Another Reformed distinctive is the teachings of Scripture as relates to Adam's federal headship of all his progeny such that when he sinned all mankind was plunged into sin and corruption. All are born sinners, not born morally neutral, becoming sinners when they sin.
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in
his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s
sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have
done (Genesis 8:21).
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me (Psalm 51:5).
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as
soon as they be born, speaking lies (Psalm 58:3).
This is commonly referred to as the doctrine of original sin.
Original sin consists in both (and in order):
1) the guilt of Adam's first sin
2) the want of original righteousness
To those demerits are added all our actual transgressions, so that our full guilt is replete.
From Scripture we find the following abilities possess by all mankind:
Pre-fall -- able to not sin -- able to sin
Post-fall-- able to sin -- not able to not sin
Regenerate-- able to sin -- able to not sin
Glorified-- not able to sin -- able to not sin
The church has long spoken of these things:
In short, the doctrine of original sin means that we are all born sinners and sin because we are sinners. The non-Reformed generally will argue, no, we are sinners because we sin, claiming that no one is born in a state of moral corruption.
This sort of non-Reformed reasoning goes along the lines of reason that, for Adam's guilt to be imputed to his posterity, Adam's progeny would have to actually have committed the act they are being judged for. Of course, with this sort of reasoning, those that disagree with original sin must correspondingly argue if they are consistent, that in order to be counted righteous in Christ (Romans 5) we would have to actually possess the righteousness for which we are reckoned by God.
This idea is very Roman Catholic (and appeals to human philosophy) but does not square with Scripture, which clearly teaches that our righteousness is an alien righteousness, that of Another.
God has revealed that men are guilty in Adam but, correspondingly, they are found righteous in Christ. This is not merely some legal fiction but comes about by union with the party reckoned to. In other words, either we are in the first Adam or in the Second Adam.
Our state, in Adam or in Christ, is one of imputation by God, that is, “to reckon,” “to charge to one’s account”. In dogmatics mediate imputation is via media between Calvinism and Arminianism. It is the view that Adam's guilt is imputed mediately upon the fact that the individual himself sins. The Reformed view is immediate imputation, which means that Adam's guilt is imputed without the mediation of the individual himself sinning. To be "found guilty" is imputation by God of a quality or value. It doesn't matter (in one sense) whether a man is guilty, or thinks himself guilty or not-guilty (refuses the verdict), or accepts the verdict on some other basis. He is guilty because he's been "found guilty" by competent authority (God in this case).
The Scripture teaches us, to begin with, how the situation is, not how it might otherwise be. We are "guilty," born at war with God, because Adam rebelled against God, and God condemned the whole human race to death, right there, right then. Of course, there is mercy present even at that moment, because Adam isn't executed. Adam is given room to repent, and he is allowed to have children (eventually even you and I), so as to give the elect opportunity to live, and to be saved from the condemnation. If God terminates Adam in the garden, then all of us "potential persons" in Adam are also eliminated then and there. We are condemned in solidarity with Adam. And, before someone asks, the matter of the death of infants is discussed here.
And, we are redeemed in solidarity with Christ. We aren't redeemed or justified because we finally start looking good enough for God to accept us. Sanctification doesn't lead to justification. Justification leads to sanctification. Justification is never related to our inherent sanctity, in a like-parallel to our condemnation not on the basis of inherent guilt (primarily) but legal identification. What Adam gives us, in consequence, is a corrupt nature, from which then proceed all our actual sins. Every part of man is affected: intellect (2 Cor. 4:4); conscience (1 Tim. 4:2); will (Rom. 1:28); heart (Eph. 4:18); and the total being (Rom. 1:18-3:20).
Unfortunately, there is a tendency for some to only accept the most obvious evidence for things. Their insistence is equivalent to believing that, unless a police investigator finds a piece of paper next to a victim with a signed and notarized letter from the perpetrator admitting to the crime, that no evidence exists. Yet Our Lord's entire ministry is a testimony to the hardness of the human heart. Put more bluntly, sin is not learned—it is an inbred disposition.
Our Lord spoke of original sin:
"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children...."
Christ takes it as granted that the people to whom he is speaking are evil. Their evil is just a basic fact that can be assumed, and surrounding which there is no expectation of controversy. He doesn't have to teach original sin in any sort of lengthy way; it was taught in the Old Testament and could be presupposed in Christ's own teaching.
