It is obvious from a cursory reading of the
Scriptures that man is fallen in
sin. Because of the fall, humanity is more
than just injured by sin, spiritual death
reigns. If a man is dead in sin, how did he
get this way? Bible commentators
have used the theological term “Original Sin”
to explain what happened to
humanity in the beginning. Unfortunately, many
have rejected the doctrine of “Original
Sin” primarily because it is not in accord
with human reason. What is the basis
for this doctrine? The primary text is found
in Romans 5:12-19. What does this
passage say? This passage speaks about the
fall and of man's guilt in this
event.
Wherefore, as by one-man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin; and
so death passed upon all men, for that all
have sinned. (For until the law sin
was in the world: but sin is not imputed when
there is no law. Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the
figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offense, so also is the free
gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more the grace of God,
and the gift by grace, which is
by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto
many. In addition, not as it was
by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the
judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification. For if
by one man's offense death reigned by one;
much more they, which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of
righteousness shall reign in life by one,
Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as by the offense of
one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation; even so by the righteousness
of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by
one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Romans
5:12-19
This passage teaches the connection between
Adam's sin and the human race.
Adam as the covenantal or federal head of the
human family brought sin to his
descendants. This is proved by the fact that
death now reigns in the world. The
apostle teaches that “all sinned,” or all were
made or constituted sinners
because of their real shared guilt in Adam's
sin. This teaching is what is
known as “Original Sin.”
Because of Adam's sin, we all come into the
world with a fallen nature.
Because of our sinful natures, we make sinful
choices. The original sin that we
are all born with manifests itself throughout
our lives in actual sins which
violate God's law, both in sins of commission
(active transgression of God's
law) and omission (lack of conformity to God's
law). In other words, we can
say, in Adam, all have sinned and as a result,
in Adam, all have died.
Is man really dead in sin?
In the view of some, man is not dead. Man
according to popular belief just
needs an opportunity and a little help. He is
able to recognize his condition
and call for help. When help comes, and
assistance is provided, man is able to
climb up a ladder out of the problem that
faces him. In contrast, the Reformed
view teaches that man is dead and unable to
call for help or even recognize his
condition.
We will now survey some passages from
scripture along with comments to prove
that the idea that man in his fallen condition
can respond to the gospel is in
complete opposition with the teaching of
scripture concerning man and sin. The
Scriptures declare that man is indeed dead and
that he has a heart of stone.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.” (Genesis
2:17) (Emphasis mine)
The Hebrew word that is used in this passage
twice is muwth and uses
two different verb tenses, which translate
"dying" and
"die" and is for doctrinal emphasis. The last
part of verse 2:17 can
be translated literally as "dying you shall
die." Adam and Eve's
relationship with God was now severed. They
died an immediate spiritual death
and later physical death, which was passed on
to all of their posterity.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that
every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually.”
(Genesis 6:5)
God sees and declares that thoughts of man
were nothing but evil, or
continually and utterly evil. Adam's posterity
inherited his sin and death, yet
it was humanity’s own sinful thoughts and
deeds also.
“Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints;
yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh
iniquity like water?” (Job 15:15, 16)
Man in his corrupt and unregenerate state is
much filthier than the heavens
and is said to lust or crave wickedness just
as he would drink water when
thirsty.
“The LORD looked down from heaven upon the
children of men, to see if there
were any that did understand, and seek God.
They are all gone aside, they are
all together become filthy: there is none
that doeth good, no, not one.”
(Psalms 14:2, 3)
Here we see God speaking through David, and
the description of the
degeneracy of man's nature, along with the
reprehensible debasement of all mankind.
This verse echoes Romans 3:10-12.
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in
sin did my mother conceive me.”
(Psalms 51:5)
David is speaking here of what was mentioned
at the outset, “original sin.”
This inherited sin is the stem or root of his
existent sin that permeates his
whole being.
“Because sentence against an evil work is not
executed speedily, therefore
the heart of the sons of men is fully set
in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes
8:11)
When justice is delayed, man's sin is
un-curbed. He becomes brazen-faced and
audacious to sin even more.
“All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned everyone to his
own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
Every one of us have turned to evil ways. We
have all gone astray and the
Lord assigned or imputed to Christ the sin of
us all.
