Speaking of Original Sin Lead Me To Find Again About Grace
Summary
Skeptics believe that the Bible is not trustworthy. The concept of Original Sin is used by skeptic apologists to discredit the reliability of the Bible and its message. Several times Original Sin is misrepresented of misunderstood. An evaluation weighing in the balance all of the contents of the Bible allows having clarity of why people in the past came with this concept. Common misunderstandings or misrepresentations related to original sin are:
- Original Sin teaches that all humans are seen by God as sinners as a consequence of Adam's sin. And this is unfair.
- Skeptics contend the fact that if God had made us sinners it would be also unfair for Him to expect us to be non-sinners.
- Some skeptics point to apparent contradictions with the definition of Original Sin and other verses in the Bible to discredit the reliability of the Bible.
In this article I hope presenting a Biblical view on the subject, and through it:
1.
Show that the biblical view of original sin teaches that Original Sin is a moral condition, a tendency to miss the mark from God. It is not equivalent to being charged with Adam's Sin.
2.
Clarify through Bible verses the fact that God
did not create us as sinners, rather
that he knew we would sin.
3.
Show that when you look at different Bible
verses the apparent contradictions are clarified and in fact point to the promise of Grace and Salvation from God.
In a previous article titled “Knowing God through the Prodigal Son” two different
sources defining original sin were presented. During a conversation with a Muslim friend, he made reference to the following definition of original sin as:
“a sin inherited by all descendants of Adam” (1)
This definition could be interpreted as
telling us that all humans are charged with the same sin of Adam. It could however be understood that after
Adam, All Humans have a tendency to commit sin.
•
That definition is short to convey the whole message presented throught the Bible. Original sin is a state of
sin (2), a human moral condition which is result of Adam and Eve’s
disobedience. In addition I would like to highlight the following facts related to original sin. Fact of the matter is that the word “Original Sin” is not found per se in the Scriptures. This is a theological concept that has been used to denote several facts presented in different parts of the Bible (3):
- Adam disobedience caused his fall
- His fall brought a hereditary moral corruption that is passed down from Adam to his descendants
- The first man caused sin to enter the world. So God did not create us sinners, it was man who sinned.
One thing that we should acknowledge is that theologians have
consolidated biblical facts under certain theological terms. Such is the case
of “original
sin”. So in
order to clarify any polemics, one would have to refer to the bible verses
related to the topic. In this article, I will mostly review the Old Testament
aiming to highlight that these verses were revealed before the sprout of
Christianity.
All God created was good
God saw all that He had made, and it
was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day. (Gen 1:31 HSCB)
Let’s take a look at the Hebrew, I’ll do a little transliteration. Vayyare’ ‘Elohim et kol ‘asher asah;
Vehinneh tov me’od; Vayehi ‘erev;
Vayehi boqer yom hashish. A literal translation would be “Elohim saw all
which he made; And behold all was very good; And the evening came; and the
morning came, The sixth day”.
All God made, including Adam was very good, tov me’od.
So if it was good to God, this basically tells us that God did not make man a
sinner. The man is who made himself sinner. But to prevent further confusion,
what is sin?
Sin is missing the path of right duty
The word in Hebrew for sin is khatta’ath
(חַטָּאָת
Strong’s H2403 (4)). The first occasion we see this word
in the Bible is in Genesis 4:7
If you do what is right, won’t
you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin (H2403) is
crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
The word khatta’at in Hebrew is a feminine noun, which means not only sin,
sinful, but also the guilt of sin, the punishment for sin and the offering for
sin. What I’m trying to convey by this is that when God
revealed this verse using the word khatta’at, the Hebrew mind would understand that God
was not only speaking about an act, but also about the need of compensation for
that act. Khatta’at is derived from the word khata’ (Strong’s H2398 (5)), is a verb (Qal Structure – qatal form - 3rd person
masculine) from the root kht’, meaning he sinned, he missed, he missed the
way, he went wrong, he incurred in guilt, he missed the goal or path of right
and duty.
In Genesis 4:7,
God tells Cain that sinning is doing what is not right, missing the goal of the
duty God created us for. What was the purpose of our creation? To be loved by
God and to love God.
Love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deut 6:5 HCSB)
When did Adam miss the path of duty?
The first commandment God gave to Adam was:
The LORD God took the man and placed
him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the LORD God
commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any
tree of the garden, but you must not eat[fn] from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
(Gen 2:15-17 HCSB)
So the right path God defined for Adam was to watch over the
garden, to enjoy every tree but to avoid the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. This was one way God chose to determine whether Adam would love him, and
therefore obey Him. Adam deviated from that path when he disobeyed God.
What was the consequence of Adam’s
sin?
That act of disobedience, deviating from the path of duty
established by God, had several consequences which according to the Torah
affected all humanity:
The LORD God said, “Since
man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil (...)”
