Original Sin

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by shazeep

ah ok well you likely have a personal doctrine; however, there is an official doctrine of OS--namely that we are all sinners because Adam sinned--which the "Developed World" has operated on since the 2nd (spurious) Council of Nicea. Now, whether we are all sinners because Adam sinned, or we are all sinners because we sin after Adam is truly irrelevant to the doctrine, which insists upon the former as a starting point for our religion.

"The question then becomes, when were we made sinners? I believe
we were made (became) sinners when we sinned, because of the Law.

Next question: when were we made righteous? I believe we were made
righteous when we received the free gift because of the sacrifice."

The doctrine of OS warps the former, and ignores the latter; and it shows up in a thousand subtle ways in our culture. As i said earlier, the doctrine might be seen as just a convenient way for pastors to explain something that is demonstrably pointless to inquirers--who after all, have all sinned at that point--but it goes deeper than this. Really, nobody cares, or is edified about, the hair splitting--practically speaking, you are a sinner because you sinned; and you sinned because you have, or had, a sin nature. Sin comes naturally to us, because Adam sinned, and we as humans naturally copy our parents. As i'm sure you know, the phrase "Original Sin" is not in the Bible.

The issue is important when we realize how Paul talked about it in practical terms. After having noted Adam made us sinners in Romans 5, (I agree, it doesn't matter if we were sinners before birth or upon committing sins. Good point!) the real issue is what we see in Romans 7. Even after we are saved, sin resides in our flesh. And it is "activated" whenever we coerce ourselves to do good.

I really believe too many believers treat the New Testament like the Old where will-power was the only recourse for doing good. Whenever ANY law is given where we make ourselves obey rules, sin will rise up and ruin it. Since Paul said the flesh is what is utilized whenever a person tries to serve God through law-keeping, only to see one fail, he discovered sin resides IN the flesh. And he called it a LAW - unlike a moral code sort of law, and more like a principle where we will do evil any time we, in our own power, try to make ourselves do good. Romans 7:21.

Rom 7:21 KJV I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

So, the key to victory was to stop relying upon fleshly will power to obey God and stop trying to live a rule-book Christianity. The New Testament did not mean that we make ourselves do good works when it said the ones who love God will keep His commandments. It means the natural result of loving God will be keeping his commandments, because LOVE is the key where things go beyond rule keeping. If someone loves God they just WILL keep His commandments. It's like God foretelling that the presence of His Spirit in us will cause us to walk in his statutes.

Eze 36:27 KJV And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

That's a far cry from making oneself keep them.

Romans 6:13 is our part to see God cause us to do well.

And Galatians 5 says that if we walk after the Spirit, that is relying upon Him for empowerment to do good, we will find that the results are lifestyles that the law cannot condemn! In other words, what the Law could not get us to do because it was weak due to our flesh that housed sin, God did in us through Christ and the cross in getting His Spirit in us to cause us to do good. And those who walk after the Spirit in this manner live lives the Law cannot condemn even though the people doing good never restored to the law to learn what they need to make themselves do.

So, original sin in THAT sense informs us that sin still resides in our flesh and will work unless we learn to live a new manner of life by walking after the Spirit instead of twisting Christianity into a rule-book lifestyle that may as well be law-keeping under Moses.