquity alone is
attractive (Job 15:14-16). Accordingly, to become sinful, men do not wait
until the age of accountable action arrives. Rather, they are apostates from
the womb, and as soon as they are born go astray, speaking lies (Ps. 58:3);
they are even shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5). The
propensity of their heart is evil from their youth (Gen. 8:21), and it is out
of the heart that all the issues of life proceed (Prov. 4-23; 20-.11). Acts of
sin are therefore but the expression of the natural heart, which is deceitful
above all things and exceedingly corrupt (Jer. 17:9)." (Warfield, Biblical
Doctrines, p.440)
Ezekiel presents this same truth in graphic
language and gives us the picture of the helpless infant which was cast out in
its blood and left to die, but which the Lord graciously found and cared for
(Ch. 16).
This doctrine of original sin supposes that
fallen men have the same kind and degree of liberty in sinning under the
influence of a corrupt nature as have the Devil and the demons, or that the
saints in glory and the holy angels have in acting rightly under the influence
of a holy nature. That is, men and angels act according to their natures. As
the saints and angels are confirmed in holiness, -- that is, possessed of a
nature which is wholly inclined to righteousness and adverse to sin, -so the
nature of fallen men and of demons is such that they cannot perform a single
act with right motives toward God. Hence the necessity that God shall
sovereignly change the person's character in regeneration.
The Old Testament ceremonies of circumcision
of the new-born child, and of purification of the mother, were designed to
teach that man comes into the world sinful that since the fall human nature is
corrupt in its very origin. Paul stated this truth in another and, if
possible, even stronger way in 11 Cor. 4-,3. 4: "And if our Gospel is veiled
it is veiled to them that perish; in whom the god of this world (by which he
means the Devil) hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of
the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn
upon them." In a word, then, fallen men without the operations of The Spirit
of God, are under the rule of Satan. They are led captive by him at his will,
11 Tim. 2:26. So long as this "strong man fully armed" is not molested by the
"stronger than he." he keeps his kingdom in peace and his captives willingly
do his bidding. But the "stronger than he" has overcome him, has taken his
armor from him, and has liberated a part of his captives (Luke 11:21, 22). God
now exercises the right of releasing whom He will; and all born again
Christians are ransomed sinners from that kingdom.
The Scriptures declare that fallen man is a
captive, a willing slave to sin, and entirely unable to deliver himself from
its bondage and corruption. He is incapable of understanding, and much less of
doing, the things of God. There is what we might term "the freedom of
slavery,"--a state in which the subject is free only to do the will of his
master, which in this case is sin. It was this to which Jesus referred when He
said, "Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin," John 8:34.
And such being the depth of man's corruption
it is wholly beyond his own power to cleanse himself. His only hope of an
amendment of life lies accordingly in a change of heart, which change is
brought about by the sovereign re-creative power of the Holy Spirit who works
when and where and how He pleases. As well might one attempt to pump a leaking
ship while the leak is still unmended, as to reform the unregenerate without
this inward change. Or as well might the Ethiopian change his skin, or the
leopard his spots, as he who is accustomed to do evil correct his ways. This
transfer from spiritual death to spiritual life we call "regeneration." It is
referred to in Scripture by various terms: "regeneration," a "making alive," a
"calling out of darkness into light," a "quickening," a "renewing," a taking
away of the heart of stone and giving the heart of flesh, etc., which work is
exclusively that of the Holy Spirit. As a result of this change a man comes to
see the truth and gladly accepts it. His very instincts and intimate impulses
are transferred to the side of law, obedience to which becomes but the
spontaneous expression of his nature. Regeneration is said to be wrought by
that same supernatural power which God wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead (Eph. 1:18-20). Man does not possess the power of
self-regeneration, and until this inward change takes place, he cannot be
convinced of the truth of the Gospel by any amount of external testimony. "If
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one
rise from the dead."
