Original Sin or Free Will?
REVIEW: What we’ve learned from the heretics.
• Jesus is the unique Son of God—the battle between Athanasius and Arius.
• The Father considers us to be righteous by faith through the death of Jesus the Son—the battle between Martin Luther and Eck.
• Science & Faith: The Bible communicates the authority of God over our lives--
Big Idea: The controversy between Pelagius and Augustine in the Early Church over original sin illustrates what can happen when philosophy wins arguments about truth. Thanks to Augustine, the biblical view of sin survived.
Definition…What is ‘original sin?’
Alan Jacobs: "Original Sin: A cultural History"
‘original sin’ is NOT, Adam & Eve’s first sin.
1. Similar to Greek tragedy—“fatal choice”, a choice that sets in motion vast irresistible forces of retribution, what the Greeks named Nemesis. …”Oedipus’s sin was murdering his father.” Since Oedipus doesn’t know that it’s his father he kills, he can’t imagine the full consequences of the act; there’s no way to undo his deed, to get back to the life he was living before that moment at the crossroads; and the retribution he has called down upon himself is inevitable.
2. …it’s certainly possible to read the story of Adam and eve in this way: the First Couple ate the fruit not knowing how profound the consequences would be, not understanding that the price of their meal would be forced and permanent exile from the garden and then, eventually, death. …HOWEVER, the doctrine of original sin, as it eventually developed, strikes deeper and challenges or even overturns our usual notions of moral responsibility. Original sin is not merely fatality, the God who oversees it is not the faceless Nemesis, and Adam and Eve do not buy death for themselves only.
3. Original sin is more than that: Romans 5:12—Adam’s sin brought death not just to him, but to “all men”—to all of his descendants: all of us.
PWPT“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 —”
When we all forfeit our lives because of what one man did at the beginning of human history, “what goes around, comes around” doesn’t quite cover it. …Earlier in his letter…he says that those who sin are “without excuse”…
a. Augustine takes up this argument in Genesis 17:9-14, “…any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised…shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” …in no way the fault of the infant whose soul is said to be about to perish. It is not he who has broken God’s covenant, but his elders, who have not taken care to circumcise him.” And yet the passage clearly says that the uncircumcised infant is the one who has broken God’s covenant.
b. Augustine: this passage meant that “even infants are born sinners, not by their own act but because of their origin”—their origin being the primal fatherhood of Adam.
c. Augustine: sin that’s already inside us, already dwelling in us at our origin, at our very conception.
4. …sin afflicts like disease and that, like disease, it is easy to acquire and hard to get rid of.
ARGUMENT today
1. The problem of evil and the impact on our lives.
a. Created in the IMAGE of GOD.
b. How the mighty have fallen!
PWPT Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…
2. This problem is not merely philosophical: The root of evil runs through each heart.
a. PWPT Jeremiah 17:9—the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it?
b. Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.
c. James: the tongue is an evil; James 3:5-8
PWPT So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
d. Jesus: out of the mouth comes the evil of the heart; Matt 15:17–18 NASB
Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.”
e. We speak to our own condemnation. Hard to accept because we live in a “nice” culture, where we don’t dare say all the things we think!
3. The problem with evil and the road to faith came to a head in the fifth century:
a. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). After a lustful pursuit of peace, he turned to religion (Manicheanism in 373, Neoplatonism in 382), but found frustration. …rhetoric teacher…to Milan where he met Ambrose. After rejecting the gospel initially and struggling with a continued illness, he came to Christ in 387. …In 391…a priest and, in 395, the Bishop of Hippo. He remained in his office, writing voluminously, until 430 as the Vandals stood at the gates of his city [when he died; city burned, Possidius saved his library]
b. Pelagius (ca. 354-424 A.D.) …British origins. …a monk (not a monastic or hermit) with enormous learning (Antiochene). He was fluent in both Latin and Greek and linguistically superior to Augustine, his most formidable opponent.
a. Augustine declared that only God could intervene within us and open our hearts to grace.
i. Early on, Augustine believed that humans learned to sin; later…
ii. Not able NOT to sin.
