Original Sin

Our good friend over at The Hanson Crew has written some good thoughts on John MacArthur's book, Safe in the Arms of God. Lisa and I read this book a couple of years ago and we agreed that it was helpful. I cannot think of anything worse in this life than for a parent to lose a child. I think a parent would rather endure any amount of suffering, physical or otherwise, than to deal with the paramount suffering of losing a child to death. The consideration of a child dying then is a consideration that causes us to think upon eternity and that the world we live in is fallen, maybe more so than anything else.

One of the most important books I read as a newish Christian was Jonathan Edwards' The Great Christian Doctrine of Original Sin Defended. I was driven to this book by my having to deal with Paul in Romans 5:12-21. In Part I of Edwards' book, he sets about to prove the doctrine of Original Sin from the observation of reality. Chapter 2 of Part I deals with the proof of universal mortality for Original Sin, especially the death of infants. I can still remember setting on our couch at Paradise Lane literally weeping over the words of Edwards as he wrote that not only infants die but often they die horribly. He mentioned the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD and that Deu_28:53-57 seems to prophesy of this event where parents are forced to eat their children. Fernando Ortega's song City of Sorrows from his album Storm, recounts this horrible event.

Kings in their armor
Swords in the sky
Storefronts of martyrs
Lined up to die
While in the streets of Jersualem
Children in pain
Covered in ashes
I called out your name

Oh Jerusalem
City of thrones
The blood of your people
Still darkens the stones
City of Sorrows
Set on a hill
Bride of the prophets
They dream of you still

This is terrible on so many fronts. This consideration helps us to really feel the force of the Lord's words when He says

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' " Matthew 23:37-39 ESV

The very next thing He says to the disciples refers to the events of 70AD

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." Matthew 24:1-2 ESV

The doctrine of Original Sin is so important because, in today's age, we don't properly understand how right God is to punish us for our being in Adam. The wages of sin is death Rom_6:23. Why then must infants die? What sin has an infant committed? Paul says in Rom_5:14, that death reigned even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam. I take Paul here to be referring to infants who haven't outwardly sinned in action as did Adam but who are sentenced to death due to their relationship to Adam by nature. Who can think of the seeming innocence of infants and the terrible ways in which they often meet death and the justice of God in their death, and not feel the weight of the truth that we, who have actually sinned like Adam in turning our backs on the Lord, are so deserving of His judgment and wrath? Because of the Fall and the justice of God, infants die. O how much more deserving of death am I than a seemingly innocent little baby. O Lord have mercy on me! By one man sin entered the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all have sinned (in Adam) Rom_5:12. There is none righteous, no not one, Rom_3:10.

Well what are we to do with this? The absolute beauty of Romans 5:12-21 is that though we are dead through our relationship to Adam, it is through a relationship with Christ that we get life. Though we are condemned in a sin we did not actively commit (though we would have committed it if in the place of Adam) we are saved through a righteousness not our own but the righteousness that only Christ, the second Adam, could perform. We may be tempted to cry unfair to God in our being condemned with Adam but we quickly shut our mouths when we consider that Jesus, who knew no sin, was crucified for our transgressions, and that by faith in Christ, God counts us as righteous. When God removes our old stony heart and gives us a new heart of flesh and we look upon Christ in faith, he counts us as being righteous in Christ. Not a righteousness that is our own but a righteousness that comes by faith in Christ and from Christ Phi_3:9. To Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, be all the glory for our salvation, for all eternity. Amen.

By the way, an understanding of Original Sin, if we can but let Scripture speak at this point, is the doorway, in my opinion, to understanding the Reformed view of Scripture. This is the doctrine of Total Depravity Eph_2:1-3. This is the doctrine that we must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God Joh_3:3. If you want to know why it is said that the Reformed view of Scripture exalts God and debases man, it can be found here. Humbly therefore we must come to God.

The doctrine of Original Sin is the source of the problem of the eternal destiny of those dying in infancy. Edwards' actually addresses this question squarely in Part II, Chapter IV, Section I of Original Sin Defended. For me on this issue, I rest in the absolute goodness of God and know that when we get to heaven, we will look upon his judgments and say, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." Matthew 11:26 KJV