(Gen 3:22 a HCSB)
Vayo’mer YHWH ‘Elohim:
Hen Ha’adam hayah keakhad mimmennu ladaat tov vara’ Please see that the man only after eating the fruit, after
disobeying God, became aware of what was good and what was evil. Why is this
important? Isaiah 7:15 sheds light on why. There is a point when a youth comes
to differentiate between good and bad, at that point one becomes accountable
for their own actions. This is confirmed in the Torah in Deuteronomy 1:39
Your little children, whom you said would be plunder,
your sons who[fn] don’t know
good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and
they will take possession of it. (Deu 1:39 HCSB)
In Deuteronomy 1:39 Moses is explaining the reasons why God would
not let part of the Israelites enter the promised land, including Moses. There
was a group of people who did not believe the command of God to take the land,
and by disobeying God, they condemned themselves to not entering the promised
land. However, there was some who believe, and the children who were not
accountable were to enter the promised land. The phrase “who don’t
know good from evil”
in hebrew asher
lo’ yadeu hayom tov vara’,
is translated word by word “whom
did not know that day good and evil”.
When the people of Israel disobeyed the command to enter the land, there were
among them children who did not differentiate between good and evil. So this
verse tells us that at a certain age children come to know good and evil.
Some other consequences of sin are for humanity are:
- Labor pain for women and dependency of women upon men. (Gen 3:16)
- The ground was cursed (Gen 3:17)
- Man need to earn his sustenance through painful labor (Gen 3:17-19)
- Humanity became mortals, from dust to dust (Gen 3:19)
We all live with the physical and moral consequences of the sin
of Adam.
Will I be punished for Adam’s
sin?
Let us assume that I am 100% sinless. Does the Bible say that a
person who does not commit sin should be punished? The answer is no. You even
pointed to this verse:
The person who sins is the one who
will die. A son won’t suffer
punishment for the father’s
iniquity, and a father won’t suffer
punishment for the son’s
iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous person will be on him, and the
wickedness of the wicked person will be on him (Eze 18:20HCSB)
Please consider this. The person who sins will die. Is
this referring to physical death? What is this verse referring to? Let’s look at verse 19:
But you may ask, ‘Why doesn’t the son suffer punishment for the father’s iniquity? ’ Since the son has done what is just and right, carefully observing
all My statutes, he will certainly live. (Eze 18:19 HSCB)
I know people contend about this verse and it’s
often used by some skeptics to argue apparent contradictions in the Scriptures.
This comes from misunderstanding of what is written. And even the people of
Israel had misunderstood what the word had said. People had thought that the
consequences of sins on earth were the punishment for the iniquities. The
revelation given to Ezekiel served as clarification for the people of Israel.
God clearly stated that whoever sins, that person would die. We see here that
life and death are the two paths. Either path is consequence of whether the
person sins or not. Since everyone will suffer physical death no matter what,
then we know that the death mentioned here is eternal death, eternal separation
from God.
Let’s make an assumption for argument purposes. If in
the theoretical realm, a person had not ever sinned, then that person would not
die. Hence, this verse is clarifying that we don’t get eternal
separation from God because Adam sinned. Rather we will have eternal separation
from God (death) because our own sins, our own actions.
One could turn and say, well then what is the exit? The exit is
presented in several verses:
“Now if the wicked person turns
from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and
does what is just and right, he will certainly live; he will not die.
None of the transgressions he has committed will be held against him. He will
live because of the righteousness he has practiced. Do I take any pleasure in
the death of the wicked? ” This is the declaration of
the Lord GOD. “Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns
from his ways and lives? But when a righteous person turns from his
righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same detestable acts that
the wicked do, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be
remembered. He will die because of the treachery he has engaged in and the sin
he has committed” (Eze 18:21-24HCSB)
So take a look at this, God told the people of Israel through
Ezekiel that if a wicked person (i.e. someone who sinned) turns his life style
(repents) and keeps all (100%) of God’s statutes and does what is just and right, that
person would live. Repentance is not asking for forgiveness. Repentance in
Hebrew is shub (6), this word means "turning in the opposite
direction". In this case it would be turning 180 degrees from what you
have done wrong. One could certainly think, “well
if I become super-religious I would live; I could earn my salvation”. Let us look again
one of those commands and see if it’s possible to earn salvation:
Love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deut 6:5 HCSB)
The command is a command for every second one exists. The command
doesn’t say “Love
God when you can”.
We should love God with all our strength 100% of the time. This is a question
that anyone should ask to himself: Am I always loving God with all my heart,
with all my soul and with all of my strength? 100% of the time? Or are there
any occasions when I set ahead
my desires over the love for God? If anyone is sincere the answer should be, No. So that’s the very reason why in the next verse of Ezekiel is documented
that the people complained back to God:
“But you say, ‘The
Lord’s way isn’t fair.’ Now listen, house of Israel: Is it My way that is unfair? Instead,
isn’t it your
ways that are unfair? (Eze 18:25 HCSB)
The people knew that even if they regretted for a sin, they
couldn’t guarantee that they could keep away from
sinning. For example, they could not guarantee that they would love God with
all of their strength all of the time.
Throw off all transgressions; get a new heart and a new spirit.
So is everyone doomed then? The answer is again No. In Ezekiel
18:31-32 God gives the answer:
Throw off all the
transgressions you have committed, and get yourselves a
new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, house of Israel? For I
take no pleasure in anyone’s death.”