3. THE DEFECTS IN MAN'S COMMON VIRTUES
The unregenerate man can, through common
grace, love his family and he may be a good citizen. He may give a million
dollars to build a hospital, but he cannot give even a cup of cold water to a
disciple in the name of Jesus. If a drunkard, he may abstain from drink for
utilitarian purposes, but he cannot do it out of love for God. All of his
common virtues or good works have a fatal defect in that his motives which
prompt them are not to glorify God, -- a defect so vital that it throws any
element of goodness as to man wholly into the shade. It matters not how good
the works may be in themselves, for so long as the doer of them in out of
harmony with God, none of his works are spiritually acceptable. Furthermore,
the good works of the unregenerate have no stable foundation, for his nature
is still unchanged: and as naturally and as certainly as the washed sow
returns toher wallowing in the mire, so he sooner or later returns to his evil
ways.
In the realm of morals it is a rule that the
morality of the man must precede the morality of the action. One may speak
with the tongues of men and of angels; yet if he Is lacking that inward
principle of love toward God, he is become as sounding brass, or a clanging
cymbal. He may give all his goods to feed the poor, and may give his body to
be burned; yet if he lacks that inward principle. it profits him nothing. As
human beings we know that an act of service rendered to us (by whatever
utilitarian motives prompted) by someone who is at heart our enemy, does not
merit our love and approbation. The Scripture statement that "Without faith it
is impossible to be well-pleasing unto God," finds Its explanation in this,
that faith is the foundation of all the other virtues, and nothing is
acceptable to God which does not flow from right feelings.
A moral act is to be judged by the standard
of love to God, which love is, as it were, the soul of all other virtue, and
which is bestowed upon us only through grace. Augustine did not deny the
existence of natural virtues, such as moderation, honesty, generosity, which
constitute a certain merit among men; but be drew a broad line of distinction
between these and the specific Christian graces (faith, love and gratitude to
God, etc.), which alone are good in the strict sense of the word, and which
alone have value before God. This distinction is very plainly illustrated in
an example given by W D. Smith. Says he: "In a gang of pirates we may find
many things that are good in themselves. Though they are in wicked rebellion
against the laws of the government, they have their own laws and regulations,
which they obey strictly. We find among them courage and fidelity, with many
other things that will recommend them as pirates. They may do many things,
too, which the laws of the government require, but they are not done because
the government has so required, but in obedience to their own regulations. For
instance the government requires honesty and they may be strictly honest, one
with another, In their transactions, and the division of all their spoil. Yet,
as respects the government, and the general principle, their whole life is one
of the most wicked dishonesty. Now, it is plain, that while they continue in
their rebellion they can do nothing to recommend them to the government as
citizens. Their first step must be to give up their rebellion, acknowledge
their allegiance to the government, and sue for mercy. So all men, in their
natural state, are rebels against God, and though they may do many things
which the law of God requires, and which will recommend them as men, yet
nothing is done with reference to God and His law. Instead, the regulations of
society, respect for public opinion, self-interest, their own character in the
sight of the world, or some other worldly or wicked motive, reigns supremely;
and God, to whom they owe their heart and lives, is forgotten; or, if thought
of at all, His claims are wickedly rejected, His counsels spurned, and the
heart, in obstinate rebellion, refuses obedience. Now it is plain that while
the heart continues in this state the man is a rebel against God, and can do
nothing to recommend him to His favor. The first step is to give up his
rebellion, repent of his sins, turn to God, and sue for pardon and
reconciliation through the Savior. This he is unwilling to do, until he is
made willing. He loves his sins, and will continue to love them, until his
heart is changed."
The good actions of unregenerate men, Smith
continues, "are not positively sinful in themselves, but sinful from defect.
They lack the principle which alone can make them righteous in the sight of
God. In the case of the pirates it is easy to see that all their actions are
sin against the government. While they continue pirates, their sailing,
mending, or rigging the vesset and even their eating and drinking, are all
sins in the eyes of the government, as they are only so many expedients to
enable them to continue their piratical career, and are parts of their life of
rebellion. So with sinners. While the heart is wrong, it vitiates everything
in the sight of God, even their most ordinary occupations; for the plain,
unequivocal language of God is, 'Even the lamp of the wicked, is sin,' Prov.
