1

The Origin of Sin

Where did sin come from?
In no way can God be consid-
ered its source, although He
has, in fact, foreordained
whatsoever comes to pass in
time.' God cannot be made
responsible for human sin. It
would. be blasphemous to
speak Of the holy God as the
author of sin. Whereas all
things fit together in God's
plan, God does not sin, nor
does He force human beings
to sin. The Bible is unequivo-
cal on this subject- "Far be
it from God, that He should
do wickedness, and
Jesus considered him to be a
real, personal being, Mark
1:13; and so did His apostles,
Ephesians 2: If. He is thor-
oughly wicked and malicious.
There is nothing in him to ad-
mire at all. His purpose is to
overthrow God's plan and
kingdom, and to take God's
place in the world. He is a
created being with many pow-
ers superior to those of man;
but, being a finite creature,
he is no rival or threat to
God. He is not omniscient,
omnipresent or omnipotent.
In fact, he is under the re-
from the Almighty, that
He should commit in-
iquity/' Job 34: 10.
There is and can be no
unrighteousness in the
holy God, who is light,
The Reality
of Sin
Joe Morecrafi:
and in whom is no darkness
at all. He cannot be tempted
with evil, and He Himself
does not tempt anyone to evil,
James 1:13.
Sin originated with Satan,
the Tempter, Genesis 3: 1.
The Bible calls him, "the
dragon, the serpent of old,
who is the devil and Satan,"
Revelation 20: 1. He has been
a rebel from the beginning of
history, John 8:44, I John 3:8.
In fact, it appears that he re-
belled against God and fell
from an exalted position be-
fore the fall of man. He,
along with all fallen angels
who are now demons, "did
not keep their OWn domain,
but abandoned their proper
abode, [therefore God] has
kept them in eternal bonds
under. darkness for the
judgment of the great day,"
Jude 6.
Satan is a created reality.
straints of the sovereignty of
God, Job 1; and he is fatally
wounded and curtailed in his
influences and activities by
the cross of Christ and the
preaching of the gospel. The
writer of the book of He-
brews says that Jesus toOk
upon himself human flesh,
"that through death He
might render powerless him
who had the power of
death, that is, the devil,"
Hebrews 2:14. And the book
of Romans promises faithful
believers that "the God of
peace shall crush Satan's
head under your feet
shortly," Romans 16:20.
In the form of a serpent,
he is the one who tempted
Eve and Adam to sin against
their Creator. How could two
people in such an upright and
unfallen position, made in the
image of God, do such a thing
as disobey God? The answer
is this: originally, Adam and
Eve were created perfectly
holy and yet capable of
chOOSing evil. They had the
power to remain upright, but
they also were capable of
falling. "God left him (Adam)
to the freedom of his own
will, and that freedom he
abused. No doubt God could
have prevented his fall if he
had pleased, by giving such
influences of His Spirit as
would have been absolutely
effective to hinder it; but this
He was under no obligation to
do. He did not withdraw from
man that ability with
which He had furnished
him for his duty, nor did
He infuse any vicious
inclinations into his
heart, He only withheld
that further grace that
would havtl infallibly pre-
vented his fall.
2
"
But why did God not pre-
vent the fall of man into sin,
since He could have, if He so
desired? The answer to this
question is found in Romans
5:17, 20- "For if by the
transgression of the one
(Adam), death reigned
through the one, much more
those who receive the abun-
dance of grace and of the
gift of righteousness will
reign in life through the
one, Jesus Christ. ...where
sin increased, grace
abounded all the more."
The fall was inclu(ied in God's
plan so that we would gain
far more in Christ than we
ever lost in Adam. Adam
was in a holy and happy con-
dition before the fall, but
there was always the possi-
bility of falling away. Now,
in Christ, believers are in-
August/September, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 25
creasingly holy and happy,
and someday we will be per-
fectly so. In addition, there
is no possibility of our falling
away from this saved condi-
tion, now or ever. Although
we will be holier and happier
in heaven, we are just as se-
cure in Christ now as we will
be in heaven. Jesus said,
"My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them, and they
follow Me: and I give eter-
nal life t.o them: and they
shall never perish, and no
one shall snatch them out of
My hand," John 10:27-29.
