This is the Doctrine that the sin of Adam is Attributed or imputed to all.

Rom 5:12 What follows? This comparison. Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and so death passed to all mankind in turn, in that all sinned.

Rom 5:13 For prior to the Law sin was already in the world; only it is not entered in the account against us when no Law exists.

Rom 5:14 Yet Death reigned as king from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned, as Adam did, against Law. And in Adam we have a type of Him whose coming was still future.

Rom 5:15 But God's free gift immeasurably outweighs the transgression. For if through the transgression of the one individual the mass of mankind have died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which God's grace, and the gift given in His grace which found expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been bestowed on the mass of mankind.

Rom 5:16 And it is not with the gift as it was with the results of one individual's sin; for the judgement which one individual provoked resulted in condemnation, whereas the free gift after a multitude of transgressions results in acquittal.

Rom 5:17 For if, through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in Life through the one individual, Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:18 It follows then that just as the result of a single transgression is a condemnation which extends to the whole race, so also the result of a single decree of righteousness is a life-giving acquittal which extends to the whole race.

Rom 5:19 For as through the disobedience of the one individual the mass of mankind were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the mass of mankind will be constituted righteous.

Rom 5:20 Now Law was brought in later on, so that transgression might increase. But where sin increased, grace has overflowed;

Rom 5:21 in order that as sin has exercised kingly sway in inflicting death, so grace, too, may exercise kingly sway in bestowing a righteousness which results in the Life of the Ages through Jesus Christ our Lord. WNT

Inherited Sin

1. Definitions:

- Inherited sin is simply “the sinful state into which all people are born” (Ryrie). We have a constant bent toward sin.

- Inherited sin is also called the “sin nature” (it affected our entire being), and it is called “original sin” (emphasizing that Adam’s sin caused the corrupted nature we each inherit).

- “Total depravity” is a related term expressing our total lack of merit in God’s sight. Total depravity does not mean we are as “bad” as we can be but that we are as “bad off” as we can be because we all have a totally sinful nature.

2. Scripture

- Psalm 51:5 “…in sin my mother conceived me.”

- Ephesians 2:3 “…by nature children (objects) of wrath”

- Our emotions (Romans 1:26), our intellect (Romans 1:28) and our will (Romans 7:20) are all enslaved to sin and opposed to God.

3. Penalty. The penalty of inherited sin is spiritual death. Man is born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:3) and will be eternally separated from God in hell if our sinful condition is not remedied (Revelation 20:11-15).

D. Imputed Sin

1. Definitions:

“Imputation” means putting to someone else’s account that which may or may not be his (Robert Lightner, Sin, The Savior and Salvation, p.33)

The “imputation of Adam’s sin to mankind” means that Adam’s first sin was rightfully charged to the account of every other person. Someone may protest that it doesn’t seem fair that others are charged with what Adam did. But the Bible teaches that since all were “in Adam” we all unconsciously participated in Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12; cf. Hebrews 7:9,10).

2. Scripture

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

Grammatically the expression “all sinned” does not refer to our individual sins or our sinful nature. It means that all sinned when Adam sinned (cf. Romans 5:18). That’s imputation. We are each held responsible.

1. Penalty. Imputed sin caused physical death. Each person’s physical death was sealed and certain ever since Adam sinned (“death spread to all men because all sinned” – Romans 5:12). Our sin nature does not cause physical death but spiritual (Ephesians 2:3). Individual sins do not cause physical death (Infants die). Imputed sin caused our physical death.

Sid Litke

Sid Litke, Th.M., a 1984 graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, is currently pastoring the Open Door Bible Church in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Summary Comparison Between Inherited and Imputed Sin
(Adapted from Charles Ryrie)

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

For as in Adam all die,.... The apostle here shows who he meant in the former verse, by the one man the cause of death, and by the other the author of the resurrection of the dead, and that he intended Adam and Christ; all men were in Adam seminally, as the common parent of human nature, in such sense as Levi was in the loins of Abraham when Melchizedek met him, and in him paid tithes unto him; and they were all in him representatively, he being the federal head of all his posterity, and so a type and figure of Christ that was to come; and being in him, they all sinned in him, and so died in him, the sentence of death passed on them in him; they became subject to a corporeal death, which has ever since reigned over mankind, even over infants, such who have not sinned after the similitude of his transgression; this was the doctrine of the Jewish church; See Gill on Rom_5:12, to which may be added one testimony more; says (g) one of their writers,

"by the means of the first Adam נקנסה מיתה לכל, "death was inflicted by way of punishment on all":'' John Gill.