21:4." (What is Calvinism. pp. 125-127)
It is this inability which the Scriptures
teach when they declare that "They that are in the flesh cannot please God,"
Rom. 8:8; "Whatsoever Is not of faith in sin," Rom. 14:23; and "Without faith
it is impossible to be well-plessing to Him," Heb. 11:6. Hence even the
virtues of the unregenerate man are but as plucked and fading flowers. It was
because of this that Jesus said to His disciples, "Except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no
wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." And because those virtues are of this
nature, they are only temporary. The one who possesses them is like the seed
which falls on the stony soil, which perhaps springs up with promise of
fruitage, but soon withers in the sun because it has no root in itself.
It follows also from what has been said that
salvation to ABSOLUTELY AND SOLELY OF GRACE, -- that God Is free, in
consistency with the infinite perfections of His nature, to save none, few,
many, or all, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His will. It also
follows that salvation is not based on any merits in the creature, and that it
depends on God, and not on men, who are, and who are not, to be made partakers
of eternal life. God acts as a sovereign in saving some and passing by others
who are left to the just recompense of their sins. Sinners are compared to
dead men, or even to dry bones in their entire helplessness. In this they are
all alike. The choice of some to eternal life is as sovereign as if Christ
were to pass through a graveyard and bid one here and another there to come
forth, the reason for restoring one to life and leaving another in his grave
could be found only in His good pleasure, and not in the dead themselves.
Hence the statement that we are foreordained according to the good pleasure of
His will, and not after the good inclinations of our own; and in order that we
might be holy, not because we were holy (Eph. 1:41 5). "Since all men alike
deserved only God's wrath and curse the gift of His only begotten Son to die
in the stead of malefactors, as the only possible method of expiating their
guilt, is the most stupendous exhibition of undeserved favor and personal love
that the universe has ever witnessed." (A. A. Hodge, pamphlet, Presbyterian
Doctrine, p. 23.)
4. THE FALL OF MAN
The fall of the human race into a state of
sin and misery is the basis and foundation of the system of redemption which
is set forth in the Scriptures, as it is the basis and foundation of the
system which we teach. Only Calvinists seem to take the doctrine of the fall
very seriously. Yet the Bible from beginning to end declares that man is
ruined --totally ruined -- that he is in a state of guilt and depravity from
which he is utterly unable to deliver himself, and that God might in justice
have left him to perish. In the Old Testament the narrative concerning the
fall is found in the third chapter of Genesis; and in the New Testament direct
references are made to it in Romans 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:22; 11 Cor. 11:3; 1
Tim. 2:13, 14, etc., although the New Testament emphasizes not the historic
fact that man fell, but the ethical fact that he is fallen. The New Testament
writers interpreted it literally and based their theology upon it. To Paul
Adam was as real as Christ, the fall as real as the atonement. It may be
maintained that the apostles were in error, but that this was their position
cannot be denied.
Dr. A. A. Hodge has given us a very good
statement of the doctrine of the fall which we shall take the privilege of
quoting: -- "As a fair probation could not, in the nature of the case, be
given to every new member in person as it comes into existence an undeveloped
infant, God, as guardian of the race and for its best interests, gave all its
members a trial in the person of Adam under the most favorable circumstances -
making him for that end the representative and personal substitute of each one
of his natural descendants. He formed with him a covenant of works and of
life; i. e., He gave to him for himself, and in behalf of all whom he
represented, a promise of eternal life, conditioned upon perfect obedience, --
that is, upon works. The obedience demanded was a specific test for a
temporary period, which period of trial must necessarily be closed either by
the reward consequent upon obedience, or the death consequent upon
disobedience. The 'reward' promised was eternal life, which was a grace
including far more than was originally bestowed upon Adam at his creation, the
grant of which would have elevated the race into a condition of indefeasible
holiness and happiness for ever. The 'penalty' threatened and executed was
death; 'The day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.' The nature of the
death threatened can be determined only from a consideration of all that was
involved in the curse actually inflicted. This we know to have included the
instant withdrawal of the divine favor and spiritual intercommunion upon which
man's life depended. Hence the alienation and curse of God; the sense of guilt
and corruption of nature; consequent actual transgressions, the miseries of
life, the dissolution of the body, the pains of heIl." (A.A. Hodge, pamphlet,
Pr4esbyterian Doctrine, pp. 19, 20.)