iii. Augustine argued that God enables us to do what he commands;
b. Pelagius disagreed—we are able to do whatever God asks us to do.
i. Humans have free volition, free will.
ii. Adam’s sin has a bad influence upon others but no impact.
iii. Since all have free will, God’s grace is universal; adults may gain forgiveness through baptism.
iv. Since humans are not born in sin, it is possible to be preserved in the state of birth and to never need salvation.
c. PWPT Over the next centuries, four variations developed.
i. Augustine: Salvation is totally, causatively of God.
ii. Semi-Augustinianism—Salvation originates in God, proceeds in God and man.
iii. Semi-Pelagianism: Salvation originates in man, proceeds by man and God.
Berkof: took an intermediate position, denying the total inability of man to do spiritual good, but admitting his inability to perform really saving works without the assistance of divine grace. The grace of God illuminates the mind and supports the will, but always in such a manner that the free will of man is in no way compromised. …While the grace of God is universal and intended for all, it becomes effective in the lives of those who make a proper use of their free will. Strictly speaking, it is really the will of man that determines the result.
iv. Pelagianism: Salvation is totally, causatively of man.
McGrath [I, 74] The definitive pronouncement of the early western church on the Pelagian and Massilian controversies… to teach that the ‘freedom of the soul’ remained unaffected by the Fall was Pelagian. The Faustian doctrine of the initium fidei —i.e., that man can take the initiative in his own salvation—was explicitly rejected: not only the beginning, but also the increase of faith, are alike gifts of grace. While the Council declared that man’s liberum arbitrium is injured, weakened and diminished, its existence was not questioned.
Today, semi-Pelagianism’s variety is evident in Arminianism (Mennonites, etc.)
1. We receive from Adam a corrupted nature but not Adam’s guilt.
2. Our human nature is corrupted physically and intellectually but not volitionally.
3. Prevenient [preceding] grace enables us to believe.
4. We are not totally depraved, but still maintain the will/volition to seek God.
Today, Augustinian thought remains in Reformed views
1. Either each individual receives the physical nature from parents, God then creates the soul, such that Adam was our representative. [Federal Headship]
2. Or, We inherit our physical nature and soul from our parents, so that were all present in Adam in germinal form, such that we all participate in the sin of Adam, and inherit Adam’s sin. [Augustinian]
What do we learn from the heretics?
4. The solution to our problem with evil and free will.
a. God must initiate our salvation, we will not.
i. This reminds us of how INTENSE is God’s love for us.
b. God must accomplish our salvation, we cannot.
i. This teaches us how PERSONAL is God’s love for us.
c. We must respond to God’s grace with faith in order to experience
i. As He did with Lydia in Acts 16:14 NASB
And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
ii. We need not react as our culture programs us to react.
1. Our culture’s assumption: For it to really be love, it has to be freely chosen; totally unconstrained, and uninfluenced.
2. The Bible’s answer: You’re free to do whatever you want; you’re just not free to want whatever you want.
3. We ARE TORN!!
Carole King wrote both lyrics: It’s Too Late, Baby, Now It’s Too Late [I’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’]
AND, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, ON THE SAME ALBUM!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Humble Orthodoxy & Authority
Humble Orthodoxy & Authority
Questions & Answers today and/or next week
Big Idea: In the last two centuries, questions of faith and science - as in the age of the earth, the origin of man, and miracles - has tended to polarize the Church. The divisions among Southern Baptists illustrate what can happen when Christians make idols of orthodoxy, reason, and novelty. From these we learn the critical importance of biblical authority, but also our need to approach conflict with humility.
Two things we are seeing:
1. How much has been learned in conflict, rather than avoidance.
2. How we can respond to conflict ourselves.
Being a disciple of Jesus is challenging on several levels.
1. Disciples learn and obey.
a. How can we be certain that God has spoken, that the Bible is a faithful record of His intentions, and that we rightly understand what has been written?
b. How do we live out the truth-claims of Jesus and the Bible?