AMR
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in
his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s
sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth;
neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have
done (Genesis 8:21).
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me (Psalm 51:5).
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as
soon as they be born, speaking lies (Psalm 58:3).
This is commonly referred to as the doctrine of original sin.
Original sin consists in both (and in order):
1) the guilt of Adam's first sin
2) the want of original righteousness
To those demerits are added all our actual transgressions, so that our full guilt is replete.
From Scripture we find the following abilities possess by all mankind:
Pre-fall -- able to not sin -- able to sin
Post-fall-- able to sin -- not able to not sin
Regenerate-- able to sin -- able to not sin
Glorified-- not able to sin -- able to not sin
The church has long spoken of these things:
418 AD - Council of Carthage (Early Christian Church)
This council's position on original sin was, even "new-born children... have in them... original sin inherited from Adam".
529 AD - Council of Orange (Early Christian Church)
"... it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was 'changed for the worse' through the offense of Adam's sin..."
"...also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man to the whole human race..."
1530 - Augsburg Confession (Lutheran Church)
"...since the fall of Adam all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, ...and that this disease, or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal death upon those not born again..."
1537 - The Smalcald Articles (Lutheran Church)
"... sin originated [and entered the world] from one man Adam, by whose disobedience all men were made sinners, [and] subject to death and the devil. This is called original or capital sin."
"This hereditary sin is so deep and [horrible] a corruption of nature that no reason can understand it, but it must be [learned and] believed from the revelation of Scriptures..."
1618 - The Canons of Dordt (Reformed Church)
"Man brought forth children of the same nature as himself after the fall. That is to say, being corrupt he brought forth corrupt children. The corruption spread, by God's just judgment, from Adam to all his descendants – except for Christ alone – not by way of imitation (as in former times the Pelagians would have it) but by way of the propagation of his perverted nature."
"Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin;..."
"... original sin in itself is enough to condemn the whole human race..."
"... unregenerate man is... totally dead in his sins... [and is] deprived of all capacity for spiritual good..."
1618 - Belgic Confession (Reformed Church)
"... by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race."
"It is a corruption of all nature-- an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother's womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God's sight that it is enough to condemn the human race,..."
1644 - First London Baptist Confession of Faith (Baptist Church)
"... first Eve, then Adam being seduced did wittingly and willingly fall into disobedience and transgression of the Commandment of their great Creator, for the which death came upon all, and reigned over all, so that all since the Fall are conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity, and so by nature children of wrath, and servants of sin, subjects of death,..."
1646 - The Westminster Confession of Faith (Presbyterian Church)
"Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptations of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit."
"By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion, with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body."
"They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation."
"Every sin, both original and actual,... bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death..."
1689 - Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (Baptist Church)
"Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body."
"... and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death,..."
This council's position on original sin was, even "new-born children... have in them... original sin inherited from Adam".
529 AD - Council of Orange (Early Christian Church)
"... it is the whole man, that is, both body and soul, that was 'changed for the worse' through the offense of Adam's sin..."
"...also that sin, which is the death of the soul, passed through one man to the whole human race..."
1530 - Augsburg Confession (Lutheran Church)
"...since the fall of Adam all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, ...and that this disease, or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal death upon those not born again..."
1537 - The Smalcald Articles (Lutheran Church)
"... sin originated [and entered the world] from one man Adam, by whose disobedience all men were made sinners, [and] subject to death and the devil. This is called original or capital sin."
"This hereditary sin is so deep and [horrible] a corruption of nature that no reason can understand it, but it must be [learned and] believed from the revelation of Scriptures..."
1618 - The Canons of Dordt (Reformed Church)
"Man brought forth children of the same nature as himself after the fall. That is to say, being corrupt he brought forth corrupt children. The corruption spread, by God's just judgment, from Adam to all his descendants – except for Christ alone – not by way of imitation (as in former times the Pelagians would have it) but by way of the propagation of his perverted nature."
"Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin;..."
"... original sin in itself is enough to condemn the whole human race..."
"... unregenerate man is... totally dead in his sins... [and is] deprived of all capacity for spiritual good..."