The consequences of Adam's sin are all
comprehended under the term death, in its widest sense. Paul gives us the
summary statement that "Thewages of sin is death." The full import of the
death which was threatened to Adam can only be seen by considering all the
evil consequences which have since befallen man. It was primarily spiritual
death, or eternal separation from God, which was threatened; and physical
death, or the death of the body, is but one of the flrst fruits and relatively
unimportant consequences of that greater penalty. Adam did not die physically
for 930 years after the fall, but he did die spiritually the very moment he
fell into sin. He died just as really as the fish dies when taken from the
water, or as the plant dies when taken from the soil.
"In general we cherish a very wrong idea as
to how Adam fell .... Adam was not tempted by Satan in a direct way .... Eve
was tempted by Satan, and Eve fell being deceived. But we have inspired
evidence to prove that Adam was not deceived (I Tim. 2:14). He was caught by
no wiles of Satan, but that which he did, he did wilfully and deliberately.
And in the full consciousness of what he was doing, and with a perfect
realization of the solemn consequences which were involved, he deliberately
chose to follow his wife in her act of sinful disobedience. It was this
deliberate wilfulness of man's sin which constituted its heinous character.
Had he been attacked by Satan, and forced to yield through some overwhelming
power being brought against him, we might have tried to find some excuse for
his fall. But when, with eyes wide open, and with mind perfectly conscious and
fully aware of the awful nature of his act, he used his free will to respond
to the claims of the creature in defiance of the Creator, no excuse can he
found for his fall. His act, in reality, was wilful, defiant rebellion, and by
it he openly transferred his allegiance from God to Satan." (Warburton,
Calvinism, p.34.)
And has there not been a fall - a fearful
fall? The more we see of human nature as it is manifested in the world about
us, the easier it is to believe in this great doctrine of original sin.
Consider the world as a whole, filled as it is with murders, robberies,
drunkenness, wars, broken homes, and crimes of all kinds. The thousand
ingenious forms which crime and vice have assumed in the hands of regular
practitioners are all tokens telling a fearful tale. A large portion of the
human race today, as in all past ages, is left to live and die in the darkness
of heathenism, hopelessly astray from God. Modernism and denial of every kind
is rampant even in the Church. Even the religious press, so called, is
strongly tinged with unbelief. Observe the general disinclination to pray, or
to study the Bible, or to speak of spiritual things. Is not man now, as his
progenitor Adam, fleeing from the presence of God, not wanting communion with
Him, and with enmity in his heart for his Creator? Surely man's nature is
radically wrong. The daily newspaper accounts of events, even in such an
enlightened land as America, show that man is sinful, lost from God, and
actuated by unholy principles. And the only adequate explanation of all this
is that the penalty of death, which was threatened on man before the fall, now
rests on the human race.
We live in a lost world, a world which if
left to itself would fester in its corruption from eternity to eternity, --a
world reeking with iniquity and blasphemy. The effects of the fall are such
that man's will in itself tends only downward to sets of sin and folly. As a
matter of fact God does not permit the race to become as corrupt as it
naturally would if left to itself. He exercises restraining influences,
inciting men to love one another, to be honest, philanthropic, and considerate
of each others welfare. Unless God exercised these influences, wicked men
would become worse and worse, overlapping conventions and social barriers,
until the very zenith of lawlessness would soon be reached, and the earth
would become so utterly corrupt that the elect could not live on it.
5. THE REPRESENTATIVE PRINCIPLE
It is easy for us to understand how a person
may act through a representative, The people of a state act in and through
their representatives in the Legislature, If a country has a good president or
king, all of the people share the good results; if a bad president or king,
all suffer the consequences. In a very real sense parents stand representative
for, and to a large extent decide the destinies of, their children. If the
parents are wise, virtuous, thrifty, the children reap the blessings; but if
they are indolent and immoral the children suffer. In a thousand ways the
well-being of individuals is conditioned by the acts of others, so inwrought
is this representative principle into our human life. Hence in the Scripture
doctrine that Adam stood as the official head and representative of his people
we have only the application of a principle which we see at work all about us.
