Rethink - Original Sin

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered what we think are unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were too lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.

We should note that there is more than one way to interpret doctrine, more than one way to think about the faith, and more than one way to read the Scriptures. We would not suggest that our way is the only way, or the right way; we are not Bible scholars. But we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to rightly divide the Word of God.

Introduction

"Original sin" is defined as “the moral corruption we possess as a consequence of Adam’s sin, resulting in a sinful disposition manifesting itself in habitually sinful behavior.”

We first began thinking about the doctrine when a Bible teacher posted an article about it. Then a thought began gnawing at us. We have long accepted original sin as a matter of doctrinal fact. But we really never took a look at the Scriptural support behind it. 

It took a careful reading of the Bible, undertaken while divorcing our minds from the traditional teaching. When we finally did this, we couldn't help but notice the Scriptural basis for this doctrine seems suspect. In fact, it seems that the Bible does not tell us we inherit Adam's sin. There is no Bible verse that actually says this. Rather, it is inferred, we believe incorrectly, from certain NT passages.

Generally speaking, the doctrinal issue is regarded as a tension between original sin and Pelagianism. Because theologians and Bible teachers are so locked into this binary equation, other possibilities are ignored.

We believe there is an alternative, which we will explain below.

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The Case for the Traditional View

The primary passage relied upon for the doctrine is in Romans 5, which we will discuss below. Additionally, the following Scriptures are often cited in support:

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Ep. 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

These verses do not directly discuss original sin, but rather the fallen nature of man. The presumption by proponents of original sin that the fallen nature of man is caused by original sin, but we don't think so. 

And in fact there is a variety of perspective regarding the nature of original sin. The first primary division is eastern vs. western:

The Eastern Church, for instance, saw original sin as more of an ancestral sin, humans imitating the sinful actions of their predecessors. Although they believe humans inherited the death that came from Adam’s sin in the garden, they don’t believe humans inherited the guilt from that specific sin.

The Western Church, on the other hand, believes humans have inherited the guilt and the death accompanied by that sin. This line of thought, perpetuated by St. Augustine, believed people had an inherent guilt from the actions committed in the Garden of Eden

The interesting thing is, neither perspective can be demonstrated from Scripture. These two perspectives are largely speculation and theory. A second delineation is within the western church stream:

Arminian thought, according to Got Questions, asserts humans have a sinful nature. Innately, we just sin. However, this view does not place blame on us for Adam’s sin. We’ve sinned all on our own, according to this view, and reap the consequences of that sin.

Calvinists, on the other hand, will argue we inherited Adam’s sin nature and guilt (see Western thought above).

It seems that Arminian thought aligns with Eastern thought in some ways. But again, the Scriptural documentation of the primary ideas is lacking.

Let's examine some Bible verses.

Romans 5:12-17

Here's the passage:

12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned — 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.

17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

First we notice that sin entered the world through Adam (vs. 12), which of course is true. Adam's sin was the very first. Importantly, because of Adam's sin, death resulted. (vs. 12, 17). We cannot overlook this point. Adam's sin brought death to himself and to creation. The literal translation of Romans 5:12 is

Because of this, just as through one one man sin into the world entered, and through sin death, also thus to all men death passed for that all sinned.

This is critical. Paul did not tell us that we all received the penalty for Adam's sin, but rather he wrote that we all died because of Adam's sin (vs. 15). All of us sin because Adam's sin brought death into the world. 

Death was the result of Adam's sin. 

Therefore, the topic is actually death, not Adam's sin. Death not only arrived on the scene when Adam sinned, but it also reigned (metaphorically, to exercise the highest influence, to control) as a result (vs. 14). 

Judgment for the sin of Adam was rendered long ago, so this sin is no longer relevant. This judgment brought condemnation [vs. 16]. So this means the current condition of man is condemnation. We also know this because of Jesus' statement:

Jn. 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

However, Paul gives us good news: Death was negated by grace, and the life comes though Jesus (vs. 17).

Here's Paul's train of thought in Romans 5:12-17:

• Adam sinned
• Adam's sin was judged and this brought condemnation
• That condemnation resulted in death and corruption 
• Death has had the power and control 
• God gave grace and righteousness in Jesus

What about Adam?

1Co. 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

We inherit death from Adam, not his sin. 

Paul tell us that Adam was natural, not spiritual:

1Co. 15:45-47 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; [Gen. 2:7] the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.

It took the spiritual Man to come from heaven to give the natural man spiritual life. Adam was a natural man who lived on because the tree of life, and part of the consequence of his sin was to be excluded from living forever (i.e., death):

Ge. 3:22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever.”

God cursed the ground (Ge. 3:17) and made child-bearing painful (Ge. 3:16), and finally, excluded Adam and Eve from the garden so they could not eat from the tree of life. Their sin separated them (and us) from the blessing of life represented by the tree of life, so they as natural men would now die like all natural men now die. This is the judgment for their sin... death.

We all descended from Adam, so we also are natural men and will die. The sin didn't come down to us, death did. We are sinful because we are dead, not because of Adam's sin. Sin is what dead people do.

The Sting of Death

Adam's sin came into the world, as we noted, and this resulted in death and decay throughout creation. The wounding, the agent of pain, the effectual element contained in death is from sin, and sin is empowered by the law (Ro. 7:9):

1Co. 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

It's all about death, the death that came from Adam's sin, and the death we previously had which was the agent of our sin:

Ro. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Though we still suffer the physical effects of the fallen nature of creation, we no long suffer the spiritual effects.

Bondage

The weakness of our natural dead selves (Ro. 6:19) put us in bondage to sin:

Ro. 6:20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

Evil desires give birth to sin from which comes death:

Ja. 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

This is what we lived under and what condemned us until Christ rescued us from it:

Ga. 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Deut. 21:23]

Jesus broke the power of death by His death:

He. 2:14 ...so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil...

So to recap, Adam's sin brought death and decay to all creation, including mankind, and that status continues to present day. In our natural state we are cursed, in bondage to sin, already condemned, and destined to die. 

But Jesus rescued us from death and gave us life through the power of His resurrection.

Liberation

All creation will be freed from the death and corruption of all creation that came from Adam's sin:

Ro. 8:21 ...creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Notice that creation will not be liberated from sin, but rather the bondage to death and decay: 

1Co. 15:21-22 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

Jesus' death and resurrection is far reaching:

Ac. 3:21 He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.

We must die to death in order to be freed to receive Jesus' life:

Ro. 6:3-7 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

Conclusion

We think that proponents of original sin mistake Adam's sin for the result of Adam's sin. We did not inherit Adam's sin, we inherited the result of Adam's sin, which is death:

Ep. 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins...

But we are now free from death, the natural man, and the condemnation the law brings for sin (Ro. 8:2) because of Jesus (Ga. 5:1). It wasn't original sin at all. That particular sin was already been judged. It's what came from Adam's sin, the death and condemnation. Sin did not come to us from Adam, but rather deadness. And because the natural man is spiritually dead, he sins.

So in our view, it isn't original sin, bur rather "original death."