THE
ORIGIN OF SIN
By C.D.
Cole
This is one of the
most difficult questions in theology. Since God
made everything good in the
original creation, how did sin get
started? How was a good
creation thrown into rebellion against its
Creator? By whom and how was sin
originated? There is much we cannot
know about the question. But there
are some necessary inferences.
1. Sin is not eternal; it had a
beginning. The Gnostics believed
in two eternal principles: good and evil.
2. Sin was not created by God. God
created everything good; He is
not the Author of sin. Moral beings were without sin when
created. Satan was created a sinless and perfect being "Thou
wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,
till iniquity was found in thee" (#Eze 28:15). God made
man upright. "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made
man upright; but they have sought out many inventions"
(#Ec
3. Sin was not the necessary result
of finiteness. Some claim
that because God made man a finite being sin was inevitable.
But if this be true, men will always be sinners for none of us
will ever become infinite. Infinity belongs only to God.
4. Sin had its origin in a
principle of negation, which means
that it is not the result of any positive force. Moral beings
were created good, but not immutably and independently good.
This would have made them equal with God; it would have
involved the absurdity of God creating another God. God alone
is immutable and independent. There cannot be more than one
God, self-existent and self-sufficient, sovereign and supreme.
Moral beings, angels
and man, were dependent upon God in remaining good.
A sustaining power must continually
go out from God if moral creatures
continue as created. "Which
holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our
feet to be moved" (#Ps 66:9);
"For in him we live, and move, and
have our being; as certain also of
your own poets have said, For we are also
his offspring" (#Ac
that are in heaven, and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all things were
created by him, and for
him: And he is before all things, and by him all
things consist" (#
glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on
high:" (#Heb 1:3).
Now this sustaining power
is of grace and not of debt. It is not a matter
of justice. God could exercise this
grace or not as it pleased Him. He could
have upheld and confirmed in
holiness all moral beings. He could have
prevented sin from ever getting
started among the angels, just as He
graciously prevented it from
spreading, confirming in holiness those
referred to as the elect angels:
"I charge thee before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the elect angels,
that thou observe these things without
preferring one before another,
doing nothing by partiality"
(#1Ti
will not do to say that because God
made Adam a free moral agent, He could
not prevent his sinning without
violating the freedom of his will. God
withheld Abimilech, king of Gerar,
from sinning by not allowing him to harm
Sarah. "And God said unto him
in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this
in the integrity of thy heart; for
I also withheld thee from sinning against
me: therefore suffered I thee not
to touch her" (#Ge 20:6).
So sin had its origin
in the withholding of that grace necessary to
sustain moral beings in a state of
holiness. If God had not permitted sin
there could have been no display of
some of His most glorious attributes.
There would have been no display of
mercy, for mercy must have an object of
misery, and there could have been
no misery apart from sin. There would have
been no exhibition of wrath and
anger and hatred, for these are the exercise
of justice and holiness against
sin. There would have been no display of
such gracious love as is seen in
God's gift of His Son, who was punished for
sinners that they might not perish
in their sins. Surely it is not too much
to say that God permitted sin that
He might overrule it "to the praise of
the glory of His grace" (#Eph
1:6). "Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee: the remainder of wrath
shalt thou restrain"
(#Ps 76:10).
THE FIRST SINNER
Sin originated among
the angels. That slimy, slippery, shining,
subtle thing we call sin was
hatched the day Lucifer, son of the
morning, said, "I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God... I will
be like the most High" (#Isa
God in government, and sovereignty
was the bait he held out to man to
turn him against his Maker. And in
sinning, man has become the tool
and ally of Satan.
Most people have a
woefully inadequate conception of sin. Sin is
the abominable thing God hates. Sin
is something more than a slight
misdemeanor for which God merely
gives man a scolding; sin is a
species of high treason against the
Almighty and thrice-holy God, and
is to be punished by consignment to
the lake of fire.
THE ORIGIN OF SIN IN THE HUMAN RACE
In the human race sin
was derived from the first man: "Therefore,
as through one man sin entered into
the world, and death through sin;
and so death passed unto all men,
for that all sinned" (#Rom
Now there are but two
conceivable ways sin can pass from one to
another. The one is by way of
example, as Jereboam caused
sin, and as Eve caused Adam to sin.
The other is by partaking of the sin
of another. It is obvious that our
being sinners is not due to the force of
Adam's example. Moreover, in the
comparison between Adam and
Christ "For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous" (#Ro 5:19), it
is intended to show that sin came
by Adam as righteousness comes by
Christ. Now we do not become
righteous by following Christ as an
example, but by partaking of His
righteousness. "But of him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and
redemption" (#1Co 1:30). This raises the
question of Adam's relation to his
descendants.