The fall of Adam and Eve
into sin was monstrously
wicked, irrational and inex-
cusable. "It was aggravated
by the Being sinned against-
a Benefactor so bountiful, a
Master so indulgent; by the
persons guilty of it-crea-
tures fresh from ,God's hand,
untainted by sin, and ,laden
with benefits; by the precept
violated-so plain and
simple; by the place where it
was committed-a place
where every plant, every
creature, and every scene dis-
played the bounty of the
Lord, and proclaimed His
goodness; and by its resuits,
which were not to be limited
to themselves, but to extend
to their descendants, whom,
for a momentary gratification,
they rUined forever.
3
"
The temptation was a
shrewd and evil conspiracy
against God and man. Satan
injected unbelief into Eve's
mind so as to produce actual
disobedience. He attacked
the integrity, goodness, power
and truthfulness of the Cre-
ator, by asldngEve: "Indeed,
has God said, 'You shall not
eat from any tree of the gar- responsible for tempting man;
den?'" To Eve's affirmative but he also held Adam and
Eve accountable ,f<;lr enter-
taining and embracing the
temptation in their hearts,
Genesis 3:14f. God did NOT
look at their sin in any of the
following ways: (I). h ~ ,ex-
istence of evil in man by vir-
tue of the fact that he had a
physical body, thereby rob-
bing sin of its ethical charac-
ter and blaming the Creator
of the body with the evil; (2).
The unavoidable result of cre-
ated limitations, which oblit-
erates the distinction be-
tween moral evil andsimple
mistakes; (3). An illusion re
suiting from human igno-
rance, which would reduce
phrases, as "moral behavior,"
to meaninglessness; (4). The
lack of God-consciousness
resulting from the soul's un-
fortunate connection with a
physic'al organism, which
makes man sinful because of
his createdness; (5). Simple
ignorance of the truth which
education would remedy,
which is contrary to the fact
that sin is transgression
against the law of God; (6).
The opposition of our lower
animal appetites to our
gradual evolutionary develop-
ment, which is an attempt to
define siri without considering
the fact that sin is a revolt
against God and a breaking of
His laws.
All of these views of sin
make sin a metaphYsical, not
ethical, problem for mim,
rooted in his own created hu-
manness. According to these
views, sin is an inevitable r e ~
suit of man's created limita-
answer, the serpent re-
sponded: "You surely shall
not die! For God knows that
in the day you eat from it
your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil,"
Genesis 3:1-5. In these
words Satan questions God's
honesty and integrity. He
presents God to Eve as a de-
ceitful god clinging jealousy
to his power, not allowing
Adam and Eve to reach their
full potential of equality with
him. In so doing, he sought
to destroy the integrity of
Adam and Eve by winning for
himself the place in man's
heart which belongs to God.
Satan attempted to make God
look like a fool before man,
so he could make man look
like a fool before God.
Therefore, learn to hate the
Enemy and acquaint yourself
with his methods of seduc-
tion. Resist his influences
and temptations in your mind
and life. "Submit therefore
to God. Resist the devil and
he will flee ftom you. Draw
near to God and He will
draw near to you," James
4:7,8. "Be of sober spirit,
be on the alert. Your ad-
versary, the devil, prowls
about like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.