2. We can learn from those who have gone before us and from those who challenge our faith.
ORTHODOXY…a Sure and Certain Word…
I. The Word of God, it's claims, it’s claims upon us, and compelling trust
a. Hebrews 4:12—active, sharper
PWPTHebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
PWPTHebrews 1:1–2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
b. Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God
PWPTPsalms 19:1
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
II. We can have full confidence in the Authority of Scripture.
a. Authority—DECLARED
General & Special Revelation (Ps 19:1-6; Rom 1:18-20; 2:14-16; Acts 17:24-34; John 1:14-18)
b. COMMUNICATED
i. INSPIRED: Theopneustos¬—God-breathed
i. Metaphorical—God has no lungs, therefore no physical breath, BUT
ii. Intent—from God Himself, therefore…
1. To be taken seriously, “life or death”
Deuteronomy 30:11ff.
““For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.…
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.””
ii. ILLUMINATED: PWPT To be understood, mediated by the Holy Spirit, 1Cor2:14-16
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For Who Has Known The Mind Of The Lord, That He Should Instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
iii. RELIABLE— PWPT Matthew 5:18
““For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.”
iv. EFFECTIVE—
1. Hebrews 4:12 NASB—
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
2. PWPT 1 Thessalonians 2:13 NASB
“And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
HUMBLE ORTHODOXY
III. Humility on our part, with an ear to those who disagree, and a mind open to reading the Word with fresh eyes.
A. I am aware of my limitations in correctly perceiving the meaning of God’s Son and God’s Word.
i. That confusion is no slam on God’s Word nor on its
ii. Clarity.
B. Those limitations were apparent in…
a. Galileo vs The Church? Actually, Galileo vs the Aristotelian philosophers who insisted that the heavens were fixed, that the moon was a smooth, perfect sphere, etc.
i. Galileo didn’t attack the Church, he offered verifiable evidence that the philosophers were wrong.
ii. The Church was too tight with the philosophers, not the Word.
iii. Science vs Christian faith only became an issue in the twentieth century—Christian thought has provided the foundation for reasoned investigation.
b. Innerrancy battles of the late twentieth century?
i. Southern Baptists:
1. Liberalizing views of Scripture by those in power moved the SBC into conflict.
2. Conservative push-back put them into power; they used largely the same power techniques. The SBC remains divided into two camps, 30 years later.
ii. Similar tensions and divisions occurred among Canadian Baptists in the past century; division remains.
c. Creation vs. Evolution among evangelicals today.
i. Some Creationists question the faith of any who support theistic evolution.
ii. Some Theistic Evolutionists question the mental capacity of those who deny evolution.
C. Those limitations are common to all humans.
Lessons to be learned:
a. God doesn’t ask us to believe anything that’s not true, contra Richard Dawkins (faith means believing something you know NOT to be true.)
b. Also, he doesn’t call us to reject anything that is true. We’re not to ignore what we see,
c. but we are to believe what we can’ t see as well. (i.e., what we can and can’t see can’t be the main arbiter of truth; that’s why we need His revelation).
In our culture, we’ve made an idol out of not knowing. We assume it’s arrogant to have an answer to any question. This borders on anti-intellectualism, denying the rational minds that God gave us to use.
d. In traditional church cultures though, we’ve made an idol out of uniformity: offering one interpretation and making it the test of orthodoxy—Genesis 1, 2 vs. Evolution
Fundamentalism is an expression of modernity: we can figure all this out; the Fall did not impact our minds, such that we can rightly parse all data, we can come to our faith through reason alone.
Orthodoxy: faith involves all of us--mind, will, emotion; faith comes as a gift through the Spirit of Christ.
CONCLUSION
a humble orthodoxy sees that faith is not blind but informed and humbly hungry to understand more profoundly
Humble Orthodoxy means... holding conclusions, and holding them loosely.
Questions & Answers today and/or next week
Big Idea: In the last two centuries, questions of faith and science - as in the age of the earth, the origin of man, and miracles - has tended to polarize the Church. The divisions among Southern Baptists illustrate what can happen when Christians make idols of orthodoxy, reason, and novelty. From these we learn the critical importance of biblical authority, but also our need to approach conflict with humility.
Two things we are seeing:
1. How much has been learned in conflict, rather than avoidance.
2. How we can respond to conflict ourselves.
Being a disciple of Jesus is challenging on several levels.
