GraceUncovered

Authors home articles Gracelife

GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

Why Does the Virgin Birth Matter?

by

One of the questions asked at Christmas is, “Was Jesus really born of a virgin?”

Is this an important question? Some say no. They say they do not need to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin to believe that he is the Savior.

But the virgin birth matters a great deal, for at least three reasons.

First, the prophets said the virgin birth would be a messianic sign:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

In the history of the world, there have been billions of births but only one virgin birth. The virgin birth proves that God is with us and not against us (Matt. 1:23). It proves that Jesus came from holy God and not sinful Adam.

Second, John the Baptist said Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Jesus could only do that if he came from outside the world. A sinful son of Adam could not carry our sins, but a Son of God can.

Third, we needed a High Priest untouched by sin (see Heb. 4:15, 1 John 3:5), and a virgin birth provides one.

Such a high priest truly meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Hebrews 7:26–27, NIV)

Remove the virgin birth and we are left with doubts. Is God really with us? Is Jesus really the sinless Savior? Did he carry all our sins?

Who was Jesus’ mother?

How was Jesus the Son of God “fully human”? The traditional answer is he had a human mother. But this creates two problems. First, any human parent would taint the sinless Savior with original sin – if there was indeed such a thing as original sin. Second, only one human parent implies that Jesus was merely half-human, like Commander Spock from Star Trek.

Theologians are nothing if not inventive so they deal with the first problem by saying original sin is a uniquely male disease. Joseph had it; Mary didn’t. Which means we don’t really need Jesus because Mary could’ve been our sinless high priest.

And they deal with the second problem by… well, actually, they don’t deal with the second problem at all. They just ignore it.

The Son of God was fully human because the Creator who made First Adam was quite capable of making Last Adam. Jesus had no mother, at least not in the biological sense. Jesus is the eternal God, the Creator of all including Mary (John 1:1, Col. 1:15–16).

Just as Joseph contributed no DNA to the Savior, neither did Mary. How could she, since she was just as much a part of Adam’s enslaved family as Joseph. Mary provided a womb, but no egg.

When Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.” (Hebrews 10:5, NIV)

The word for body (soma) means a whole body. The Holy Spirit did not prepare half of a body, but a whole one. In the Passion Translation of this verse, Christ says “You have clothed me with a body.”

For most of us, life begins in the womb, but Jesus had no beginning. The Word who became flesh was with God when creation began (John 1:1). Jesus did not need a sperm donor or an egg donor. He needed a body, and that’s what the Holy Spirit provided.

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:34–35)

One day, Mary was not pregnant; the next, “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:18, ESV).

There is much mystery in this. How did the miracle of the Virgin Birth take place? We don’t know the how, but we know the Who. How did the Word become flesh? The Holy Spirit is the answer.

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. (Galatians 4:4, KJV)

Many translations say Jesus was born of a woman, but on this occasion the King James Version gets it right. Jesus was made of a woman, not born of a woman. (The original verb (ginomai) means to cause, to become, to assemble.) Jesus body was brought forth within Mary’s womb.

Incidentally, this explains why Jesus could say that John was the greatest among those born of women (Matt. 11:11). Surely Jesus is the greatest of all, but Jesus was not born of woman in the conventional sense.

All four Gospel writers refer to Mary as the mother of Jesus, but she was not his biological mother. Mary was a surrogate mother who carried and raised the child from heaven.

Mary was an extraordinary woman, highly favored by God, and rightly honored by the Church. Yet nowhere in scripture does Jesus refer to her as mother. Instead, he calls her woman (John 2:4, 19:26).

If you asked Jesus who his mother was, he would reply, “My mother and brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21). Jesus was not being disrespectful to Mary, but like Melchizedek, he was “without father and mother” (Heb. 7:3).

First Adam had no father and mother and neither did Last Adam.

The significance of the virgin birth is that Jesus was not born into Adam’s enslaved family, and only a free man can ransom a slave. Because of Adam, humanity was enslaved to sin and death. But Jesus is our Redeemer from heaven. A Savior such as this, free and untouched by sin, is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him.

Truly the virgin birth is essential to our faith.

—–

Extracted and adapted from my ebook, Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say?

When I tell people I am writing a grace-based series on the Parables of Jesus, they often say, “I’ve always wondered about the one where the king burns down the city.” That fiery scene is from the parable of the Wedding Banquet. My grace-based take on this parable is available now on Patreon.

“You Shall Surely Die”

by

Once upon a time you were spiritually dead. Then you met Jesus and now you are spiritually alive.

Or so the story goes.

Like many religious phrases the idea that we were spiritually dead makes sense until you start asking questions like “what is spiritual death?” and “why isn’t spiritual death mentioned in the Bible?”

What does it mean to be dead spiritually? And where does this idea come from?

It comes from something God said to Adam in the Garden:

From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. (Genesis 2:17)

God told Adam that if he ate from the forbidden tree, he would die the same day. But Adam didn’t die, at least not straight away. He lived for hundreds of years and had lots of children (Gen. 5:4–5).

So how do we explain God’s warning?

“Since Adam didn’t die physically, he must have died spiritually.”

Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom. Makes perfect sense. Hand me a theological degree because I just solved the problem. But did I? What exactly is spiritual death?

Spiritual death defined

Spiritual death means to be cut off or separated from God. “Those who are spiritually dead are dead to the things of God,” said the 19th-century Methodist minister Joseph Benson and many others. Apparently sinners cannot communicate with God.

Except Adam did. In fact, there is more evidence of God talking with Adam after he sinned than before.

God also spoke with Adam’s murderous son Cain and many of his other descendants (e.g., Job, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.). The Old Testament is a record of God talking and dealing with people who were supposed to be spiritually dead.

Because I’m a curious sort of person, I did a bit of digging into the meaning of spiritual death. I went looking for a definition that fitted with scripture. Guess what. I couldn’t find one. Instead, I found a lot of sloppy exegesis, like this:

“God walked with Adam in the cool of the evening but after Adam sinned that didn’t happen anymore.”

Actually, the only mention of God walking in the garden came after Adam sinned (Gen. 3:8).

“Adam was filled with the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit left him after he sinned leaving Adam spiritually disconnected and spiritually dead.”

There is not one bit of evidence that the Holy Spirit indwelled anyone before the Day of Pentecost and plenty to suggest that he didn’t (Luke 24:49, John 7:39, 16:7). If the Holy Spirit left us when we sinned, Christians would be in trouble. Happily, the Holy Spirit never abandons us (John 14:16, Heb. 13:5).

“God drove Adam and Eve out from his presence.”

Again, that’s not true. God did drive the first couple out of the Garden of Eden, but he went with them and continued to talk with them and their children. God did not wash his hands of these sinners or drive them from his presence.

It’s true that killer Cain went out from the presence of the Lord (Gen. 4:16), but he left God; God didn’t leave him.