But resist him, firm in your
faith," I Peter 5:8,9. Fur-
thermore, do not face Satan
alone as Eve did. Stay in
close fellowship with each
other as brothers and sisters
in Christ, and, if you are mar-
ried, with each other as hus-
band and wife.
tions. Therefore, if these
At the fall, God held Satan views are correct, God, is a
26 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon August/September, 1999
devil for creating man with
problems and weaknesses and
desires which He has no in-
tention of healing or of fulfill-
ing. Man's problems would
be hopeless and irremediable,
because they are an inevi-
table experience of man's in-
escapable createdness. But
this is not the easel Man's
problems result from his sin,
his deliberate opposition to
God and to His law. They are
ethical, and therefore, there
is hope that they can be
solved through repentance of
sin and faith in Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior- "Or do
you not know that the un-
righteous shalt not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do
not be deceived; neither
fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effemi-
nate, nor homosexuals, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor
swindlers, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. AND
SUCH WERE SOME OF
YOU; but you were washed,
but you were sanctified, but
you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and in the Spi,it of
. our God," I Corinthians 6:9-
II.
Adam tried to escape the
responsibility and conse-
quences of his sin in environ-
mentalism, I.e., the idea that
man is what his environment
makes him, thereby shifting
the blame for his sin away
from himself. Adam told God
that his sin was not his fault,
but was the fault of the
woman whom God had given
him, Genesis 3:12. In other
words, he shifted the blame
to his environment. What is
wicked about this tactic?
God is the Creator of man's
environment! So then, Adam
was blaming God for his sin
as the cause of his problems.
Adam said in effect, "God, if
you had done a better job in
creating a more conducive
environment in Eden, I would
have been a better person."
God did not buy it! He knew
Adam was playing games;
therefore He judged him for
his sin, Genesis 3: 17f. Human
beings are totally accountable
to God their Creator and
Judge for all their actions and
attitudes. Our environments
do pressure us and influence
us; but we are held respon-
sible by God for how we let
our environments affect us.
In other words, no one is a
victim of his circumstances;
we all are creations in the
image of God, responsible to
say "No!" to all evil infl u-
ences and temptations.
However, sin is the inter-
play of internal and external
forces. "Let no one say when
he is tempted, '[ am being
tempted by God,' for God
cannot be tempted by evil,
and He Himself does not
tempt anyone. But each
one is tempted when he is
carried away and enticed
by his own lust. Then when
lust has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and when sin is
accomplished, it brings
forth death," James 1:13-15.
To be sure, temptation is an
inward enticement to evil,
and at the same time, outward
experiences, especially trials
and troubles, are the occasion
for inward temptations for
evil. "When one does not
stand successfully in face of
outward testings, the result is
often a stirring up of evil im-
pulses and desires and the
committing of open transgres-
sion against God. In
verse 14 James explains the
true beginnings of sin in the
human heart. - That which
lures and ensnares man is his
own lust. - Verse 15, us-
ing the language of childbirth,
vividly portrays how lustful
desires break out into con-
crete sins. - Man surren-
ders his will to lust, concep-
tion takes place, and lust
gives birth to sin. - 'It is
when the desire of man goes
out to meet and embrace the
forbidden thing and an unholy
marriage takes place between
these two, that sin is born.'
Then sin, when it is finished
(that is, when it is fully
grown, has run its course),
itself gives birth, and the
child that is born of sin is
death. Lust, sin, death-that
is the order.
4
"
Can Satan force us against
our will to sin? No, he tempts us
and knocks at the door without,
but our will and lust opens the
door. Satan is the midwife that
helps forward the birth but our
will and lust is father and mother
to all our sins.
5
In reality, Adam could not
honestly blame God, or Satan,
or his environment, or Eve.
The fault lay in his own heart.
Jesus made this clear when
He taught that it is not what
influences a person exter-
nally that determines the kind
of person he will be; it is
what influences you inter-
nally, from the inside. He
said, "That which proceeds
out of the man, that is what
defiles the mall. For from
August/September, 1999 THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon 27
within, out of the heart of
men, proceed, the, ,evil
thoughts and fornications,
thefts; murders,adulteries,
deeds of coveting artd wick-
edness, as well as deceit,
sensuality, envy, slander,
pride and foolishness. All
these evil things proceed
from within and defile the
man;" Mark 7:20f.
The Character of Sin
power in the heart of fallen
man that expresses itself in
particular sins. Anomia says,
"My will, not God's will, be
done;" and harmartia is the
actual carrying out of "My
will" in defiance of God.
