Sin/Fall

The revelation of Scripture presents the history of humanity in the rebellious state against God, and the order in which God enacts His redemptive plan to call man unto Himself.[1] In act, attitude, and nature, man is unable to conform to the moral law of God, as it was broken in the Garden. [2]

With the creation account in Genesis 1-2, some angels fell from heaven and the temptation of Adam and Eve by the serpent in Eden (Gen. 3:1-7). As Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of the snake, their historical fall resulted on consequences for their children. The implications of the Fall in the are embedded within the rest of Scripture (Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; Ps. 51:6; Hos. 12:3; Matt. 7:16-18; Jn. 3:6; 1 Pet. 1:18).[3] It is through original sin in the Garden that actual sin occurs within humanity today (Rom. 5:12-21).[4]

Within the context of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he is distinguishing between the law of the Old Covenant and the grace of the New Covenant.[5] Throughout this letter, he is making it abundantly clear that the gospel is to be the focus in combating the area of sin. It is sin that separates man from his Creator. It is, therefore, the position of man to accept His state and turn to Christ for remission of sins. Paul draws a unique parallelism in the construct of Romans 5, as Adam’s sin in the Garden led to death, but the righteousness of the holy Christ leads to eternal life. The truth of the matter is that all humans have contributed some way to Adam’s sin in that all have received a sinful nature and the condemnation that comes with it (Gen. 3:17-19; Rom. 3:23). It was through this that creation was brought into decay, noting that man is born to die (Rom. 8:18-23).

Another aspect of sin that must be addressed is eternal death. If one physically dies and are spiritually dead, their spiritual death becomes permanent, and they will suffer the second death (Rev. 20:14). The fact of giving into the temptation of sin (Gen. 3:11) does not justify the responsibility of humanity. Shifting responsibility of personal actions does not deny the fact that the sinful actions are further revealing the depth of sin. Fleeing to the argument of determinism to justify sin does not satisfy the moral understanding for those actions. Therefore, this is a complex form of denial.

In itself, sin has its source within man’s heart, the very center of being (Jer. 17:9). Sin has poisoned the very foundation of life on this side of eternity, as all of life is bound by its curse to be affected by it. At the very heart of hamartiology is that "Every man, according to the world's law, is considered innocent until he is proven guilty. The Word of God takes the opposite approach. God says that man is guilty until he is proven innocent."[6]

[1] Allen, “BIBL 425 Class Room Lecture” (2018).

[2] See Gen 1:26-27; Luke 24:49; John 3:7; 6:64-65; Acts 10:34; Rom 3:22-23; 2:23; 5:12; 6:23; 8:29-30; 9:30-32; 1 Cor. 1:21; 6:19; Eph. 1:5-14; 2:1-3; 4: 17- 19; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim 2:4; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 1:2; 2 Pet 3:9 for details.

[3] Leverette, “THEO 350 Class Room Lecture” (2018).

[4] Allen, “BIBL 425 Class Room Lecture” (2018).

[5] Ibid.

[6] J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, vol. 4, 5 vols. (Nashville: T. Nelson, 1981), 138.