“Spiritual death means Adam acquired a sinful nature which he passed on to his offspring.”

This is Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, another religious idea that is not supported by scripture. Adam’s transgression condemned him and his offspring (see Rom. 5:12-19), but it did not give him horns, a tail, or a sin gene to pass onto his children. Your sinful nature – when you had one – was acquired, not inherited, the result of living in a world held captive by sin.

What really happened to Adam?

What did God mean when he told Adam “in the day that you eat from it you will surely die”?

This is an easy question because God answered it. If we want to know what happened to Adam, we only need to hear the sentence of death that was pronounced on the day he sinned:

By the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

To return to the dust from whence you came describes physical death, not spiritual death. God said Adam’s body would end up in the ground and that’s what happened.

God warned Adam, “You shall surely die.” This phrase appears repeatedly in the Bible, and every time it refers to physical death (e.g., Gen. 20:7, Num. 26:65, 2 Kgs. 1:4). It has nothing to do with spiritual death, whatever that may be.

But what about when God says “in the day that you eat from it you will surely die”? That sounds like Adam would die the same day. In a manner of speaking he did. From the moment Adam ate the fruit, he began to die.

“You will surely die” can be read as “dying you will die” and Adam began dying that very day. The moment he said yes to sin, he entered death row and life as he knew it was over.

But don’t take my word for it. Let scripture interpret scripture.

Learning from Shimei

There is a story in the Bible that illuminates the surely-die passage. It is the story of a rebel called Shimei, a relative of King Saul, who became embittered after David ascended to the throne.

Shimei created trouble for the House of David and Solomon knew that he had to keep the troublemaker on a short leash. King Solomon warned Shimei to confine himself to Jerusalem. The king said that if he ever left the city, his life would be forfeit.

For on the day you go out and cross over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head. (1 Kings 2:37)

Note Solomon’s choice of words: on the day… you shall surely die. It’s the same warning that God gave to Adam.

And like Adam, Shimei didn’t listen.

After a couple of his slaves ran away, Shimei left the city and pursued them halfway across the country. When Shimei eventually returned to Jerusalem, Solomon had him executed just as he promised.

Shimei did not literally die on the day he broke parole, just as Adam did not literally die on the day he ate from the forbidden tree. But like Adam, his life was forfeit on the day that he sinned.

What did Paul say?

No one wrote more about the consequences of Adam’s offence than the apostle Paul, and Paul never mentioned spiritual death. Not once. “The wages of sin is death,” he said, not spiritual death, but the real, final death that closes the curtain on life (Rom. 6:23).

When Paul said, “through one man sin entered into the world… and so death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12), he meant Adam’s transgression brought death and condemnation to us all (Rom. 5:18).

Adam put humanity on death row.

When Paul said “you were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1), he meant you were doomed to die on account of sin. And when he said “you were made alive with Christ” (Eph. 2:5), he meant you now have everlasting life through Christ Jesus (John 3:15–16, 5:24).

“In Adam, all die” (1 Cor. 15:22). That’s the bad news. The good news is that in Christ all will be made alive.

Spiritual death sounds Biblical but isn’t. (Click on the Table below for a larger version.) It conveys the impression that unbelievers are spiritually numb and incapable of communicating with God. But if that were true, how could anyone repent? How could anyone pray the Sinner’s Prayer?

The Bible never says that natural man is spiritually dead. Instead it says he lacks fellowship with the Lord (1 John 1:3), is alienated in his mind (Col. 1:3), and excluded from the life of God (Eph. 4:18).

His spirit is very much alive, it’s just not connected to the Spirit of God (John 3:5, Rom. 8:9).

Dumb things we say in church

Spiritual death, like original sin, is one of those religious phrases we should stop using. To say unbelievers suffer from spiritual death is to minimize all that Jesus did for us.

Jesus does not deliver us from some half-baked version of death that no one understands; he delivered us from real, final, pushing-up-daisies death. He did this by giving us a brand new life, one that does not end in death.

If you have been joined to the Lord you have everlasting life and a hundred blessings besides. In fellowship with the Lord, you have been made a partaker of his divine life.

With the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and keep you, you have it far better than Adam ever did.

—–

Extracted and adapted from Paul’s new book, Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say? available now on Patreon.

Six Reasons Why Original Sin Cannot be True

by

Original sin says we were born bad to the bone. From the moment we drew our first breath, we were inclined towards sin, utterly depraved, and hostile towards God.

Since beginning this series, I’ve received messages from readers who defend original sin by quoting Romans 3, 5, and other scriptures that say we are all sinners who have gone astray. This shows the confusion that some have about the doctrine of original sin.

There is no question that we were born under the condemnation of sin and death. But the doctrine of original sin, which was invented by Tertullian and popularized by Augustine, Calvin and others, says something different, namely that we inherited Adam’s sinful nature.

There is no question that sinners have a sinful nature and that we all need to be saved from sin, but Augustine went further than this. He said we are born corrupt, and that we inherited a rebellious streak from our forefather Adam.

Augustine’s views are widely-known. Indeed, they are considered dogma in large parts of the church. But if his doctrine of original sin is true, your children are natural born sinners and dead babies go to hell.

Thankfully, it’s not true.

You may have heard original sin mentioned a thousand times, and I can understand your shock when I say original sin is unbiblical. But as sure as the night is dark, the doctrine of original sin is an invention of religion. It is not from the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of original sin has brought nothing but pain and guilt to the world. A good tree bears good fruit, but manmade doctrines release suffering and death.

Here are six more reasons why you should have nothing to do with this unbiblical teaching:

1. Adam sinned without a sinful nature

Original sin says we inherited a sinful nature from Adam, but when Adam fell into sin he didn’t have one. How could Adam pass along something he didn’t have?

Adam’s sin had catastrophic consequences for the human race, but his sin did not lead to a redesign of the original prototype. Men did not start growing horns or tails as a result of the Fall, and God’s workmanship remains as good as ever (Ps. 139:14).

2. God never said original sin was part of the curse

After Adam fell, God outlined the consequences of his sin (see Gen. 3:14–19). God told Adam all the bad things that what would happen, but he said nothing about passing on a bad gene or a sinful predisposition or a rebellious nature. Augustine has added to the curse.

3. If we are born corrupt, we can’t become corrupt

Original sin says you were born corrupt, defiled and lost, but the Bible says we become corrupt and go astray and turn aside. “All have turned aside and become corrupt” (Ps. 14:3). There are many scriptures that describe how this happens (e.g., Ps. 14:3, Gal. 5:4, 6:8, 1 Tim. 6:10, 21, etc.).

4. You cannot pass on a righteous nature

Original sin came to you from Adam by way of your parents, but what if your parents were spirit-filled believers? They would no longer have a sinful nature. One with the Lord, they had a righteous nature.