“But we are as an unclean thing, and all
our righteousness are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our
iniquities, like the wind,have taken us
away.” (Isaiah 64:6)
Our so-called righteous acts are nothing more
than filthy rags, otherwise
quite literally, “menstruous rags,” and
because of our sins, the wind sweeps us
away.
“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard his spots? Then may
ye also do good, that are accustomed to do
evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23)
In this passage, the prophet speaks clearly
of man's inability to change
himself by pointing out two impossible things
that parallel man's condition. If
your nature is evil, you cannot change.
“The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can
know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9
Man's heart is desperately wicked, or it can
be said to be, incurable, and
even man does not comprehend the magnitude of
his deceitfulness and depravity.
“The good man is perished out of the
earth: and there is none upright
among men: they all lie in wait for
blood; they hunt every man his brother
with a net. That they may do evil with both
hands earnestly, the prince asketh,
and the judge asketh for a reward; and the
great man, he uttereth his
mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. The
best of them is as a brier: the
most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge:
the day of thy watchmen and thy
visitation cometh; now shall be their
perplexity.” (Micah 7:2-4)
This statement by Micah goes beyond the
people of his day and is a general
declaration that is in harmony with the
apostle Paul when he says, that there
is none righteous no not one Romans 3:10-12.
“And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil.” (John
3:19)
Men loving darkness is the cause of the
condemnation, or it can be said to
be the reason why men are going to be
punished. Man desires sin rather than the
holiness of God. Men try and hide in the
darkness because their deeds are evil.
“Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I
say unto you, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
blood, ye have no life in you.”
(John 6:53)
Outside of Christ, there is no life in man.
All mankind like our father Adam,
are spiritually dead.
“As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one: There is
none that understandeth, there in none that
seeketh after God. They are all
gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable; there is none
that doeth good, no, not one.”
(Romans 3:10-12)
This is undisputed, the most forceful portion
of Scripture when the apostle
Paul declares man's depravity. All mankind is
indicted by the apostle without
exception.
“But we had the sentence of death in
ourselves that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth
the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:9)
Here the apostle says; “we had the sentence
of death in ourselves.” The word
rendered “sentence” means a judicial ruling,
outcome, or verdict. It not only
means that Paul knew that he was condemned to
die, but it also has broader
implications for the rest of mankind and the
just condemnation awaiting them
short of participating in the resurrection to
life in Christ.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead
in trespasses and sins;
Wherein in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience: Among whom also we
all had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others.” (Ephesians
2:1-3)
The apostle says that God made us alive or
brought us to life after being
dead in sins. This quickening is a spiritual
resurrection to life.
Theological implications and Scriptural
conclusions:
We have seen in this survey of Scripture and
comments that man is dead
spiritually. He does not desire the things of
God.
Fallen man can lay no claim on God's favor.
Man's wickedness manifests
itself as religious works. See Genesis 4:3.
Cain offered a religious work, the
fruit of his own hands. Adam and Eve tried to
cover their nakedness with the
works of their own hands. God did not accept
Adam and Eve's hand-made coverings
or Cain's offering of self-effort. Many
fabricated religions will dress
themselves up to cover their sin such as Adam
and Eve tried with outward
religious trappings. These types of human
works are filthy rags in God's eyes. A
fallen man hates God and the things of God.
Many fallen men will offend God by
throwing humanistic religious works into God's
face.
Man's nature is corrupted, and he makes all
decisions based upon his
corrupted or fallen nature. In the view of
some man has a total and complete “free
will.” Unfortunately, many never bother to
define what they mean by the term “free
will” and certain advocates not proving this
belief in their particular notion
of “free will” from scripture further
complicate this problem. This so-called
belief in total “free will” may be popular and
emotionally pleasing. Is it
Biblical? Many assume that there is something
called “free will” and that it is
taught in the Bible. In addition, shockingly,
Shockingly, God is unable to save
a man in this particular system know
historically as semi-pelagianism unless
man through the exercise of his “free will”
says “yes.”