THE HEADSHIP OF ADAM
Adam was the head of
the human race. This headship was both
natural and federal---natural by
the principle of generation (like begets
like); federal by Divine
appointment.
1. Adam was the natural father or
head of the race.
"And hath made of
one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all
the face of the earth, and hath
determined the times before appointed,
and the bounds of their
habitation" (#Ac 17:26); "And so it is
written, The first man Adam was
made a living soul; the last Adam was
made a quickening
spirit" (#1Co 15:45). Every person was seminally
in Adam. He begat children in his
own moral and physical likeness, not
before but after his fall. His
children became heir to all his ills of
body and soul. They inherited his
moral depravity and physical
weakness. His nature was imparted
to his posterity.
2. Adam was the federal head of the
race.
This means that Adam
was appointed a public and representative
person. He represented the race in
the covenant of works. "But they
like Adam have transgressed the
covenant" (#Ho 6:7 R.V.). The federal
headship explains why Adam's sin
was imputed (charged) to his
posterity. "For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners"
(#Ro 5:19). Adam was acting for the
whole race and what he did was
charged to all his descendants.
This is the only way to explain the
death of infants. Infants die
because of Adams' sin, or they die for
no reason at all, since they have
not sinned personally "Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's
transgression, who is the figure of him
that was to come" (#Ro 5:14).
If Adam did not represent infants in
respect to sin, then Christ did not
represent them in respect to
salvation. If they were not guilty
with Adams guilt, they could not be
righteous with Christ's
righteousness. Babies go to heaven, not on the
grounds of innocency, but on the
ground of the blood of Christ. If
Christ had not died the whole
human race, infants and all, would have
been forever doomed. There will be
nobody in heaven except those
redeemed by the blood of Christ.
Infants have the guilt of Adam
imputed to them without their
knowledge and consent. And on the ground
of the death of Christ for them the
Holy Spirit prepares their nature
(which is sinful) for the enjoyment
of heaven.
THE FIRST AND LAST ADAM
In And so it is
written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;
the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. The first man is of the
earth, earthy; the second man is
the Lord from heaven" (#1Co 15:45,47),
Jesus is called the second man and
the last Adam. This
is not in respect of existence, but
representation. He is not
considered personally but
representatively. Considered as an
individual. He was not the second
man or the last Adam. Individually,
there were many men between the
Adam of Eden and the Adam of Calvary,
and there have been many men since
Jesus. He is called the last Adam
because there are but two public or
representative men. God deals with
all men through two men, and our
destiny depends upon which of these
two men we have our standing in
before God. Believers are accepted in
the beloved "To the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the
beloved" (#Eph 1:6), and are complete in Him
"And ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and
power:" (#Col 2:10).
GUlLT AND DEPRAVITY
There are two aspects
or branches of sin:
1. That which consists of the guilt
of some deed committed:
2. Inherent corruption or depravity
of nature contracted by that
guilt. The sinner's standing is that of guilt before the law
of God; his state is that of depravity or corruption of
nature.
Two things resulted
from Adams' first sin:
1. He was charged
with guilt and condemned by the law of God:
2. He lost the likeness of God in
holiness and became corrupt.
Now which of these, or did both of these branches of sin,
come from Adam? Some say the guilt of sin is imputed, hence
their baptism of infants lest they should go to hell. Others
say the corruption of nature was imparted. But we believe
that sin in its two branches was derived from Adam. Guilt was
imputed, and the corruption of nature was imparted or
inherited. In other words, depravity or corruption of nature
is one of the consequences of Adam's transgression. Does God
punish the innocent? The answer is a loud, No! Then we must
all have been represented by Adam in the transgression or we
would not be punished with a sinful nature.
THE FIRST ADAM DISCHARGED
How many of Adam's
sins were charged to his posterity? Only
one for it is written, "For
the judgment was by one (sin) to the
condemnation, but the free gift is
of many offenses unto justification"
(#Ro 5:16).
Adam could convey sin
to his posterity only as long as he was a
public or representative person.
Immediately after his first sin, he was
put out of office and another
covenant was published "And I will put
enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her
seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel"
(#Ge 3:15).
And when Adam exercised faith in
the promised Redeemer, he
was acting in a private capacity;
otherwise, his faith would have been
imputed as well as his sin. Let
both writer and reader thank God for the
last Adam who is a life-giving
Spirit.