Did you inherit your parents’ righteous nature? Were you a natural born saint? No one believes you can inherit your parents’ righteousness, so why do we think we inherited their sinfulness?

5. Original sin cannot account for Old Testament saints

If anyone was going to inherit Adam’s wicked gene, surely it was his son. Yet Jesus said Abel was righteous (Matt. 23:35). So were Noah, Lot, and Daniel (Gen. 6:9, Eze. 14:20, 2 Pet. 2:7).

The related doctrines of original sin and total depravity say that none of us can reach out to God, but Abel and the other Old Testament saints prove that the unsaved can operate in faith. God is not far from any of us (Acts 17:27).

6. Original sin says you have no choice

Original sin says it’s not your fault that you are wicked and incapable of living by faith. You are a hapless victim. Unless God happens to grace you – and who can say if he will? – you are eternally lost.

The devil would love for you to believe this because such a message will leave you unmoved and unchanged. It will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The good news declares you have a choice. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin?” (Rom. 6:1). Do you see? You don’t have to continue in sin.

In Adam, we had no choice, but Christ was “raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). You have a choice. You can choose to walk in the old way of Adam or the new way of Jesus. Choose life.

The end of the matter

Here are three ways to tell if a teaching is unscriptural: (1) it’s not in the Bible, (2) it contradicts the Bible, and (3) it leads to illogical conclusions. Augustine’s doctrine of original sin fails all three tests. There is not one scripture that says we inherited Adam’s sinful nature and plenty that say otherwise.

Original sin is unbiblical and illogical, but its greatest flaw is the way it portrays God as harsh and unjust. Original sin says the sons are judged for the sins of the father, but this is contrary to the heart of God. Not even under the law-keeping covenant were children judged for their parents’ sins (Deu. 24:16, Eze. 18:20).

Original sin says humanity was created good but became bad. “You can be made good again but no matter how good you are, your children will always be born bad.” Huh?

The Bible tells a simpler story and offers a better remedy:

Augustine’s teaching on original sin is bad news from start to finish, but there is no bad news in the good news. Contrary to what you may have heard, God is good, he loves you, and he doesn’t hold your sins or your parents’ sin against you (2 Cor. 5:19).

Believe the good news and be free!

(And stop telling your kids they are sinners.)

—–

Full sources can be found found in my Original Sin ebook on Patreon.

Other articles on original sin:

Are your Children Natural Born Sinners?

by

A few years ago, the Babylon Bee published a satirical article entitled “Woman Finally Accepts Doctrine of Total Depravity Now That Daughter Is Two.” The article was about a young mother who became convinced about the doctrine of total depravity after her child became a toddler:

I had the hardest time coming to grips with the idea that all the people I see around me are marred by sin and without hope but for the grace of God,” the young mother told reporters. “But now that Charlotte is two—hoo boy. That innate depravity is shining through with the brightness of a thousand suns.

It was a fictional piece but it carried a grain of truth. As many parents can attest, sweet babies sometimes turn into little monsters.

As soon as the child discovers their will, selfishness rears its ugly head. Tantrums, uneaten meals, and an all-round refusal to do what they are told seems to prove the existence of original sin.

“Little Johnny is proof positive that we’re born rebels. Grab the rod. We’re going to train that sinfulness right out of him!”

Or maybe there is another way to look at it.

If you have been following my series on original sin, you will know that I do not subscribe to the idea that we inherited a sinful nature from our parents. I am convinced that Augustine’s doctrine of original sin is unbiblical. And illogical.

So why do two-year olds act like selfish little sinners? Because that’s how they’ve been raised.

A selfish toddler is a product of their upbringing. For their entire life, they have been waited on hand and foot.

If they are hungry, an adult will feed them. If they are dirty, an adult will wash them. They have done little for themselves and nothing for others.

Their selfishness is not inherited but is a learned behavior, and one that has been reinforced every day of their lives.

And that is exactly what God intended.

A selfish toddler is basically a big baby because what else are they going to be? For every day of its life, the toddler has had one lesson reinforced again and again: crying and making a fuss gets results. So of course they are going to cry and act out. This is the only trick they know.

Once the toddler is over the infantile hump of helplessness, they can be taught other skills, like self-control, kindness, and consideration for others.

Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

The Scriptures exhort parents to train their children. But if original sin is true and little Johnny is genetically inclined to sin, how will training help? You might as well train him to be tall.

“But Paul, haven’t you heard of the terrible twos?”

As a father of four, I am well-acquainted with the ways of toddlers. I have learned that the terrible twos are largely an invention of parents who are overwhelmed by the considerable challenge of training toddlers.

God made parents stronger, smarter, and faster than their children, yet some parents act like their kids are on the throne.

It is a blessing to have strong-willed children, and the last thing we want to do is break their little spirits. (“Don’t exasperate your children” (Col. 3:21).) But you’d have to be nuts to let a small child run your life.

This is not the place where I discuss Parenting 101, but let me leave you with this: Jesus said make a tree good or make a tree bad (Matt. 12:33). We make our children good by teaching them the ways of the Lord and by leading them to One who is the Source of goodness. And we make our children bad by sending them unprepared into a corrupt world full of lies and deception.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

A child’s heart is like soil. Into this soil we can sow the good seed of God’s word or we can let the devil plant weeds. We can nurture our kids with love, or we can neglect them. We can bring them up in the ways of the Lord or we can leave them to be raised by wolves.

Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556), the founder of the Jesuits, famously said, “Give me a child till he is seven years old, and I will show you the man.” He understood that who we become is determined in early childhood. We are not born with a sinful nature but we can be made into full-blown sinners and this process is hastened by parental neglect.

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:2, NIV)

When young children are raised well, it brings glory to their Maker. When they praise the Lord, it renders his enemies speechless.

I’ve seen young children heal the sick, prophesy, and lead people to Jesus. I am not surprised when this happens because I know God has chosen the foolish and the weak to confound the wise and the strong.

Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me; and whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me. (Mark 9:37)

In the Gospels there were some who wanted to keep the children out of sight. This displeased Jesus. He put children front and center and said things like “whoever receives one of them receives me.” How do we receive a child in Jesus’ name? By seeing them as ministers ordained to declare God’s praise.

Original sinners? Hardly. How about original masterpieces, ready to reveal the gifts of their Maker?

If you think your children were born with a sinful nature and innately rebellious it will limit your expectation of what God can do through them. You’ll see the folly in their youthful hearts and miss the praise that God has ordained to silence his enemies.

But if you see your children as gifts from God and ministers of his grace, your expectation will help release them into their God-given destiny.

—–

Extracted and adapted from Paul’s ebook, Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say? available now on Patreon, along with these great titles:

Having trouble logging into Patreon? Read this. Issues with a declined card? Read this.