Put very simply in the
words of the Larger Cat-
echism Q. 24-"Sin is any
want (lack) of conformity
unto, or transgression of any
law of God ..... " The "law of
God" is comprised of the
commandments of the God,
who is the one Judge, King,
Lawgiver and Redeemer,
Isaiah 33:22, which He has
Biblical Law is the one and
only standard from God which
defines sin, for us; so that we
can distinguish
between good and evil-
"through the Law comes the
knowledge of sin," Romans
3:20. Paul said in Rom,ans
7:7-, "/ ,would not ,have
come to know sin except
through the'Law." Unless
Biblical law is used to .deter-
mine what is good and what
is evil, we haVe no reliabie
standard,' and man himself
will becOme the final aU,thor-
ity in all things, wnich a'lwa,yS
leads to tyranny. If God's
law is rejected, there ,cinbe
Sin, to be understood cor-
rectly, must be defined al-
'ways in terms of God and His
revealed will for mankind.
The Bible defines it as law-
lessness- "everyone who
practices sin alSo
practices ' lawless-
"1 r God', law is rejected, there can be 110
Illoral 11bsolutts, 110 reliable authority ro
di8ringuish morality From ilIlmoralit:y,
exc('pr Fallel1 human ,ubjectivity, which
IS deceirl'ul above all rhings and
ness; and sin is law-
lessness," I John 3:4.
It a,lso uses av ariety
of words for sin.
"Transgression"
means "missing the
no moral absolutes, no
nlliabIe' aut,hority to
distinguish mOrality
from immorality, ex-
cept fallen human sub-
jectivity, which is de-
ceitfUl above all
tllings arid desper-
. ta,rget" of sinless per-
fection; and "crossing the
boundary" of God's laws for
life. "Iniquity" refers to that
which is "crooked, distorted
or perverted," in comparison
with God's righteous stan-
dard. As sinners, it is our na-
ture to go astray from God,
Isaiah 53:6. Lawlessness, or
anomia in Greek, is "anti-
Law, against the Law; it is
sin in principle, the will to be
god and to determine for our-,
selves what constitutes good
and evil. Harmartia, sin, is
missing the mark, falling
short, or particular sins. To
commit particular sins habitu-
ally is thus more than falling
short. John tellS us: it is law-
lessness or anomia; it is aim-
ing in the other direction, at
a man-made target. ". So
'tlren, sin is a principle or
de'pnately wicked."
given to all people in all ages
and in all situations as their
rule of life, individually and
corporately; and which are
revealed in the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testaments.
"Want of conformity" refers
to any disagreement with any
respect of Biblical Law, any
swerving from its strictness,
any neglect of it, and all dis-
regard for it, including all sins
of omission. "Transgression"
has reference to the actual
breaking of "any" of the di-
vine commandments in the
Bible given as our moral
guides, in thought, word or
deed. It refers to going be-
yond their bounds or limita-
tions on us, to doing anything
inconsistent with "any" of
them, and to dishonoring them
in any way.
28. TilE. COUNSEL of Chalcedon August/September, 1999
ately.wicked,"Where
there is no law, there is, no sin,
hence no need' of 'salvatfon,
and consefluentiy. no Chris-
tianity. Lawless Christianity
is a contradiction. Tb.e'law
tells man what God demands
of him; it instructs him" in
what he must,avoid. The law
is the criterion of righteous-
ness and sin. "7 ,So' then, sin
is neglecting or breaking "any
law of God, given,as a nile to
the reasonable creature,"te.,
the human race.
The first sin of Adam and
Eve. has the same character
as every sin that ,has been
committed since th'e fal!.
Their sin was a breaking Of
the revealed Law' of God.
God tested their faithfu!Iiess
to Him byrequitihg thernto
abstain from eating of the
tree of knowledge of good
and evil. Their eating of the
fruit of that tree was a viola-
tion of the entirety of God's
law. It was a deliberate go-
ing beyond God's moral
boundaries for their life and
work. Therefore it was re-
bellion against the Lawgiver
and Creator and a renuncia-
tion of his authority. It was
lawlessness, I John 3 :4.