Dr. Charles Hodge has very ably treated this
subject in the following section: --
"This representative principle pervades the
whole Scriplures. The imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity is not an
isolated fact. It is only an illustration of a general principle which
characterizes the dispensations of God from the beginning of the world. God
declared Himself to Moses as one who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children, and upon the children's children unto the third and to the
fourth generation, Ex. 34:6, 7 .... The curse pronounced on Canaan fell on his
posterity. Esau's selling his birthright, shut out his descendants from the
covenant of promise. The children of Moab and Ammon were excluded from the
congregation of the Lord forever, because their ancestors opposed the
Israelites when they came out of Egypt. In the case of Dathan and Abiram, as
in that of Achan, 'their wives, and their sons, and their little children
perished for the sins of their parents. God said to Eli, that the iniquity of
his house should not be purged with sacrifice and offering for ever. To David
it was said, 'The sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast
despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.' To
the disobedient Gehazi it was said: 'The leprosy of Naaman shall cleave unto
thee and unto thy seed forever.' The sin of Jeroboam and of the men of his
generation determined the destiny of the ten tribes for all time. The
imprecation of the Jews, when they demanded the crucifixion of Christ, 'His
blood be on us and on our children,' still weighs down the scattered people of
Israel .... This principle runs through the whole Scriptures. When God entered
into covenant with Abraham, it was not for himself only but also for his
posterity. They were bound by all the stipulations of the covenant. They
shared its promises and its threatenings, and in hundreds of cases the penalty
of disobedience came upon those who had no personal part in the
transgressions. Children suffered equally with adults in the judgments,
Whether fainine, pestilence, or war, which came upon the people for their sins
.... And the Jews to this day are suffering the penalty of the sins of their
fathers for their rejection of Him of whom Moses and the prophets spoke. The
whole plan of redemption rests on this same principle. Christ is the
representative of His people, and on this ground their sins are imputed to Him
and His righteousness to them .... No man who believes the Bible, can shut his
eyes to the fact that it everywhere recognizes the representative character of
parents, and that the dispensations of God have from the beginning been
founded on the principle that the children bear the iniquities of their
fathers. This is one of the reasons which infidels assign for rejecting the
divine origin of the Scriptures. But infidelity furnishes no relief. History
is as full of this doctrine as the Bible is. The punishment of the felon
involves his family in his disgrace and misery. The spendthrift and drunkard
entail poverty and wretchedness upon all connected with them. There is no
nation now existing on the face of the earth, whose condition for weal or woe
is net largely determined by the character and conduct of their ancestors
...The idea of the transfer of guilt or of vicarious punishment lies at the
foundation of all the expiatory offerings under the Old Testament, and of the
great atonement under the new dispensation. To bear sin, is in Scriptural
language to bear the penalty of sin. The victim bore the sin of the offerer.
Hands were imposed upon the head of the animal about to be slaughtered, to
express the transfer of guilt. That animal must be free from all defect or
blemish to make it the more apparent that its blood was shed not for its own
deficiencies but for the sin of another. All this was symbolical and typical
.... And this is what the Scriptures teach concerning the Atonement of Christ.
He bore our sins; He was made a curse for us; He suffered the penalty of the
law in our stead. All this proceeds on the ground that the sins of one man can
be justly, on some adequate ground, imputed to another." (Systematic Theology,
II,pp. 198, 199, 201.)
The Scriptures tell us that, "By one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners," Rom. 5:19. "Through one man sin
entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all
men, for that all sinned," Rom. 5:12. "Through one trespass the judgment came
unto all men to condemnation" Rom. 5:18. It is as if God had said: If sin is
to enter, let it enter by one man, so that righteousness also may enter by one
man.
Adam was made not only the father but also
the representative of the whole human race. And if we fully understood the
closeness of the relation between him and them we would fully realize the
justice of the transmission of his sin to them. Adam's sin is imputed to his
descendants in the same way that Christ's righteousness is imputed to those
who believe in Him. Adam's descendants are, of course, no more personally
guilty of his sin than Christ's redeemed are personally meritorious of His
righteousness.