Were the Effects of Adam’s sin merely confined to himself, or do they continue somehow to make themselves known in our lives in the Twenty-first Century?

A. The Liberal Position :

The entire story is only myths and legends from the Hebrews.

B. The Pelagian Position.

Pelagius was a British Monk, born in AD 370. He propounded his doctrines in Rome in the year 409 AD. They were condemned by the Council of Carthage in AD 418. Socinians and Unitarians advocate this theme of teaching.

It states that Adam’s sin affected only himself; that every human soul is immediately created by God, and created as innocent, free from depraved tendencies, and able to obey God as Adam was; that God imputes to men only those acts which they personally and consciously perform; and that the only effect of Adam’s sin on his posterity is that of a bad example. men can be saved by the law as well as by the Gospel. Physical death is mere the outworking of the original law,” Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” All have sinned after the example of Adam. Theissen pps 260-261

Scriptural answer.

This the position has never been recognised as Scriptural.

1. Every human being has inherited a sinful nature. Romans 5:12 Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Eph 2:1 And you did he quicken, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,

Eph 2:2 wherein aforetime ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;

Eph 2:3 among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:––

Job 14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

2. Men usually become guilty of acts of sin as soon as they come to moral consciousness.

Psa 58:2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

Psa 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

3. No man can be saved by works.

Rom 3:20 For on the ground of obedience to Law no man living will be declared righteous before Him. Law simply brings a sure knowledge of sin.

Therefore by the deeds of the law,.... Hence it most clearly appears, that there can be no justification before God by the law, since it stops the mouths of men, and pronounces them guilty: by "the deeds of the law" are meant, works done in obedience to it, as performed by sinful men, which are very imperfect; not as performed by Adam in innocence or by Christ in our nature whose works were perfect; but as performed by sinful men and of themselves, and not as performed in and by Christ for them who is the fulfilling end of the law for righteousness to all believers: now by such works as these whether wrought before or after conversion, with or without the strength and grace of Christ,

there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: that is, no one person: "flesh" designs men, and men as corrupt and carnal, in opposition to God, who is a Spirit pure and holy; and may have respect to the vain opinion of Jews and Gentiles, who were vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind; the one on account of their wisdom and learning, the other on account of their righteousness; and includes all the individuals of human nature:, J. Gill

Act 13:39 and in Him every believer is absolved from all offences, from which you could not be absolved under the Law of Moses.

Gal 2:16 know that it is not through obedience to Law that a man can be declared free from guilt, but only through faith in Jesus Christ. We have therefore believed in Christ Jesus, for the purpose of being declared free from guilt, through faith in Christ and not through obedience to Law. For through obedience to Law no human being shall be declared free from guilt.

4. The Scripture represents man’s state of Apostasy as a direct result of Adam’s sin.

C. The Arminian Position.

Arminius (1560-1609)AD was a professor who lived and taught in Holland.

This position teaches that: while Adam’s sin definitely weakened the will of his posterity to remain sinless, it did not however, destroy the possibility. Willmington p.722 This is the position of Greek church and Methodists.

It states that man is sick. As the outcome of Adam’s sin men are by nature destitute of original righteousness and , without Divine Aid, utterly unable to attain it.

Since this inability is physical and intellectual, not voluntary, God as a matter bestows upon each individual a special influence of the Holy Spirit, to counteract the effect of their inherited depravity and to make obedience possible.

The evil tendency may be called sin; but it does not involve guilt or punishment. Thus mankind is not accounted guilty of Adam’s sin. Only when men appropriate to themselves these evil tendencies then God will impute to them sin. Romans 5:12 means that all suffer the consequences of Adam’s sin and that all personally consent to their inborn sinfulness by acts of transgression. Theissen p. 261.