What Happens to Unbaptized Infants Who Die?

by

If the doctrine of original sin is true, and everyone is born with a sinful nature and a rebel towards God, what happens to babies who die? Do babies go to hell? Do they go to heaven?

Do they go someplace in between?

Augustine of Hippo said babies go to hell for eternal punishment, but added that they get a mild sort of punishment. If there’s such a thing. The following comes from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Augustine and the African Fathers believed that unbaptized infants share in the common positive misery of the damned (i.e., hell), and the very most that St. Augustine concedes is that their punishment is the mildest of all.

Eight hundred years after Augustine, a French philosopher named Peter Abelaard (1079–1142) said dead infants went to a cooler place on the edge of hell. He called this place the Limbo of Infants. (The word limbo comes from the Latin word limbus meaning edge.)

“But Paul, I don’t want my child to go to hell or even the edge of hell. What can I do?”

Fear not. Augustine offers a way out: “An infant’s original sin is remitted through baptism.”

Bingo!

If you have ever wondered why Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Moravians, and others baptize their babies, this is why. A sprinkle of water and voila, your child has a get-out-of-hell-free card.

Infant baptism, the cure for your baby’s sin

In the Catholic Church infants are baptized or sprinkled within a few weeks of their birth, but sometimes the ritual is not performed until they are six months old. So infant baptism offers no relief to those who have lost newborn babies.

I have friends who lost their precious son shortly after he was born. It was a heartbreaking tragedy. But at least they weren’t fed Augustine’s line about babies going to hell.

In fairness, many Catholics don’t agree with either Augustine or Abelaard. In its 1980 “Instruction on Children’s Baptism”, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reaffirmed that: “with regard to children who die without having received baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God.”

Trusting a lost child to the mercy of God is a lot more compassionate that condemning them to hell.

The Lutherans have a similar view to the Catholics. They do not know what happens to unbaptized infants but they trust God has it figured out:

There is some basis for the hope that God has a method, not revealed to us, by which he works faith in the children of Christians dying without baptism (Mark 10:13–16). For children of unbelievers we do not venture to hold out such hope. We are here entering the field of the unsearchable judgments of God (Romans 11:33).

You have to give the Lutherans credit for abandoning Augustine’s damnable diagnosis, but they lose marks for condemning the children of the unsaved and for being uncertain about the will of God.

Some Protestant denominations practice infant baptism, but others don’t. How do those in the second group deal with hell-bound babies? Most give them a free pass until they reach the age of accountability.

Until the child reaches an age where they are accountable for their actions, the thinking goes, God will not hold them responsible for their sin.

The age of accountability myth

How old does a child need to be before they become accountable? Nobody knows. Some say seven years, others say ten, but definitely by the age of thirteen.

What if the child is a late bloomer, has Downs Syndrome, or is otherwise different?

These are the questions that keep theologians busy writing books, but the short answer is nobody knows. And the reason nobody knows is because the age of accountability is a manmade solution for a manmade problem.

Like Augustine’s doctrine of original sin, the age of accountability teaching is not found in the Bible. It’s a fiction.

Although there are scriptures that speak of children being too young to know the difference between good and evil, there is nothing to suggest that God gives grace to kids for a limited time only.

The truth is God gives grace to all of us, young and old alike. Because of Jesus, not even adults are held accountable for their sins (2 Cor. 5:19). We are not judged by how good or bad we are. We are judged by our response to Jesus.

Artist unknown

So what happens to babies who die? Do babies go to hell on account of original sin?

This question has led to much confusion and hand-wringing. It has caused some to abandon the faith (because God is cruel) and others to embrace universalism (because a good God could never do this). Uncertainty over their children leaves parents riddled with anxiety and prone to deception.

Bad questions usually lead to bad places.

The gospel for babies

What would Jesus say if he was asked about babies and young children? He would say “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Luke 18:16).

However, because we have swallowed so much religious mumbo-jumbo we doubt whether the kingdom really does belong to such as these.

We have been fed the Augustinian lie that babies are bad to the bone. We’ve heard the Calvinist trollop that infants are depraved little sinners.

Some say that babies will be judged according to the light of their revelation. But how much revelation does a new-born have? What about a miscarried baby?

Others say God looks into the baby’s future and judges them for what they would’ve done. This is absurd. The baby died. They didn’t do anything. How can a just God judge them for what they didn’t do?

The problem with these silly scenarios is they define faith as something you must do, while unbelief is doing nothing at all. Since babies do nothing, they must be unbelievers. But this is back to front. In the Bible unbelief is described as a work and faith is a rest.

What happens to babies and children who die young? They go to be with Jesus.

Every. Single. One.

If you have lost an infant or child, you can be 100 percent certain about this. Don’t listen to those comfortless frowners who say your child is lost, but trust the One who said his kingdom belonged to such as these.

It is a mistake to say babies are rebels, but it’s also incorrect to say babies are righteous and holy. So how do we deal with verses that say things like “without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14)? We don’t. We give those verses to God and trust him to figure it out.

Like the Catholics and Lutherans we entrust our unbaptized babies to the mercy of God.

Happily, God’s mercy is vast beyond all comprehension. His mercy trumps any judgment that may come against our children (Jas. 2:13).

If we could see heaven right now we would find that it is full of the lost children of earth – deceased babies, HIV babies, aborted babies, and miscarried babies. I don’t know what age they are in heaven, but I know they are there.

How do I know? Because if grace is for anyone, it is for babies and children such as these.

—–

Extracted and adapted from Paul’s ebook, Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say? available now on Patreon, along with these great titles:

Having trouble logging into Patreon? Read this. Issues with a declined card? Read this.

Has Original Sin Made you a Bad Parent?

by

One of the strangest things I had to get used to as a young father, was my children freely admitting to their sins. Adam and Eve hid when they sinned, but my kids bragged about it.

One time I discovered crayon drawings all along the hallway wall.

“Who drew on this wall?” I asked.

“I did!” replied the little offender.

I hoped the frown on my face would convey my displeasure, but her response was one of delight, as though she was thrilled that her father had discovered her artwork.

“Aren’t you impressed Daddy? Isn’t this an amazing picture? Would you like me to draw another?”

Clearly my daughter had no idea that she was a sinner. She was too young to know right from wrong.

I was angry, but only for a moment. My daughter’s innocence disarmed me, and we ended up discussing the merits of her art. Then I suggested that for future drawings she might try alternative media, like paper.

Why did my daughter vandalize the hallway wall? Why did she occasionally fight with her siblings and disobey her parents? It was because she was a born sinner and a rebel by nature. She entered this world inclined to sin.

Or so says the unbiblical doctrine of original sin.

The doctrine of original sin is one of the most enduring and influential ideas in the church. Original sin says we all inherited Adam’s fallen nature. From the moment you draw your first breath, you were inclined towards sin, utterly depraved, and hostile towards God.

