The curse bent the whole arc of history. Article 4 states that we believe in the doctrine of original sin. This means that every single person born from a human father has a nature that is corrupt. In other words, we’re all sinners.
It’s hard to imagine what the world was like before the
curse. God looked at all his creation and said it was very good. There was no
fear, no shame, no sorrow, no toil in labor, no disease or disability, and no
death. The command God gave to Adam was simple to understand and easy to follow;
but both Adam and his wife Eve, by the serpent’s suggestion, were complicit in
testing God’s authority and goodness. True to God’s word, Adam and Eve died
that day from the blissful, fear-free and shame-free fellowship with God. Their
bodies also began to age and die. God cursed the whole world he had put under
Adam’s authority, and history has ever since been marked by this curse.
Paul taught original sin in Romans 5:12-14. Sin entered the
world by one man (Adam), death entered world by sin, so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. The law makes it known what is right and what is
sin, but death reigns over even those individuals that haven’t broken a law. In
other words, some have died even before making a conscious decision to break a
law, because they had a sinful nature that was inherited from their father. Job
observes that this curse affects us immediately and that our sinful nature is
inherited. Job 14:1-4 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full
of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a
shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and
bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean? not one. David also in Ps 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
and in sin did my mother conceive me. And Ps 58:3 The wicked are
estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
It's a hard pill to swallow but it’s an obvious truth that we can see all
around us. If the doctrine of original sin were not true, how could we explain how
hard it is for even children to do good when we need no instruction or help to
lie, cheat and steal?
Our sin nature is universal. All of us, Jews, Gentiles,
believers, unbelievers, are born in sin. Romans 3:9-10 What then? Are we
better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and
Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none
righteious, no, not one. This is why it is so foolish to compare ourselves
to other sinners (2Cor 10:12). No matter how “big” you think your sins are
compared to your neighbor, when it comes to the curse of death, we’re all just
as guilty.
Thankfully, the same principle of representation is how we’re
blessed by the righteousness of Christ. This is what Paul is driving at in
Romans 5 when he asserts the principle of representation. Adam’s sin plunged
all his seed into death, but Christ’s obedience springs all his seed into
everlasting life.
This is a big reason I can never get on board with
allegorizing the garden of Eden to harmonize the Bible with evolutionary timescales
for the age of the earth and origin of species. Paul ties our hope of life to a
man, Jesus, who overcame death brought by Adam’s sin. Death is not just
figurative, it’s real and tangible. If evolution were true (survival of the
fittest), then death is what made the world and mankind what it is. If the
gospel is true, death can be defeated by a righteous man because it was brought
in by the sin of the first man. If Adam’s sin is just an allegory, then Christ’s
obedience doesn’t overcome the dreadful reality of death. But since we follow
the Bible literally, we can with Paul rejoice in the literal triumph over
death. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is they
sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Cor 15:54-57
No comments:
Post a Comment