Suffering and death are declared to be the
consequence of sin; and the reason that all die is that "all sinned." Now we
know that many suffer and die in infancy, before they have committed any sin
themselves. It follows that either God is unjust in punishing the innocent, or
that those infants are in some way guilty creatures. And if guilty, how have
they sinned? It is impossible to explain it on any other supposition than that
they sinned in Adam (I Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:I2, 18); and they could not have
sinned in him in any other way than by representation.
But while we are not personally guilty of
Adain's sin, we are, nevertheless, liable to punishment for it. "The guilt of
Adam's public sin," says Dr. A. A. Hodge, "is by a judicial act of God
immediately charged to the account of each and every one of his descendants
from the moment he begins to exist, and antecedently to any act of his own.
Hence all men come into existence deprived of all those influences of the Holy
Spirit upon which their moral and spiritual life depends .... and with an
antecedent prevailing tendency in their natures to sin; which tendency in them
is itself of the nature of sin, and worthy of punishment. Human nature since
the fall retains its constitutional faculties of reason, conscience and free
agency, and hence man continues to be a responsible moral agent. Yet he is
spiritually dead, and totally averse to and incapable of the discharge of any
of these duties which spring out of his relation to God, and entirely unable
to change his own evil dispositions or innate moral tendencies, or to dispose
himself'to such a change, or to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in effecting
such a change." (Presbyterian Doctrine, p. 21.)
And to the same general effect, Dr. R. L.
Dabney, the outstanding theologian of the southern Presbyterian Church, says.
"The explanation presented by the doctrine of imputation is demanded by all
except Pelagians and Socinians. Man's is a spiritually dead and a condemned
race. See Eph. 2:1-5, et passim. He is obviously under a curse for something,
from the beginning of his life. Witness the native depravity of infants, and
their inheritance of woe and death. Now, either man was tried and fell in
Adam, or he has been condemned without trial. He is either under the curse (as
it rests on him at the beginning of his existence) for Adam's guilt, or for no
guilt at all. Judge which is most honorable to God, a doctrine which, although
a profound mystery, represents Him as giving man an equitable and most favored
probation in his federal head; or that which makes God condemn him untried,
and even before he exists." (Theology, p. 330.)
6. THE GOODNESS AND SEVERITY OF GOD
A survey of the fall and its extent is
humiliating work. It proves to man that all his claims of goodness are
unfounded, and it shows him that his only hope is in the sovereign grace of
Almighty God. The "graciously restored ,ability" of which the Arminian talks
is not consistent with the facts. The Scriptures, history, and Christian
experience by no means warrant such a favorable view of the natural moral
condition of man as the Arminian system teaches. On the contrary each of these
gives us a very gloomy picture of a fearful corruption and universal
inclination to evil, which can only be overcome by the intervention of divine
grace. The Calvinistic system teaches a far deeper fall into sin and a far
more glorious manifestation of redeeming grace. From these depths the
Christian is led to despair of himself, to throw himself unconditionally into
the arms of God, and to lay hold on unmerited grace, which alone can save him.
We should see God's mercy and also His
severity in the spiritual and physical realms. Life is full of hard facts
which, unpleasant though they may be, must simply be faced and admitted.
Throughout the Scriptures, and especially in the words of Christ Himself, the
final torments of the wicked are described in such ways as to show us that
they are indescribably awful. In the gospel of Matthew alone see 5:29, 30;
7:19; 10:28; 11:21-24; 13:30, 41, 42, 49, 50; 18:8, 9, 34; 21:41; 22:14;
24:51; 25:12, 30, 41; and 26:24. Surely a doctrine which received such
emphasis from the lips of Christ Himself cannot be passed over in silence
distasteful though it may be. In the next world the wicked, with all restraint
removed, will go headlong into sin, blaspheming and cursing God, growing worse
and worse as they sink deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit. Endless
punishment is the penalty of ENDLESS sinning. Furthermore, it is as much the
glory of God that He punishes the wicked as that He rewards the righteous.