There is no question that sinners have a sinful nature and that we all need to be saved from sin, but Augustine went further. He said we are born corrupt, and that we inherited a rebellious streak from our forefather Adam.

Augustine’s doctrine of original sin is one of those ideas that appeals to our religious sensibilities. We think it explains why the world is godless and broken.

But blaming original sin for our problems is like blaming your parents for all the stupid stuff you did when you were a rebellious teen.

There is no question that we live in a corrupt and sinful world. But the idea that we inherited a predisposition to sin – a sinful gene, if you will – is worth questioning.

We humans are good at sinning. But were we born corrupt or were we corrupted as a result of living in a corrupt world?

Your answer to this question matters a lot.

Imagine we lived in a world where we could genetically test our kids to discover their hidden talents. You take your two-year-old to the testing center and are told that your child has the genes of a virtuoso violinist.

You and your spouse are thrilled. You start making plans.

“We’re going to get Junior some violin lessons. We’ll hire the best teacher around.”

Fast forward a few years and your child has become a talented violinist.

But what if the DNA test said your child was likely to become a raging alcoholic or a serial philanderer or a sociopath. Say goodbye to violin lessons Junior, we’re taking you to therapy!

If you believe in original sin, it will influence the way you raise your children. If you see your kids as little rebels ready to explode into a life of sin and depravity, you will train them different than if you see them as curious explorers, talented artists and gifts from God.

Our children are profoundly shaped by the words we speak over them. Tell them they are born sinners and chances are that’s what they will become.

Original sin will also affect your witness. If you see your neighbors as sinners and godless rebels, you will never connect with them in a meaningful way.

“Why don’t you come to our small group so we can talk about how angry God is with your sin?”

When they refuse, you’ll dismiss them as unregenerate rebels.

And they’ll dismiss you as weird.

Original sin also affects your sense of self-worth. If you think you were born bad to the bone and bearing Adam’s guilt, you’ll behave different than someone who sees themselves as the apple of their Father’s eye.

What you misdiagnose, you will mistreat. We have been told that we inherited a sinful gene and that Jesus is the cure. But the issues are far more serious than that.

You were not born with a bit of bad code; you were born dead in sin.

You do not need to excise your sinful habits; you need to be raised from the dead.

The bad news is that sin is deadly, but the good news is that Jesus raises the dead.

Augustine’s doctrine of original sin conveys a message of “sin with us,” but the gospel proclaims a better message of “God with us.”

Let us abandon manmade notions of original sin and learn to see ourselves, our kids, and our neighbors and as God sees us – as dearly-loved and precious beyond words.

—–

Extracted and adapted from Paul’s new ebook, Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say? available now on Patreon.

Having trouble logging into Patreon? Read this. Issues with a declined card? Read this.

What is the True Significance of the Virgin Birth?

by

One of the central tenets of the Christian faith is the miracle of the virgin birth. Jesus had no earthly father but was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born from the Virgin Mary (Matt. 1:23, Luke 1:30–35).

What is the significance of the virgin birth?

The traditional explanation is that a virgin birth meant Jesus was unstained by Adam’s sin. Since he did not have a natural father, he did not inherit Adam’s sinful nature.

It is an oft-repeated explanation, but one that is not found in scripture.

The true significance of the virgin birth is that Jesus was not born into Adam’s enslaved family, and only a free man can ransom a slave (see Table below).

Jesus was not a slave

Adam’s sin put humanity on death row. (Romans 5 calls it living under the condemnation of sin and death.) But Jesus was not of Adam’s line. He was born outside the prison.

On numerous occasions, Jesus told his disciples that he was not from earth but had come from heaven. “I have come down from heaven” (John 6:38). It’s like he was saying, “I’m not a prisoner. I have come from outside to set you free.”

And this is really, really important when you consider the significance of this verse:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)

“All sinned” means all of us were in Adam when he sinned. We were in the car when he drove over the proverbial cliff.

It makes no difference whether you are good or bad. By virtue of the fact that you are descended from Adam, you are part of the “all sinned” group.

But Jesus is not part of that group. Since he is not of Adam’s line, he’s not subject to the law of sin and death. Sin can’t touch him and death can’t take him. The only way Jesus could go to the cross and die on our behalf was if he chose to.

Throughout history many pseudo-saviors have come promising freedom and every one of them was a slave to sin. They couldn’t save anyone. If you are redeemed by a slave, that slave’s master becomes your master.

Ransomed by the Free Man

We needed a free man to redeem us from our slavery to sin and Jesus is that free man.

No one can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for them – the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough – so that they should live on forever and not see decay… But God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself. (Psalms 49:7–9, 15 NIV)

The true significance of the Virgin Birth

Click on pic for a larger version

Moses the Deliverer shows us how this works. Moses was a type of Christ because he was the only Hebrew not owned by Pharaoh. Moses was a free man used by God to liberate a nation of slaves.

Similarly, Jesus is the only human who wasn’t a slave, which makes him an ideal savior. When you’re locked up inside, you need help from outside, and Jesus is the definition of outside help.

You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. (John 8:23)

Unplugged from the Matrix

Jesus was constantly telling people that he was not from earth. He was saying, “Since I’m not part of the Matrix I can unplug you from the Matrix.”

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14–15, NIV)

Sometimes those in the Matrix don’t see their need for liberation, and this was the case with the Jews. Jesus told them, “The truth will make you free,” and the Jews replied “but we’re not slaves” (see John 8:32–33). They were blind to their bondage.

The same is true of many people today. They have been told they are sinners and that the remedy is to stop sinning. They don’t know that the situation is more dire than that and that they are slaves, dead in sins, and in need of Savior.

Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

Near the end of his life Jesus said:

I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me. (John 14:30, NIV)

No hold means no claim, no power, and no ownership. The devil couldn’t lay a hand on Jesus. This made Jesus hard to kill.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. (John 10:17–18)

It was not sin but love that caused Jesus to lay down his life for you.

Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

Jesus is the only Savior who can deliver the slaves of sin and he did it because he loves you. What a friend we have in Jesus!

—–

Extracted and adapted from Paul’s new book, Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say? available now on Patreon.

New Testament Scriptures Used to Support Original Sin

by

Augustine’s doctrine of original sin says you were born bad to the bone and hostile to God. You inherited Adam’s rebellious and sinful nature and your kids are going to hell.

Contrary to what you may have heard, original sin is not Biblical. This manmade teaching comes straight out of Judaism and was introduced into the church by Tertullian and Augustine. It has been preached by just about everyone (including me).

In my last article I looked at several Old Testament scriptures which are used to support original sin. In this article, I will briefly survey those New Testament scriptures which are (mis)used for the same purpose.

Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. (Matthew 7:17)

Here Jesus is teaching us how to recognize false prophets. “By their fruit you will recognize them.” Good fruit means a good tree; bad fruit means a bad tree. But what makes a tree good or bad in the first place?