1. Disciples learn and obey.
a. How can we be certain that God has spoken, that the Bible is a faithful record of His intentions, and that we rightly understand what has been written?
b. How do we live out the truth-claims of Jesus and the Bible?
2. We can learn from those who have gone before us and from those who challenge our faith.
ORTHODOXY…a Sure and Certain Word…
I. The Word of God, it's claims, it’s claims upon us, and compelling trust
a. Hebrews 4:12—active, sharper
PWPTHebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
PWPTHebrews 1:1–2 “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”
b. Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God
PWPTPsalms 19:1
“The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”
II. We can have full confidence in the Authority of Scripture.
a. Authority—DECLARED
General & Special Revelation (Ps 19:1-6; Rom 1:18-20; 2:14-16; Acts 17:24-34; John 1:14-18)
b. COMMUNICATED
i. INSPIRED: Theopneustos¬—God-breathed
i. Metaphorical—God has no lungs, therefore no physical breath, BUT
ii. Intent—from God Himself, therefore…
1. To be taken seriously, “life or death”
Deuteronomy 30:11ff.
““For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. “It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.…
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.””
ii. ILLUMINATED: PWPT To be understood, mediated by the Holy Spirit, 1Cor2:14-16
“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For Who Has Known The Mind Of The Lord, That He Should Instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
iii. RELIABLE— PWPT Matthew 5:18
““For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.”
iv. EFFECTIVE—
1. Hebrews 4:12 NASB—
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
2. PWPT 1 Thessalonians 2:13 NASB
“And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
HUMBLE ORTHODOXY
III. Humility on our part, with an ear to those who disagree, and a mind open to reading the Word with fresh eyes.
A. I am aware of my limitations in correctly perceiving the meaning of God’s Son and God’s Word.
i. That confusion is no slam on God’s Word nor on its
ii. Clarity.
B. Those limitations were apparent in…
a. Galileo vs The Church? Actually, Galileo vs the Aristotelian philosophers who insisted that the heavens were fixed, that the moon was a smooth, perfect sphere, etc.
i. Galileo didn’t attack the Church, he offered verifiable evidence that the philosophers were wrong.
ii. The Church was too tight with the philosophers, not the Word.
iii. Science vs Christian faith only became an issue in the twentieth century—Christian thought has provided the foundation for reasoned investigation.
b. Innerrancy battles of the late twentieth century?
i. Southern Baptists:
1. Liberalizing views of Scripture by those in power moved the SBC into conflict.
2. Conservative push-back put them into power; they used largely the same power techniques. The SBC remains divided into two camps, 30 years later.
ii. Similar tensions and divisions occurred among Canadian Baptists in the past century; division remains.
c. Creation vs. Evolution among evangelicals today.
i. Some Creationists question the faith of any who support theistic evolution.
ii. Some Theistic Evolutionists question the mental capacity of those who deny evolution.
C. Those limitations are common to all humans.
Lessons to be learned:
a. God doesn’t ask us to believe anything that’s not true, contra Richard Dawkins (faith means believing something you know NOT to be true.)
b. Also, he doesn’t call us to reject anything that is true. We’re not to ignore what we see,
c. but we are to believe what we can’ t see as well. (i.e., what we can and can’t see can’t be the main arbiter of truth; that’s why we need His revelation).
In our culture, we’ve made an idol out of not knowing. We assume it’s arrogant to have an answer to any question. This borders on anti-intellectualism, denying the rational minds that God gave us to use.
d. In traditional church cultures though, we’ve made an idol out of uniformity: offering one interpretation and making it the test of orthodoxy—Genesis 1, 2 vs. Evolution
Fundamentalism is an expression of modernity: we can figure all this out; the Fall did not impact our minds, such that we can rightly parse all data, we can come to our faith through reason alone.
Orthodoxy: faith involves all of us--mind, will, emotion; faith comes as a gift through the Spirit of Christ.
CONCLUSION
a humble orthodoxy sees that faith is not blind but informed and humbly hungry to understand more profoundly
Humble Orthodoxy means... holding conclusions, and holding them loosely.
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