Much of the easy-going indifference toward Christianity in our day is due to
the failure of Christian ministers to emphasize these doctrines which Christ
taught so repeatedly.
In the physical realm we see God's severity
in wars, famines, floods, disasters, diseases, sufferings, deaths, and crimes
of all kind which come upon the just and the unjust alike. All of these exist
in a world which is under the complete control of a God who is infinite in His
perfections.
"Behold then the goodness and severity of
God," Rom, 11:22. Naturalism does justice to neither of these. Arminianism
magnifies the first but neglects the second. Calvinism is the only system
which does justice to both. It alone adequately sets forth the facts in regard
to the eternal and infinite love of God which caused Him to provide redemption
for His people, even at the great cost of sending His onlybegotten Son to die
on the cross; and also in regard to the awful abyss which exists between
sinful man and the holy God. It is true that "God is love,' but along with
this must be placed the other statement that "our God is a consuming fire,'
Heb. 12:29. Any system which omits or under-emphasizes either of these truths
will be a mutilated system, no matter how plausible it way sound to men.
This doctrine of the Total Inability of man
is terribly stern, severe, forbidding. But it is to be remembered that we are
not at liberty to develop a new system suited to our liking. We must take the
facts as we find them. Such exhibitions of the true state of mankind are, of
course, offensive to unregenerate men generally; and many have tried to find
out a system of doctrines more palatable to the popular mind. The state of
fallen man is such that he readily listens to any theory which makes him even
partly independent of God; he wishes to be the master of his fate and the
captain of his soul. The lost, ruined, and helpless state of the sinner needs
to be constantly set before him; for until be is brought to feel it, he will
never seek help where alone it is to be found. Poor man! truly carnal and sold
under sin, not only without power bu t without inclination to move toward God;
and what is more awful still, an actual rebel a presumptuous, blasphemous
rival of the Great Jehovah.
This doctrine of Total Inability, or
Originial Sin, has been treated at some length in order to set forth the
fundamental basis upon which the doctrine of Predestination rests. This side
of the picture is dark, very dark indeed; but its supplement is the glory of
God in redemption. Each of these truths must be seen in its true light before
the other can be adequately appreciated.
7. SCRIPTURE PROOF
I Cor. 2:14: The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he
cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
Gen. 2:17: But of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die.
Rom.5:12: Therefore, as through one man sin
entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all
men, for that all sinned.
11 Cor. 1:9: Yea, we ourselves had the
sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but
in God who raiseth the dead.
Eph. 2:1-3: And you did He make alive, when
ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers
of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among
whom ye also all once lived in the lusts of your flesh, doing the desires of
the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the
rest.
Eph. 2:12: Ye were at that time separate
from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promim having no hope and without God in the world.
Jer. 13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his
skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed
to do evil.
Ps. 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in
iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.
John3:3: Jesus answered and said unto
him,Verily,verily, I say unto thee, Except one is born anew, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
Rom. 3:10-12: As it is written, There is
none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, There is none
that seeketh after God; They have all turned aside, they are together become
unprofitable; There is none that doeth good. no, not so much as one.
Job 14:4: Who can bring a clean thing out of
an unclean? not one.
I Cor. 1:18: For the word of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of
God.
Acts 13:41: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder
and perish; For I work a work in your days, A work which ye shall in no wise
believe, if one declare it unto you.
Prov. 30:12: There is a generation that are
pure in their own eye, And yet are not washed from their filthiness.
John 5:21: For as the Father raiseth the
dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom He will.
John 6:53: Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man and drink His blood, ye have not life in yourselves.
John 8:19: They said therefore unto Him,
Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father; if ye
knew me, ye would know my Father also.
Malt. 11:25: I thank thee, 0 Father Lord of
heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and
understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes.
IICor. 5:17: If any man is in Christ, he is
a new creature.
John 14:16: (And I will pray the Father, and
He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever,) even
the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not,
neither knoweth Him; ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in
you.
John 3:19: And this is the judgment, that
light is come unto the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the
light; for their works were evil.
--END--