Augustine would say all trees are born bad, but Jesus said some trees are made bad (see Matt. 12:33). If you can be made bad, you could not have been born bad. By the same token, if you can be made good, you could not have been born good.

A young child who does not know right from wrong cannot be judged good or bad. They become good or bad as a result of the choices they make.

That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. (Mark 7:20–23)

The religious Jews were worried about what they were putting into their stomachs, but Jesus told them to watch what comes out of their hearts. When temptation is received, it gives birth to sin and this happens in the heart.

This has nothing to do with original sin and everything to do with hearts that have become corrupt. Jesus is talking about trees not acorns, men not babies. Babies aren’t tempted to fornications, thefts, and murders. These are grown-up sins for those who have been raised in a world of sin.

No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18)

God’s definition of goodness far exceeds our own. There are good people in the world, but no one is as good as God. We all fall short of his glory, we all need divine grace. This is different from saying everyone is born corrupt and bad to the bone.

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

What kind of person prefers darkness to light? Some might say it is those who were stained with original sin, but that’s not what Jesus said. Those who prefer the darkness are those whose deeds are evil.

Think of Adam and Eve hiding in the garden. They weren’t hiding because they had a sinful nature. They hid because they had done an evil deed. “Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:20). Evildoers prefer the darkness because they are afraid of being exposed by the light.

As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12, NIV)

None of us is born righteous, but that doesn’t mean you were born a hell-bound rebel. On the day he drew his first breath, Adam was neither righteous nor sinful, and neither are we. Like Adam, we all get to choose the path we will follow.

Note the words “as it is written.” Paul is quoting the psalms. It was David who said there is none who seeks after God (Ps. 14:2–3). Which is a terrific piece of prose but it is not literally true, for David himself sought the Lord. “I sought the Lord and he answered me” (Ps. 34:4). People like David have always looked for God. We need to take care that we don’t turn beautiful psalms into blanket statements about the hearts of men.

In context, Paul is speaking about the Jews who sought to be righteous through the law (see Rom. 2:17). He is saying that our righteousness falls short of the Lord’s righteousness (Rom. 3:21–23). Compared to God, “there is none righteous.” We all need the righteousness that comes through faith to those who believe (Rom. 3:22).

Paul also says that all have become worthless. (Worthless in the sense that we are unfit for the kingdom of God.) We are not born worthless, we become worthless. We are not born astray, we go astray.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Paul says all have sinned in the same way he says all have turned aside (Rom. 3:12). Which is very different to the claims of original sin.

Again and again the scriptures declare that we have all gone astray (see Ps. 14:3, Heb. 3:10, 1 Pet. 2:25). “All of us, like sheep, have gone astray” (Is. 53:6). Again, this is not proof of original sin but humanity’s lostness and need for God.

In context, Paul is comparing the Jews who have the law and the Gentiles who do not (Rom. 2:14). Although the Jews have some advantages over the Gentiles (Rom. 3:1), in the final analysis it makes little difference because all of us fall short of God’s glory. We all sin. We all go astray. We all need a Savior.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12)

Paul wrote more about sin than any other New Testament writer, yet he never said we were born with a sinful nature. What we inherited from Adam was a death sentence. “Through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men” (Rom. 5:18).

The key phrase in Romans 5:12 is “all sinned,” which means when Adam sinned we were in him. Adam put himself and his unborn offspring on Death Row. “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned” (Rom. 5:14).

For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners – (Romans 5:19a)

To be made a sinner is to be made a slave. “You were slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:17). Religion says you were born a rebel, but the Bible says you were born a slave. “The whole world is a prisoner because of sin” (Gal. 3:22, NIrV). There are numerous scriptures showing that sinners are prisoners or slaves to sin (e.g., John 8:34, Rom. 6:6, 16–20, 22, 7:4, 14, Gal. 4:7, 2 Pet. 2:9).

Religion says your greatest need is to be forgiven for the crime of being born, but your greatest need is to be free. “I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin… Who will set me free?” (Rom. 7:14, 24).

Jesus did not come to convince rebels to change sides. He came to set the captives free (Luke 4:18).

Perhaps you have heard it said, “You’re not a sinner because you sin, you sin because you’re a sinner.” But what makes us sinners in the first place? It is not a sinful gene; it was Adam’s disobedience. “Through the one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Your disobedience doesn’t come into it. Humanity was condemned because Adam sinned.

Why do sinners sin? We might ask why do slaves act like slaves or prisoners act like prisoners? A prisoner who acts like a prisoner, doesn’t know any other way to live. He has forgotten how life was on the outside. It’s the same with us. We were born into a world captive to sin. We act like sinners because that is how the world teaches us to act.

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (Romans 7:18a)

From this verse some conclude that our flesh is evil or that we have a sinful nature or a sinful parasite. Your physical flesh is not evil. The members of your body can be used as instruments of righteousness or unrighteousness (Rom. 6:13). When Paul says nothing good dwells in me, he is saying “My flesh is incapable of living the good and spiritual life that I desire.” That which is imperfect can never achieve perfection.

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3)

Augustine loved the phrase sinful flesh. The phrase appears dozens of times in his writings, but the phrase appears only once in the Bible.

To say Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh is to say he came to earth disguised as a sinful son of Adam. The Son of God was not a sinner, but he looked like one in the sense that he came in human form. The virgin-born man from heaven entered the prison of sin dressed in flesh like any other prisoner.

The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (Romans 8:7, NKJV)

Augustine would say that a mind that is hostile to the things of God is proof of a sin gene, but Paul is contrasting two ways to walk. We can set our mind on carnal concerns or we can fix our minds on the things of the spirit (Rom. 8:6).

You do not need a sin gene to explain why humans sin. Consider the first woman. Like her husband, Eve was flawless and without sin, yet she sinned. With her God-given freedom Eve chose the wrong path and went astray.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. (Ephesian 2:1)

In our natural state we are excluded, shut out, and disconnected from the life of God (Eph. 2:5, 4:18). We are born mortal which is to say we are condemned to die. “In Adam, all die” (1 Cor. 15:22). Our greatest need is to be raised from the dead to new life and this happens when we put our faith in the Author of Life (John 3:15–16, 5:24).

Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:3)

Before we were born again we were by nature children of wrath. This is a figure of speech. We were children of disobedience; now we are children of God. We used to have one kind of nature; now we have another. Paul is not saying that babies and children are under the wrath of God.

Contrary to what Augustine might say, you do not need to repent of the crime of being born and your children are not bound for hell. It’s true that Adam put himself and his unborn descendants on Death Row, but Last Adam demolished the prison that held us.

Because of Jesus, every one of us has the same choice Adam had. We can yield to sin and become slaves again, or we can trust God and live.