This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. “So repent and live! (Eze
18:31-32HCSB)
There are 3 requirements presented in this verse. Throw off your
transgressions, get a new heart and get a new spirit. Can anyone get a new
spirit on his own? I’d like to point you to Ezekiel 36, for in here is
the answer God revealed to Ezekiel:
23 I will honor the holiness of My
great name, which has been profaned among the nations -- the name you have
profaned among them. The nations will know that I am Yahweh" -- the
declaration of the Lord GOD -- "when I demonstrate My holiness through you
in their sight. 24 "For I will take you from the nations and gather you
from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will
also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse
you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a
new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart
of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place My Spirit within you
and cause you to follow My statutes and carefully observe My ordinances.
28 Then you will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be My
people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your
uncleanness. I will summon the grain and make it plentiful, and will
not bring famine on you. (Eze 36:23-29 HCSB)
So to Ezekiel, the very one whom you quoted, it was clearly
revealed. It was God who was to change our hearts. It was God who would put
within us His Spirit. It was God who said that only by having His Spirit within
you makes you capable of following his statutes and ordinances. This is Old
Testament. This is 600 years before the incarnation of Jesus and the Pauline
letters. Both to Ezekiel and Paul was revealed that the consequence of sin is
death:
The person who sins is the one who will die. Eze 18:20a For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:23 HCSB)
Now let’s look at “throwing
off all of the transgressions you have committed”. “hashlikhu
me’aleikhem et kol pish’eikhem” The verse starts
with the word “hashlikhu – הַשְׁלִיכוּ ”. I would like to point out this is
the imperative masculine plural in the Hifil verb form. The Hifil form indicate
a causative meaning (7), that indicates that a subject causes someone or
something else to do or be something, or causes a change in state (8). The root
from which “hashlikhu” is derived is “shlkh”. The hifil
imperative indicates that God commands to throw away for some one else to do
something. A word by word translation of the phrase would be “Throw away from
within you (masculine plural) all pish’eikhem". The word pish’eikhem
is the plural form of the noun “pasha’” (9) with the suffix denoting 2 person plural. The word
"pasha" to the Hebrew mind indicates not only the transgression but
also the guilt, the punishment and the offering for a transgression. To whom
would God tell us to cast of the guilt of our transgressions? God had revealed
this to Moses:
Then the LORD
passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh — Yahweh
is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love
and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving
wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. Exo 34:6-7a
Let’s focus on the Hebrew of the following portion: “forgiving
wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin”
– nose’ ‘avon vaphesha vechatta’ah
- נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה-. ‘Avon (10) means
iniquity and the guilt of iniquity. Pasha (9) as we mentioned before is
transgression and guilt of transgression. And chatta’ath
means sin and the punishment of sin (4) as we had seen as well earlier. The key
point comes from understanding the full meaning of the word “nose’”.
This is the active participle (Qal form) of the root nun-shin-aleph. The Qatal – qal form of this
root mean he bore, he lifted up, he endured, he took away, he carried off, he
forgave. So to the Hebrew mind reading this phrase would convey the meaning
that YHWH endures, bears and carries away sin, transgression, iniquity and the
punishment of those.
So, when taking into consideration Ezekiel 18:31, Ezekiel
36:23-29 and Exodus 34:7 one comes to understand that sin has to be punished,
that God asks us to cast over to Him our transgressions, sins and iniquities,
and that He would put on us His Spirit and a New Heart. All this is concluded
from looking at Scriptures that predated the sprout of Christianity and the New
Testament. For this reason is not coincidence to find verses in accord to these
truths in the New Testament:
Sin Must be punished:
For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down
into Tartarus[fn] and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until
judgment; (2 Peter 2:4 HCSB)[fn] Tartarus in Greek is the name for a place for
divine punishment in the underworld
Cast our transgressions on God
18 For Christ also suffered for sins
once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring you to
God, after being put to death in the fleshly realm but made alive in the
spiritual realm. (1Pe 3:18 HCSB)
21 He made the One who did not know
sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
(2Co 5:21 HCSB)
25 God presented Him as a
propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness,
because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. (Rom 3:25
HCSB)
God gives us a new Spirit who
empowers is to do right
11 And if the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the
dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in
you. 12 So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according
to the flesh, 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Romans 8:11-13 (HCSB)
God gives us a new heart
2 Do not be conformed to this age,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what
is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 (HCSB)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have
come. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (HCSB)
I’ve read
and heard from skeptics who claim that Paul invented the doctrine of salvation
by grace. However, the evidence once the Scriptures are reviewed shows that
Paul was just a follower of what was written. Paul before knowing Christ was a
zealous follower of the school of Hillel, educated by Gamaliel. He was
following the Scriptures, but he had misunderstood several points. Once he met
Christ, he came to fully understand what the Scriptures had announced in the
Old Testament, and his letters aim among other things to make simple and
visible to all, Jews and non-Jews. Paul was not inventing a new religion as
some claim, Paul and the other disciples were following what was written before
them and what was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
Footnotes
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