1618 - Belgic Confession (Reformed Church)
"... by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race."
"It is a corruption of all nature-- an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother's womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God's sight that it is enough to condemn the human race,..."
1644 - First London Baptist Confession of Faith (Baptist Church)
"... first Eve, then Adam being seduced did wittingly and willingly fall into disobedience and transgression of the Commandment of their great Creator, for the which death came upon all, and reigned over all, so that all since the Fall are conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity, and so by nature children of wrath, and servants of sin, subjects of death,..."
1646 - The Westminster Confession of Faith (Presbyterian Church)
"Our first parents, being seduced by the subtilty and temptations of Satan, sinned, in eating the forbidden fruit."
"By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion, with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the parts and faculties of soul and body."
"They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed; and the same death in sin, and corrupted nature, conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation."
"Every sin, both original and actual,... bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death..."
1689 - Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (Baptist Church)
"Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body."
"... and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death,..."
This sort of non-Reformed reasoning goes along the lines of reason that, for Adam's guilt to be imputed to his posterity, Adam's progeny would have to actually have committed the act they are being judged for. Of course, with this sort of reasoning, those that disagree with original sin must correspondingly argue if they are consistent, that in order to be counted righteous in Christ (Romans 5) we would have to actually possess the righteousness for which we are reckoned by God.
This idea is very Roman Catholic (and appeals to human philosophy) but does not square with Scripture, which clearly teaches that our righteousness is an alien righteousness, that of Another.
God has revealed that men are guilty in Adam but, correspondingly, they are found righteous in Christ. This is not merely some legal fiction but comes about by union with the party reckoned to. In other words, either we are in the first Adam or in the Second Adam.
Our state, in Adam or in Christ, is one of imputation by God, that is, “to reckon,” “to charge to one’s account”. In dogmatics mediate imputation is via media between Calvinism and Arminianism. It is the view that Adam's guilt is imputed mediately upon the fact that the individual himself sins. The Reformed view is immediate imputation, which means that Adam's guilt is imputed without the mediation of the individual himself sinning. To be "found guilty" is imputation by God of a quality or value. It doesn't matter (in one sense) whether a man is guilty, or thinks himself guilty or not-guilty (refuses the verdict), or accepts the verdict on some other basis. He is guilty because he's been "found guilty" by competent authority (God in this case).
The Scripture teaches us, to begin with, how the situation is, not how it might otherwise be. We are "guilty," born at war with God, because Adam rebelled against God, and God condemned the whole human race to death, right there, right then. Of course, there is mercy present even at that moment, because Adam isn't executed. Adam is given room to repent, and he is allowed to have children (eventually even you and I), so as to give the elect opportunity to live, and to be saved from the condemnation. If God terminates Adam in the garden, then all of us "potential persons" in Adam are also eliminated then and there. We are condemned in solidarity with Adam. And, before someone asks, the matter of the death of infants is discussed here.
And, we are redeemed in solidarity with Christ. We aren't redeemed or justified because we finally start looking good enough for God to accept us. Sanctification doesn't lead to justification. Justification leads to sanctification. Justification is never related to our inherent sanctity, in a like-parallel to our condemnation not on the basis of inherent guilt (primarily) but legal identification. What Adam gives us, in consequence, is a corrupt nature, from which then proceed all our actual sins. Every part of man is affected: intellect (2 Cor. 4:4); conscience (1 Tim. 4:2); will (Rom. 1:28); heart (Eph. 4:18); and the total being (Rom. 1:18-3:20).
Unfortunately, there is a tendency for some to only accept the most obvious evidence for things. Their insistence is equivalent to believing that, unless a police investigator finds a piece of paper next to a victim with a signed and notarized letter from the perpetrator admitting to the crime, that no evidence exists. Yet Our Lord's entire ministry is a testimony to the hardness of the human heart. Put more bluntly, sin is not learned—it is an inbred disposition.
Our Lord spoke of original sin:
"If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children...."
Christ takes it as granted that the people to whom he is speaking are evil. Their evil is just a basic fact that can be assumed, and surrounding which there is no expectation of controversy. He doesn't have to teach original sin in any sort of lengthy way; it was taught in the Old Testament and could be presupposed in Christ's own teaching.
AMR