—–

If you want to learn more, check out my ebook on Patreon and E2R’s Supporters’ page.

Old Testament Scriptures Used to Support Original Sin

by

Since publishing my article refuting the doctrine of original sin, several readers have asked “What about this scripture?” Some people seem to think Augustine’s doctrine of original sin is biblical. It isn’t. Original sin is an old Jewish teaching wrapped up in Christian jargon.

Augustine taught it, not Paul, and we would do well to get rid of it.

For those who came in late: Original sin says you inherited Adam’s sinful nature. You were hardwired to rebel. (Too bad if your parent’s were believers with a new nature.) Before you drew your first breath, you were hostile towards God and bound for hell.

There is no question that sinners have a sinful nature and that we all need to be saved from sin, but Augustine went further. He said we are born corrupt, and that we inherited a rebellious streak from our forefather Adam.

“This is why we need Jesus,” say some. “This is why we need to be born again.”

Except the sin gene is a myth. Jesus did not come because you inherited a bit of bad code. He came because you were dead in sin and in need of new life. The difference is subtle, but the implications are massive.

Original sin has got us speaking lies over our children. This diabolical teaching cripples people with guilt.

Let’s take a quick look at some of those scriptures that are used to prop up original sin.

When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. (Genesis 5:3)

Adam was made in the image of God, but Seth was made in the image of his sinful father, or so says original sin. Adam started out in the likeness of God but was remade into something sinful and satanic. From then on humanity has been made in the image of Satan. This is blasphemous. Jesus was “made in the likeness of men” and there was nothing sinful or satanic about him (Php. 2:7).

“According to his image” means the same thing as “after their kind,” a phrase which appears repeatedly in the creation account (e.g., Gen. 1:24). Cattle give birth to cattle, and humans give birth to humans.

Adam had no earthly father so he was made in the likeness of God (Gen. 5:1). Seth was different. He had a dad. To say he was made in Adam’s likeness is to imply he was made in the likeness of God, as we all are. “Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38).

I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth… (Genesis 8:21)

After the Fall of man, humanity became obsessed with sinning (Gen. 6:5), and by the time of Noah the world had become so wicked that even young people were practicing evil. Does this prove that babies and children inherit a sinful nature? It proves they do not. If children were born hardwired to sin, their evil behavior would not have been remarkable. They would’ve been evil from birth, not youth. This verse teaches that sinful inclinations are learned and in the days of Noah people learned to sin from a young age.

There is no man who does not sin… (1 Kings 8:46, 2 Chr. 6:36)

This passage is the Old Testament version of Romans 3:23: “All have sinned.” The scriptures consistently declare that all have gone astray and fallen short of the glory of God. We wander, we drift, we fall. Scriptures about our propensity for sin do not prove the existence of a sin gene as much as they portray humanity’s lostness and need for salvation.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)

David does not say he was born with a sinful nature but that he was brought forth in iniquity or in a state of sin. Like the rest of us, David was born on Death Row, a prisoner in need of a Rescuer. In essence, David is saying the same thing Paul says in Romans 5:19. “Through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners.”

David wrote Psalm 51 after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband. He knew he was a sinner. But instead of making excuses – “It was my sinful nature that made me do it” – he cried out to God for grace and mercy. “Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loving-kindness” (Ps. 51:1). These are not the words of a rebel. This is the cry of a man who had relied on the Lord from the womb (Ps. 71:6).

The wicked are estranged from the womb. These who speak lies go astray from birth. (Psalm 58:3)

Apparently this verse proves that all of us are born with a sinful nature and estranged from God. Only the passage says no such thing. It’s the wicked who are estranged from the womb. Read this verse literally and it sounds like some people start out bad while others don’t. Which is like saying some people are descended from Adam but others aren’t.

Psalm 51 and 58 are often used to prop up original sin, but the man who said “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” would have been repulsed by this doctrine. David did not see himself as a born rebel. Unlike the wicked who are estranged from the womb, David came out of the womb praising God (Ps. 22:10). He understood that we are shaped in the womb by God and not sin. God alone is our Maker.

You have been called a rebel from birth. (Isaiah 48:8)

“You were born corrupt and a rebel from birth. Isaiah says so.” Read this passage in context and you will see that Isaiah is not talking about babies but the nation of Israel. Jacob was a rebel, his sons were rebels, and the new nation of Israel rebelled against the Lord almost as soon as he brought them out of Egypt.

The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. (Jeremiah 17:9)

A heart that distrusts the Lord is a treacherous heart, but when does the heart become treacherous? Does it happen in the womb or later? Jeremiah answers this question in verse five: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.” Our hearts mislead us when they lead us away from the Lord.

Adam had a choice to follow God and so do we. But if we turn away or depart from the Lord, we set ourselves up for disaster. When we sow to the flesh we reap destruction (Gal. 6:8). But the moment we turn to the Lord, he gives us a new heart with new desires (Eze. 36:26).

There are no passages in the Old Testament that say we inherited Adam’s sinful nature, but there are plenty of scriptures refuting original sin.

In my next article, I will look at those New Testament scriptures which are (mis)used to support Augustine’s bad doctrine.

—–

Never miss an article. Sign up as an email subscriber:

Join 40,848 other followers

The Religious Origins of Original Sin

by

For 2000 years Augustine’s doctrine of original sin has taught that you were a natural born sinner, stained with Adam’s sin. From the moment you drew your first breath, you were hostile to the things of God and hardwired to sin.

My strong view is that this teaching about original sin is unbiblical and illogical. Like smoking, original sin is harmful to your health.

But if the Bible doesn’t say it, from where did Augustine et al. get the idea that we are tainted by original sin?

They got it from religion.

The Jews believed that all sin could be traced back to Adam’s transgression and that from him we all inherited an evil heart. This belief is captured in the writings of the apocrypha:

For the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as were also all who were descended from him. Thus the disease became permanent; the law was in the hearts of the people along with the evil root; but what was good departed, and the evil remained. (2 Esdras 3:21–22)

In Judaism there is an old belief that says humans are born with a wicked streak called yetzer hara. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia the yetzer hara is an “evil inclination or impulse, popularly identified with the lusts of the flesh.”

This evil impulse is unconstrained until the emergence, at age thirteen, of the yetzer hatov, a counter-balancing inclination towards good.

The yetzer hara is 13 years older than the yetzer hatov. While still in the mother’s womb, the yetzer hara begins to develop in a person. If he begins to violate the Sabbath, nothing stops him. If he commits murder, nothing stops him. If he goes off to another sin, nothing stops him. But 13 years later, the yetzer hatov is born. When he violates the Sabbath, it rebukes him… (Source)

You know those cartoons that show a person being guided by a little angel or a little demon? That’s based on the teachings of Judaism. The little angel is the yetzer hatov and the little demon is the yetzer hara.

