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By Frances Swaggart
“For the wages of sin is death; but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
(JER. 33:5) MISSING THE MARK
God cannot abide sin in any form! While He will definitely appeal to the individual with Mercy, Grace, and Longsuffering, giving more than ample opportunity for Repentance, still, if the individual persists in “wickedness,” Judgment will come, just as surely as it came upon Judah and Jerusalem of old!
Many feel that because we are now living in the Day of Grace, that God looks at sin differently than He did under the Mosaic Law. However, it must ever be understood that God’s Attitude towards sin has never changed and, in fact, cannot change!
The definition of sin is, “missing the mark.” That “mark” is the Word of God, and constitutes rebellion against God. Due to the Fall, man is now born in sin, which is called “original sin,” which the Apostle Paul personifies as a ruling principle in human life (Rom. 5:12; 6:12, 14; 7:17, 20; 8:2). It expresses moral and Spiritual depravity (Lk. 11:39; Acts 8:22; Rom. 1:29; Eph. 6:12). It is associated with Satan, the Evil One (Mat. 13:19; I Jn. 3:12). It is translated variously as “injustice” (Rom. 9:14), “unrighteousness” (Lk. 18:6), “falsehood” (Jn. 7:18), “wickedness” (Rom. 2:8), “iniquity” (II Tim. 2:19).
The most characteristic feature of sin and all its aspects is that it is directed against God (Ps. 51:4; Rom. 8:7). Any conception of sin, which does not have in the forefront the contradiction that it offers to God, is a deviation from the Biblical representation.
The common notion that sin is mere selfishness betrays a false assessment of its nature and gravity. Essentially, sin is directed against God, and this perspective alone accounts for the diversity of its form and activities. It is a violation of that which God’s Glory demands and is, therefore, in its essence the contradiction of God.
Sin was present in the universe before the Fall of Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1; Jn. 8:44; II Pet. 2:4; I Jn. 3:8; Jude 6). The Bible, however, does not deal directly with the origin of evil in the universe, being concerned rather with sin and its origin in human life (I Tim. 2:14; James 1:13).
The real thrust of the demonic temptation in the account of the Fall in Genesis 3, lies in its subtle suggestion of man’s aspiring to equality with His Maker (“you will be like God” Gen. 3:5). Satan’s attack was directed against the integrity, veracity, and loving provision of God, and consisted in an enticement to wicked and blasphemous rebellion against man’s proper Lord. In this act man snatched at equality with God (Phil. 2:6), attempted to assert his independence of God, and, hence, to call into question the very nature and ordering of existence whereby he lived as creature in utter dependence upon the Grace and provision of his Creator. Man’s sin lies in his pretention to be God.
In this act, further, man blasphemously withheld the worship and adoring love which is ever his proper response to God’s Majesty and Grace, and instead paid homage to the enemy of God and to his own foul ambitions.
Thus, the origin of sin according to Genesis 3 ought not to be sought so much in an overt action (Gen. 2:17; 3:6), but in an inward, God-denying aspiration of which the act of disobedience was the immediate expression.
As to the problem of how Adam and Eve could have been subject to temptation had they not previously known sin, Scripture does not enter into extended discussion. However, in the Person of Jesus Christ, it witnesses to a Man Who, though without sin, was subject to temptation “in every respect as we are” (Mat. 4:3; Heb. 2:17; 4:15; 5:7; I Pet. 1:19; 2:22).
The ultimate origin of evil is part of the mystery of lawlessness (II Thess. 2:7), but an arguable reason for Scriptures relative silence is that a “rational explanation” of the origin of sin would have the inevitable result of directing attention away from the Scriptures’ primary concern, the confession of “my personal guilt.”
The consequences of sin, regarding Adam and Eve, were immediate. The changed attitude to God on the part of Adam indicates the revolution that took place in their minds. They “Hid themselves from the Presence of the Lord God” (Gen. 3:8). Made for the Presence and Fellowship of God, they now dreaded encounter with Him. Shame and fear were now the dominant emotions (Gen. 2:25; 3:7, 10), indicating the disruption that had taken place.
