Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Question 16:
Q: Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
A: The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.
Before World War Two, when Hitler was just coming to power, he promised the German people that in ten years they would not recognize Germany. At the end of the war, one German homeowner made a large wooden sign, posted it in the rubble and painted Hitler's promise for all to see! Certainly, we understand that while a working majority of the German people voted for and applauded the early successes of Hitler's regime, there were still a handful who it might truthfully be said, opposed him and were technically and legally innocent of the charges made against the Nazis. However, we know full well that everyone in Europe was profoundly affected by the Nazi nightmare even though they were not related to Adolf Hitler.
One nephew who was related had the good sense to flee his homeland with his mother. They turned up in the United States where this Captain Adolf Hitler even served faithfully in the United States Navy. Sometime during or after the war, the nephew felt compelled to change his name so that he could go on and have a new life. Once I met a student whose family had come to America after the war. Her last name was Kissling and I asked her what nationality that was. She said that her family had changed it when they got to America. Her grandparents had migrated from Norway, where the family name had been Quisling.
The point of these examples is simple. If even fallen humans a generation or two from their wicked forebears have enough sense to understand that they are polluted with the reputation and deeds of those who have gone before, why can't the worldly understand that all of Adam's seed are equally affected by his fall from grace? The Apostle Paul certainly understands this when he writes in Romans 5:12, "just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned".
But the world will not have progeny judged by their parents reputation! However, now that we have a whole generation where one third of the children do not even know their father, society is beginning to relearn that the words bastard and bitch do indeed have some minimal social meaning! One of the younger generation once told me that they were not anything like a sibling that I had had in class several years before and hoped that I would give them an even chance to prove it without prejudice. on my part. Of course, I could do that, because it is not mine to judge, but to encourage people to be better as they imitate the greater Son of Adam, even Jesus Christ. But that imitation of Christ is difficult and is never accomplished without an outpouring of grace and the regular presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Pelagians of old as well as the modern humanists hold that Adam's transgression is hurtful to posterity by imitation only, not by imputation. Of course the modernists have out pelagiated the ancient heresy many times over. There is a current crop of professional educationists who sincerely believe that every child must have an assigned social worker by the age of six months with full authority to keep parents from infecting the little one with their anxieties, habits and beliefs! Only in this way can a younger generation put off the generational sins of their ancestors! Of course it helps immensely if you are able at the same time to do away with the notion of sin and legalize every single aspect of rampant wickedness.
Like the Corinthians who Paul ministered to in person and by letter, we find ourselves bewildered and beleaguered by the world around us. Our spiritual challenge in these last years of the twentieth century is not a doubt in the resurrection of Christ, but instead our reaction to a worldly movement to discredit the need for the resurrection. Even as we in the Christian community understand the absolute and vital importance of the evolutionary lie to the worldly, so too have they come to realize the necessity to discredit the fact of original sin!
I see and hear it all the time at my place of work. I have even been told that if I think a person or class is lazy, unmotivated and uninterested, then I am responsible for their fulfilling my expectations! Well, I'm sorry, I am not important enough in this universe to be blamed for the sinful orientation of a handful of students.
It is not just in our workplace that people deny man's fallen capacity for sin. More and more of our scholarly books are full of antipathy towards the concept of fallen mankind. This week's World magazine reports the decades of spiritual drift of Dick Armey before a recent conversion. The appeal of a secular subject and career in college took him on many side journeys over the years. Yet today, he is able to report sincerely and succinctly that he has come home. I know a young man who hoped to have a career in biology who on purpose chose not to join a church, because that minimal commitment could have ruined his career prospects. Later in life I have hopes that that educational opposition will finally be overcome. In both of those examples, there was sound teaching at a young age and the death and resurrection were noted and accepted. However, the worldly questioning and discrediting of the fall of man in Adam caused a diminished interest in the faith.
Yes, like the New Testament Apostles we must preach Christ, but before the worldly are ready to hear about Christ, we must imitate the prophets and proclaim the fall of mankind. Then we must go on and describe the holy wrath of God which is set aside to punish the wicked wayward sinners who deny the necessity of the resurrection. I am convinced that if we fail to teach both Testaments in our generation, then and only then will it be possible for the world to bury the organized church.
On one occasion, Jesus asked if He would find the faith when He returned. Well should He wonder at the survival of the institution He gave into our temporary care. According to tradition, the Apostle Phillip took the Gospel message to Ethiopia. When modern Europeans made contact with the Coptic Churches, many centuries had gone by and very little of the true faith remained officially. Also according to tradition, the Apostle Thomas took the Gospel message to Madras, India. When the missionaries found their way there, the Thomists were just barely orthodox. In the 16th century, the Portuguese took the Gospel message to Japan. Recently a small sect of survivors were discovered who had so mixed the Japanese humanism with the faith, that it is hard even to recognize them as a cult even related to Christianity.
Britain has been successfully evangelized three times and is in a desperate need for a fourth awakening. Europe and South America are so far gone, that the true faith is viewed with hostility. What of our American experience. How effective are the vast majority of "New Testament" congregations who hardly ever open the other testament to hear discouraging words? Vast crowds are being assembled to entertain themselves with the notion that a loud noise is all that is required to get the attention of the Almighty. Well did Moses appreciate that the loud noise at the base of Mount Sinai sounded like a battle being waged.
Indeed one is and if the Church of Jesus Christ does not wake up to the absolutely vital importance of teaching the doctrine of original sin, then the "church" will not be here as an organized entity when He does return! You see, if modern man has a minimal or no appreciation of the bad news awaiting sinners, he will little appreciate the good news that in Jesus Christ he can be forgiven. May we thank the Lord in our worship today that we have been convicted of the fact of sin in our lives that we inherited from Adam.
Then let us go on to honor and cherish the Name above all Names - Jesus Christ, who came, died and was raised up from the dead in order that we like Him may also one day participate in the resurrection of the dead before going on to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
Resources Used:
Ellsworth, Roger. Strengthening Christ's Church: 1 Corinthians.
Green, James B. A Harmony of the Westminster Presbyterian Standards.
(PCA) The Confession of Faith: The Shorter Catechism.
Watson, Thomas. A Body of Divinity, 10 Commandments & Lord's
Prayer
Places Preached:
Christ Covenant REFORMED (Presbyterian Church in America)
Box 132049 -- Columbus, OH 43213-8049
WSC016 01 Sept 96
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