It is clear from the Scriptures that fallen
man is spiritually dead, and
consequently cannot really be free to sin or
not to sin. The problem arises for
many people because they know that they make
choices or decisions. A man most
certainly does make choices. The question
needs to be asked, why does man
choose one thing over another? The solution is
found in man's nature. Fallen
man makes decisions that are the result of the
desires of his nature. Why does
man reject the Biblical God? Because it is his
nature to do so. Man chooses in
harmony with his nature. Romans tells us the
following:
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
death, or of obedience unto
righteousness? Romans. 6:16
Verse fourteen of this chapter says of those
in Christ that we are no longer
under the dominion of sin. We were the servant
or slaves of sin. We yielded
ourselves to sin because this was the
inclination of our fallen nature. We are
now the servants of righteousness and no
longer the slaves of sin. Our sin
natures have been changed. As the apostle,
Peter tells us that “ye might be
partakers of the divine nature...” 2 Peter
1:4. The believer now has a new
nature. We still make choices or decisions.
Since we have a new nature, our
desires have been changed. We are now slaves
of righteousness. Both the non-believer
and the believer make choices but they are
determined by either a corrupt
nature or a changed nature. The will can be
said to be free if it is understood
that this freedom is always in accord with the
desires of man's nature. The
believer is now a new creation in Christ. We
follow Christ because we love Him
and want to please Him. The Holy Spirit lives
in the believer, guides us, and
convicts us to do what is right according to
the scriptures.
When a person chooses Christ, one must ask,
why did the person do this? Was
it his decision on his own apart from God's
action? Alternatively, does man act
or choose for Christ as a result of God
changing his heart by the power of Holy
Spirit? The Scripture declares that
unbelievers are dead (not just sick) and have
hearts of stone. Christ through the work of
the Holy Spirit changes our heart
of stone to a heart of flesh. As said,
unbelievers are dead spiritually and
Christ quickens us or makes us alive. We are
have risen from the dead when
Christ regenerates us. Regeneration happens
before we can exercise faith.
Therefore, Christ gets the credit for our
decision to believe in Him.
Unbelievers do not choose Christ, because they
in their fallen state hate him
and are spiritually dead. Furthermore, it
should be noted that fallen man's
nature is corrupt and fallen man freely
chooses in harmony with his fallen
nature to reject Christ. So then, when fallen
man is regenerated and exercises
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ's atoning work
at Calvary, what credit does God
get for this decision? “All” is the only
possible correct answer.
Remember, we were the servants or slaves of
sin. We yielded ourselves to sin
because this was the inclination of our fallen
nature. We are now the servants
of righteousness and no longer the slaves of
sin. Our sin natures have been
changed. As the apostle, Peter tells us “ye
might be partakers of the divine
nature...” 2 Peter 1:4. The believer now has a
new nature. We still make
choices or decisions. Since we have a new
nature, our desires have been changed
through the inward work of the Holy Spirit. We
are now slaves of righteousness
(not perfectly) by His grace.
In conclusion, both the non-believer and the
believer make choices but they
are determined by either a corrupt nature or a
changed redeemed nature. The
will can be said to be free if it is
understood that this freedom is always in
accord with the desires of man's nature. It
can be said that the will is bound,
yet free. The believer is now a new creation
in Christ. We follow Christ
because we love Him and want to please Him.
The Holy Spirit lives in the
believer and guides us and convicts us to do
what is right according to the
Scriptures.
The Westminster
Confession of Faith,
Chapter VI of the fall of Man, of Sin, and
of the Punishment Thereof
I. Our first parents, being seduced by the
subtlety and temptation of Satan,
sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit.[1] This
their sin, God was pleased,
according to his wise and holy counsel, to
permit, having purposed to order it
to his own glory.[2]
1. Gen. 3:13; II Cor. 11:3
2. See Chapter V, Section IV
II. By this sin they fell from their original
righteousness and communion
with God,[3] and so became dead in sin,[4] and
wholly defiled in all the parts
and faculties of soul and body.[5]
3. Gen. 3:6-8; Rom. 3:23
4. Gen. 2:17; Eph. 2:1-3; see Rom. 5:12
5. Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Titus 1:15; Rom.
3:10-19
III. They being the root of all mankind, the
guilt of this sin was imputed;[6]
and the same death in sin, and corrupted
nature, conveyed to all their
posterity descending from them by ordinary
generation.[7]