Not only was there a change in man’s attitude to God, but also in God’s Attitude to man. Reproof, condemnation, curse, expulsion from the Garden, are all indicative of this. Sin is one-sided, but its consequences are not. Sin elicits God’s wrath and displeasure, and necessarily so, because it is the contradiction of what He is. For God to be complacent toward sin is an impossibility, since it would be for God to cease to take Himself seriously. He cannot deny Himself.
The consequences for the entirety of the human race, regarding the Fall of Adam and Eve, which was in their loins, furnishes a catalog of vices (Gen. 4:8, 19, 23; 6:2-3, 5). The sequel of abounding iniquity results in the virtual destruction of mankind (Gen. 6:7, 13; 7:21-24). The Fall had abiding effect not only upon Adam and Eve, but upon all who descended from them, because all were in the loins of Adam. As well, there is a racial solidarity in sin and evil.
The effects of the Fall also extended to the physical cosmos. “Cursed is the ground because of you” (Gen. 3:17; Rom. 8:20). Man is the crown of Creation, made in God’s Image and, therefore, God’s vice-regent (Gen. 1:26). The catastrophe of man’s Fall brought the catastrophe of curse upon that over which he was given dominion. Sin was an event in the realm of the human spirit, but it has its repercussions in the whole of creation.
THE APPEARANCE OF DEATH
Death is the epitome of sin’s penalty. This was the warning attached to the prohibition of Eden (Gen. 2:17), and it is the direct expression of God’s curse upon man the sinner (Gen. 3:19). Death in the phenomenal realm consists in the separation of the integral elements of man’s being. This dissolution exemplifies the principle of death, namely, separation, and it comes to its most extreme expression in separation from God (Gen. 3:23). Because of sin death is infested with a fear and terror for man (Lk. 12:5; Heb. 2:15).
THE IMPUTATION OF SIN
The first sin of Adam had unique significance for the whole human race (Rom. 5:12, 14-19; I Cor. 15:22). Here there is sustained emphasis upon the one trespass, of the one man, as that by which sin, condemnation and death came upon all mankind. The sin is identified as “the transgression of Adam,” “the trespass of the one,” “one trespass,” “the disobedience of the one,” and there can be no doubt that the first trespass of Adam is intended.
Hence, the clause, “Because all men sinned,” in Romans 5:12 refers to the sin of all in the sin of Adam. It cannot refer to the actual sins of all men, far less to the hereditary depravity with which all are afflicted, for in Romans 5:12 the clause in question clearly says why “death spread to all men,” and in the succeeding verses the “one man’s trespass” (Rom. 5:17) is stated to be the reason for the universal reign of death. If the same sin were not intended, Paul would be affirming two different things with reference to the same subject in the same context.
The only explanation of the two forms of statement is that all sinned in the sin of Adam. The same inference is to be drawn from I Corinthians 15:22, “In Adam all die.” If all die in Adam, it is because all sinned in Adam.
According to Scripture, the kind of solidarity with Adam which explains the participation of all in Adam’s sin, is the kind of solidarity which Christ sustains to those united to Him. In Christ is a representative Headship, and this is all that is necessary to ground the solidarity of all in the sin of Adam. To say that the sin of Adam is imputed to all is but to say that all were involved in his sin by reason of his representative headship. As well, to say that the victory of Christ over sin is imputed to all, is but to say that all are involved (all who believe) in His Victory at Calvary and the Resurrection by reason of His representative Headship. The history of all of mankind is finally subsumed under two complexes, sin — condemnation/justification — life. The former arises from our union with Adam, the latter from union with Christ. These are the two orbits within which we live and move. God’s Government of men is directed in terms of these relationships. If we do not reckon with Adam we are thereby excluded from a proper understanding of Christ. All who die, die in Adam; all who are made alive, are made alive in Christ.