Apparently we don’t get the angel until we’re 13, but the demon – the yetzer hara – is with us from the womb. It is similar to the inherited inclination we know as original sin. The only difference is the rabbis teach that Adam was created by God with this evil inclination, while the theologians say we acquired it as a result of the Fall.

Assume for the moment that you have a yetzer hara. How do you get rid of it? You can’t, say the rabbis. You have it for life. You can only keep it in check through repentance, resolve, and strict obedience to the law.

The Law is like a plaster to the wound made by the yetzer hara. If the plaster is taken away, an evil ulcer will come forth… The Law will wear away the yetzer hara as water wears away stone. (Source)

Jesus and the Jewish apostles would have been familiar with the rabbis’ teaching, yet none of them mentioned anything that sounds like a yetzer hara.

If someone was going to say something surely it would have been Paul the Pharisee. Yet he said nothing. Evidently he did not believe we were born with a sinful nature. He certainly did not believe that we could manage our sin by keeping the law.

Just about everything you ever heard about original sin grew out of this old idea of the yetzer hara. All Tertullian and Augustine did was repackage this Jewish belief in Christian jargon.

So what? Does original sin even matter?

It matters a great deal.

While writing my book on original sin, I heard from a man called Bevan:

Several ministers have told me that my problems are because God rejected me even before I was born, I am going to hell, and there is nothing I can do about it. Help! This is torment!

Sadly, Bevan’s story is hardly unique. I get messages like this all the time.

Many people are tormented with guilt. They turn to religion looking for relief and what do they get? More guilt.

“You were sinful from the moment you took your first breath. You’re a rebel and God will punish you.”

We all live with a narrative about God and how he relates to us. If your narrative says you and your children are stained by the sins of Adam, and that you have to jump through hoops to avoid eternal condemnation, you need a better narrative.

Religion says you are born bad and God hates you, but the Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made and your heavenly Father loves you.

Original sin conveys a message of “sin with us,” but the gospel proclaims a better message of “God with us” (Matt. 1:23).

God is for us and with us, and when we open our hearts to his great love, he will be in us as well.

—–

Original Sin is Unbiblical

by

The doctrine of original sin is one of the most damaging lies ever inflicted on the human race. Developed by Tertullian and popularized by Augustine, original sin says we all inherited Adam’s fallen nature.

There is no question that sinners have a sinful nature and that we all need to be saved from sin, but Augustine went further. He said we are born corrupt, and that we inherited a rebellious streak from our forefather Adam.

You were born spiritually dead and rebellious at heart. From the moment you drew your first breath, you were inclined towards sin, utterly depraved, and hostile towards God.

What is original sin?

This is how John Calvin (1509–1564) defined original sin:

Original sin may be defined a hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature, extending to all the parts of the soul, which first makes us obnoxious to the wrath of God, and then produces in us works which in Scripture are termed works of the flesh.

The key word is hereditary. The doctrine of original sin, as taught by Augustine, Calvin, et al., says you inherited a rebellious streak from your forefather Adam. Adam was a rebel which makes you a rebel. Before you were born, you were inclined to sin and disobey God. You were born bad to the bone and bound for hell.

“Men are born vicious,” said Calvin, as a result of the sin that Adam inflicted on upon his descendants.

The Lutherans agreed saying that all men, “from their mother’s womb, are full of evil desire and inclination, and can have by nature no true fear of God, no true faith in God.”

I disagree.

Like you, I grew up believing I was a natural born sinner inclined to rebel. It was obvious, wasn’t it? Just look at how I struggled with sin.

But around the time my children were born I began to question this teaching. “Is this little treasure really a hell-born brat?!”

After more than 15 years of studying this, I have come to the conviction that Augustine’s doctrine of original sin is a manmade and thoroughly unbiblical teaching.

(If you’re interested in how I got here, check out my ebook entitled Original Sin: What Does the Bible Really Say? on Patreon.)

To clarify, the issue is not whether people are depraved, corrupt, and defiled, but whether we are born that way. Were we born corrupt or did we become corrupt? Did we enter the world sinning and rebelling against God, or did we go astray along the way?

Those who preach Augustine’s doctrine of original sin swing for the hereditary answer. Our sinful nature is essentially a sin gene, an inherited disposition towards sin, and we are all born with it.

Again, there is no question that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and there is no doubt that Adam’s transgression had consequences that affect all of us (see Romans 5). My issue is with Augustine’s suggestion that after the Fall humanity was essentially remade or rewired to sin.

Scriptures used to support original sin include Gen. 5:3, 8:1, Ps. 51:5, 58:3, Jer. 17:9, Mark 7:23, Rom. 3:10–12, 5:12, 19, 7:18, and Eph. 2:1 and 3. I address these scriptures in my new book, but today I want to look at some other scriptures.

Scriptures refuting original sin

Original sin says you were shaped by sin in your mother’s womb. You were born defective and rebellious on account of Adam’s bad genes.

The Bible paints a different picture. Many wonderful scriptures show that you were handmade by God. Here’s a taste:

Your hands shaped me and made me. (Job 10:8).

You have been my God from my mother’s womb. (Ps. 22:10)

Your hands made me and formed me… (Ps. 119:73)

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb… (Is. 44:24)

God made you. He shaped you, fashioned you, and knitted you together, and he did a great job:

I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. (Ps. 139:14)

Augustinian tradition says you are defective and broken, but the Scriptures declare you are fearfully and wonderfully made.

You are a one of a kind special.

Where does the sin gene figure in this? It doesn’t. Adam’s sin affected the ground and everything that comes out of the ground, and this is why death is experienced in our physical bodies.

But your body is merely a home or earthsuit that you wear and which will one day be upgraded. The real you – your spirit and your mental faculties – comes from God (Job 32:8).

For you formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother’s womb. (Ps. 139:13)

Your outward parts may be aging and broken, but your inward parts are first-rate because God doesn’t do shoddy work. You are not a mistake because God doesn’t make mistakes.

“If original sin is not true, why is the world such a mess?” This verse explains it:

Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. (Ecc. 7:29, NKJV)

God did a good job making humanity, but we ran after evil schemes and corrupted ourselves. We are not born corrupt but we become corrupted by the deceitful desires of the old self (Eph. 4:22), the pollutions of this world (2 Pet. 2:7, 20), and tradition and religion (1 Pet. 1:18–19). Behind all these sources of corruption we see the influence of the devil (see Eph. 2:1–2).

Original sin is one of those doctrines that sounds biblical but isn’t. It combines words and phrases from the Bible in ways that contradict the Bible.

The key differences between this manmade doctrine and what the scriptures actually say are summarized in the Table below (click on the pic for a bigger version).

Original sin has been around so long it’s hard to imagine an alternative, but the Bible has been around longer and the picture it paints is clear as day.

—–

Other articles on original sin:

Categories

Recent Posts