Original Sin & Total Depravity series–part 15 (Romans 5)

The Bible teaches that all humans are born guilty. See Thomas Schreiner’s solid interpretation of Romans 5:

• ‘What role do verses 13–14 play in the argument if verse 12cd says that death extended to the entire world because of individual sin? Paul explains in verses 13–14 that the sins of those who lived between the time of Adam and Moses must be distinguished from Adam’s sin. Adam transgressed a specifically revealed commandment (v. 14) so that sin and death entered the world through him (v. 12). As the first human being he occupies a typological role in the same way as Jesus Christ (v. 14). The subsequent verses (vv. 15–19) clarify that one is either in Adam or in Christ. Hence, the sins of those who lived in the era between Adam and Moses cannot be assigned the same import or function as Adam’s sin. It was Adam’s first sin that brought havoc into the world, so that all human beings are under the reign of both sin and death.’

-ChristOverAll

Read more

(GSiV: Original Sin & Total Depravity series {Nguyên tội và Hoàn toàn bại hoại}; Provisionism: Did God save people or just provide salvation?; Nguyên tội và Hoàn toàn bại hoại–part 1; A Few Confessions of Faith in Vietnamese; Gospel Grace Versus Dead Religion–part 6; Phúc Âm cho Cơ Đốc nhân; Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith–part 19; “Thế Nào Là Một Hội Thánh Khỏe Mạnh?”; Năm Luận Điểm: Ông John Piper–part 12; Original Sin & Total Depravity series–part 14)

Original Sin & Total Depravity series–part 14

Nguyên tội và Hoàn toàn bại hoại

(bại hoại / depravity)

This is an excellent piece that deserves careful consideration. Mr. Madueme is a Presbyterian and thus believes in infant baptism, which we strongly disagree with. But his overall article does a great job of teaching this important but often neglected topic of original guilt.

• ‘Original guilt is like a pelican playing chess. Something so strange seems beyond the realm of possibility. In the 21st century, one rarely finds renowned theologians defending the idea that every person shares culpability for Adam’s first sin and that we are individually guilty for that ill-fated transgression.3 It is inconceivable to many people that God would judge the human race responsible for an infraction that happened millennia before any of us existed.’

• ‘As I define it, original guilt means that descendants of Adam and Eve are guilty and justly condemned for Adam’s first sin. This essay argues that imputed guilt, a particular understanding of original guilt, is an essential whole-Bible doctrine that resists longstanding criticisms. First, in dialogue with recent scholarship, I present the immediate imputation of Adam’s sin as the best reading of Romans 5:12–21. Second, I further argue that immediate imputation is a whole-Bible doctrine by developing a wider canonical and doctrinal basis for imputed guilt in light of infant baptism and infant death.’

• ‘Original guilt permeates the biblical story. Scripture is the story of God redeeming man. “For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Our sins are individually forgiven (Ps. 32:1-2). All of humanity stands guilty before God; Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin (Rom. 3:9); all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Redemption implies guilt. No one is innocent. Adults and infants need redemption.’

–Hans Madueme

Read more

(GSiV: Original Sin & Total Depravity series; Provisionism: Did God save people or just provide salvation?; Nguyên tội và Hoàn toàn bại hoại–part 1; A Few Confessions of Faith in Vietnamese; Gospel Grace Versus Dead Religion–part 6; Phúc Âm cho Cơ Đốc nhân; Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith–part 19; “Thế Nào Là Một Hội Thánh Khỏe Mạnh?”; Năm Luận Điểm: Ông John Piper–part 12; Nguyên tội và Hoàn toàn bại hoại–part 11)