The Answer to the Arminian Position

According to the Word of God, Man sinned in Adam and is, therefore, guilty before he commits personal sin; That Man’s sinful nature is die to his sin in Adam; that God is not under obligation to bestow special influences of the Holy Spirit upon man , enabling him to cooperate in his salvation;; that men do not consciously appropriate their inborn tendencies to evil at the dawn of consciousness; and that physical death is not a matter of arbitary decree, but of just penalty for sin.

It is true, there is an initial bestowment of grace upon the lost, but it is undeserved favour and it merely enables the will to respond to the offers of salvation.

D. The Augustinian Position

Although this position was first described by Augustine (AD 354 - 430), its main features are to be found in the earlier writings of Tertullian.

In this way God in His pure grace, takes the initiative in salvation, yet man needs to embrace this opportunity to choose the gift offered to him. Theissen pps 261-262.

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian (/tərˈtʌliən /; c. 160 – c. 225 AD),[1] was a prolific early Christianauthor from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa.[2] He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of LatinChristian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and a polemicist against heresy. Tertullian has been called "the father of Latin Christianity"[3][4] and "the founder of Western theology."[5]

Though conservative, he did originate and advance new theology to the early Church. He is perhaps most famous for being the oldest extant Latin writer to use the term Trinity (Latin: trinitas),[6] and giving the oldest extant formal exposition of a Trinitarian theology.[

Luther, Calvin and the Reformers generally, except Zwingli, held to the Augustinian position on Imputation of Sin. Its principal advocates in the Twentieth Century were Shedd and Strong.

James Strong 1822-1894

The Augustinian Position states “ God, in virtue of the organic unity of the Human race in Adam, imputes the sin of Adam immediately to all his posterity. “ In Adam’s free act, the will of the race revolted from God, and the nature of the race corrupted itself. The nature which we now possess is the same nature that corrupted itself in Adam.” Strong p.619

Adam’s sin is, therefore, imputed to us as something foreign to us, but as properly ours. On other words, according to Romans 5:12, death passed upon all men, because all sinned in Adam, their natural head.

See this principle of natural headship in the following verses: Heb 7:9 And Levi too--if I may so speak--pays tithes through Abraham: Heb 7:10 for Levi was yet in the loins of his forefather when Melchizedek met Abraham.

Levi paid tithes in Abraham who was his natural head.

Romans 5: 12-21 (see above) note the following : “All sinned” (pantes hemarton) in the “one trespass” of “the one man”, and the legal phraseology, shows that the infliction is not due to a sovereign decree on the part of God, but by way of a Judicial Penalty( vss 13,14,15,16,18)

It is in keeping with the Justice of God in making Adam the representative of the Human Race and “accepts the Scriptural representations of the nature of sin, the penal character of death, the origin of the soul, and the oneness of the race in Transgression.” …………

The Scriptures show us that the sin of Adam is the immediate cause and ground of inborn depravity, guilt, and condemnation that have come upon the whole human race. Thiessen p.265

Objections to the Augustinian Postition

1. It is said, for instance, that there can be no sin prior to consciousness; but the larger part of man’s evil states and acts are of an unconscious nature, and it is at least possible that infants commit sin before they are really “conscious”.

2. We are told that we cannot be responsible for the sinful nature which we did not personally originate; but both conscience and Scripture testify to the fact that we are responsible for what we are, and not.only for what we do.

3. It is said, that if we are responsible for Adam’s first sin we must be responsible for every other sin of Adam, but for all the sins of our ancestors. But Adam chose knowing the permanent moral consequences of his sin. The sin of Adam was a single and permanent revolt against the declared will of God; all other sins are the fruit of the one apostasy and are not chargeable to the posterity. The Scripture states: “The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” Ezek 18:20 and John 9 2,3.

REMEMBER
Inherited sin is simply “the sinful state into which all people are born” (Ryrie).
and The “imputation of Adam’s sin to mankind” means that Adam’s first sin was rightfully charged to the account of every other person. In Adam all die.

Great Doctrines of the Christian Faith

Monday 7 July 2014

The Imputation of Sin.