6. Acts. 17:26; Rom. 5:12, 15-19; I Cor.
15:21-22, 49
7. Psa. 51:5; John 3:6; Gen. 5:3; Job 15:14
IV. From this original corruption, whereby we
are utterly indisposed,
disabled, and made opposite to all good,[8]
and wholly inclined to all evil,[9]
do proceed all actual transgressions.[10]
8. Rom. 5:6; 7:18; 8:7; Col. 1:21
9. Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Rom. 3:10-12
10. Matt. 15:19; James 1:14-15; Eph. 2:2-3
V. This corruption of nature, during this
life, doth remain in those that
are regenerated;[11] and although it be,
through Christ, pardoned, and
mortified; yet both itself, and all the
motions thereof, are truly and properly
sin.[12]
11. Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 7:14, 17-18,
21-23; I John 1:8, 10
12. Rom. 7:7-8, 25; Gal. 5:17
VI. Every sin, both original and actual,
being a transgression of the
righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto,
[13] doth, in its own nature,
bring guilt upon the sinner, [14] whereby he
is bound over to the wrath of God,
[15] and curse of the law, [16] and so made
subject to death, [17] with all
miseries spiritual, [18] temporal, [19] and
eternal. [20]
13. I John 3:4
14. Rom. 2:15; 3:9, 19
15. Eph. 2:3
16. Gal. 3:10
17. Rom. 6:23
18. Eph. 4:18
Rom. 8:20; Lam. 3:39
Matt. 25:41; II Thess. 1:9
THE SHORTER CATECHISM with the Scripture
Proofs
Q. 13. Did our first parents continue in the
estate wherein they were
created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the
freedom of their own will, fell from
the estate wherein they were created, by
sinning against God [a].
[a]. Gen. 3:6-8, 13; II Cor. 11:3
Q. 14. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or
transgression of, the law of God
[a].
[a]. Lev. 5:17; Jas. 4:17; I John 3:4
Q. 15. What was the sin whereby our first
parents fell from the estate
wherein they were created?
A. The sin whereby our first parents fell
from the estate wherein thy were
created, was their eating the forbidden fruit
[a].
[a]. Gen. 3:6
Q. 16. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first
transgression?
A. The covenant being made with Adam [a], not
only for himself, but for his
posterity; all mankind, descending from him by
ordinary generation, sinned in
him, and fell with him, in his first
transgression [b].
[a]. Gen. 2:16-17; Jas. 2:10
[b]. Rom. 5:12-21; ICor. 15:22
Q. 17. Into what estate did the fall bring
mankind?
A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of
sin and misery [a].
[a]. Gen. 3:16-19, 23; Rom. 3:16; 5:12; Eph.
2:1
Q. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of
that estate whereinto man fell?
A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto
man fell, consists in the guilt
of Adam's first sin [a], the want of original
righteousness [b], and the
corruption of his whole nature [c], which is
commonly called original sin;
together with all actual transgressions which
proceed from it [d].
[a]. Rom. 5:12, 19
[b]. Rom. 3:10; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24
[c]. Ps. 51:5; John 3:6; Rom. 3:18; 8:7-8;
Eph. 2:3
[d]. Gen. 6:5; Ps. 53:1-3; Matt. 15:19; Rom.
3:10-18, 23; Gal. 5:19-21; Jas.
1:14-15
Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate
whereinto man fell?
A. All mankind by their fall lost communion
with God [a], are under his
wrath [b] and curse [c], and so made liable to
all miseries in this life [d],
to death [e] itself, and to the pains of hell
for ever [f].
[a]. Gen. 3:8, 24; John 8:34, 42, 44; Eph.
2:12; 4:18
[b]. John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 2:3; 5:6
[c]. Gal. 3:10; Rev. 22:3
[d]. Gen. 3:16-19; Job 5:7; Ecc. 2:22-23;
Rom. 8:18-23
[e]. Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 5:12; 6:23
[f]. Matt. 25:41, 46; II Thess. 1:9; Rev.
14:9-11
The Westminster Shorter Catechism was
completed in 1647 by the Westminster
Assembly and continues to serve as part of the
doctrinal standards of many
Presbyterian churches.
“Blessed art thou, O LORD:
teach me
thy statutes.” (Psalm 119:12)
“Study to shew thyself approved
unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
“To God, only wise, be glory
through
Jesus Christ forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27)
and “heirs according to the
promise.” (Galatians 3:28, 29)
Mr. Kettler has previously
published
articles in the Chalcedon
Report and Contra
Mundum. He and his wife Marea
attend the Westminster, CO, RPCNA Church. He
served as an ordained ruling elder
in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He
worked in and retired from a fortune
five hundred company in corporate America
after forty years. He runs two blogs
sites and is the author of the book
defending the Reformed Faith against
attacks, titled: The
Religion That
Started in a Hat. Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com