THE DEPRAVITY OF MAN
Sin never consists merely in a voluntary act of transgression. Every volition proceeds from something that is more deep-seated than the volition itself. A sinful act is the expression of a sinful heart (Prov. 4:23; 23:7; Mk. 7:20-23). Sin must always include, therefore, the perversity of heart, mind, disposition, and will. This was true, as we saw in Adam in the case of the first sin, and it applies to all sin.
From whatever angle man is viewed, there is the absence of that which is well-pleasing to God. Considered more positively, all are turned aside from God’s Way and become corrupted. In Romans 8:5-7, Paul refers to the mind of the flesh, and nature directed and governed by sin. Further, according to Romans 8:7, “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.” No stronger condemnatory judgment could be arrived at, for it means that the thinking of the natural man is conditioned and governed by enmity directed against God. Nothing less than a judgment of total depravity is the clear implication of these passages. Consequently, there is no area or aspect of human life which is absolved from the somber effects of man’s fallenness, and, hence, no area which might serve as a possible ground for man’s justification of himself in the Face of God and His Law.
Depravity, however, is not registered in actual transgression to an equal extent in all. There are multiple restraining factors. God does not give over all men to uncleanness, to a base mind, and to improper conduct (Rom. 1:24, 28). Total depravity (total, that is, in the sense that it touches everything) is not incompatible with the exercise of the natural virtues and the promotion of civil righteousness. Unregenerate men are still endowed with conscience, and the work of the Law is written upon their heart so that in measure and at points they fulfill its requirement (Rom. 2:14). The doctrine of depravity, however, means that these works, though formerly in accord with what God commands, are not good and well-pleasing to God in terms of the full and ultimate criteria by which His Judgment is determined, the criteria of love to God as the animating motive, the Law of God as the directing principle, and the Glory of God as the controlling purpose (Mat. 6:2, 5, 16; Mk. 7:6-7; Rom. 8:7; 13:4; I Cor. 2:14; 10:31; 13:3; Titus 1:15; Heb. 11:4, 6). In other words, unregenerate man may do certain things in accord with God’s Will and Principle, but nevertheless, according to the wrong motive.
INABILITY
Inability is concern with the incapacity arising from the nature of depravity. If depravity is total, i.e., affecting every aspect and area of man’s being, then inability for what is good and well-pleasing to God is likewise comprehensive in its reference.
We are not able within ourselves, to change our character or act differently from it, which within itself, debunks humanistic psychology. In the matter of understanding, the natural man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned (I Cor. 2:14). In respect of obedience to the Law of God, the unregenerate man is not subject to the Law of God and, in fact, cannot be (Rom. 8:7). They who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Mat. 7:18). The impossibility in each case is undeniable. It is our Lord Who affirms that even Faith in Him is impossible apart from the gift and drawing of the Father (Jn. 6:44, 65).
This witness on His part is to the same effect as His insistence that apart from the supernatural birth of the born-again experience, no one can have intelligent appreciation of, or entrance into, the Kingdom of God (Jn. 1:13; 3:3, 5, 8; I Jn. 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). The necessity of so radical and momentous a transformation and re-creation as regeneration is proof of the whole witness of Scripture to the bondage of sin and the hopelessness of our sinful condition. This bondage implies that it is a moral and Spiritual impossibility for the natural man to receive the things of the Spirit, to love God, and to do what is well-pleasing to Him, or to believe in Christ to the Salvation of his soul, apart from the Work of the Spirit. It is this enslavement to which is the Promise of the Gospel, and the Glory of the Gospel which lies precisely in the fact that it provides release from the bondage and slavery of sin. It is the Gospel of Grace and Power for the helpless.
(The above article was derived from the Jimmy Swaggart Bible Commentary, “Jeremiah-Lamentations”, Jeremiah, Chapter 33.)