Man's first act of disobe-
dience can be described in
many ways; but, primarily, it
was a rejection of God as the
supreme and final authority
for life. It was a transfer of
trust from God to human rea-
soning and the word of Satan.
It was an attempt to break
free from God's claims on all
of life and truth motivated by
a desire to be as God. Adam
and Eve fell when they de-
sired to be able to understand
themselves and be able to
determine good and evil for
themselves, without any ref-
erence to God and to His
Word. This is the essence of
sin. They began to distrust,
irrationally and inexcusably,
the integrity and wisdom of
their Creator.
"Adam was denied the tree
of the knowledge of good and
evil to test his obedience and
prove that he was willingly
under God's command. The
name of the tree shows the
sole purpose of the precept
was to keep him content with
his lot and to prevent him
from becoming puffed up with
wicked lust. But the promise
by which he was bidden to
hope for eternal life so long
as he ate from the tree of life,
and, conversely, the terrible
threat of death once he tasted
of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, served to prove
and exercise his faith. Hence
it is not hard to deduce by
what means Adam provoked
God's wrath upon
himself .... pride was the be-
ginning of all evils. -
"Since the woman through
unfaithfulness was led away
from God's Word by the
serpent's deceit, it is already
clear that disobedience was
the beginning of the Fall. -
Yet it is at the same time to
be noted that the first man
revolted from God's authority,
not only because he was
seized by Satan's blandish-
ments, but also because, con-
temptuous of truth, he turned
aside to falsehood. And
surely, once we hold God's
Word in contempt, we shake
off all reverence for Him.
For, unless we listen atten-
tively to Him, His majesty will
not dwell among us, nor His
worship remain perfect. Un-
faithfulness, then, was the
root of the Fall. ".
Adam and Eve sinned by
believing the lies of Satan, for
which there was no reason-
able basis. His lies are heard
in Genesis 3:4-5- "You shall
not surely die .. for God
knows that in the day you
eat from it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and
e v i l . ~
The FIRST LIE they chose
to believe was that "God does
not absolutely govern and pre-
destine man and reality, and
He therefore cannot predict
consequences. "9 Satan said,
You shall not surely die.
God is not in control of things.
He does not know infallibly
how things will turn out.
There is no universal govern-
ment, no absolute law to
which all people are account-
able. Satan was saying, in
effect: "Man is an open uni-
verse, i.e., open to experi-
ment and development and
open to changes of ultimate
law."lo He actually said,
"You shall not SURELY die.
It may be possible, but' it is
not inevitable. God is power,
but His power can be defied,
so risk it."
The SECOND LIE they
believed was that "God's pur-
pose is to frustrate man and
to prevent man's self-realiza-
tion. "11 They chose to be-
lieve that obedience to God's
Word enslaves a person and
cramps his life; and that obe-
dience to self over God is true
freedom. The abandonment
of God's law is man's most
I!ltimate liberation movement.
By eating the fruit, Adam and
Eve declared their (pre-
tended) independence from
God. This always requires
lawlessness. Fallen man be-
lieves that God's "law is an
impediment to man, an in-
fringement on his liberty and
a denial of his potentiality. "12
The THIRD LIE of Satan
is "the premise that man is
his own God,"I' who cannot
bow down before any other
God. Adam and Eve chose to
believe that they, like God,
had the ability to determine
good and evil without refer-
ence to God or to His Word.
"The history of mankind is in
part the attempt of fallen man
to make that assertion. But
to claim to be a god in the
face of the Creator God,
August/September, 1999 THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon 29
means waging war against
that God. Two mutually ex-
clusive claims cannot be tol-
erated; one of the gods must
go, and fallen mankind is de-
termined that the God of
Scripture must die. Socially,
the outcome of this religious
principle is anarchism. If all
men claim to be gods, then all
men, as rival gods, will be at
war one with another. The
alternative is to make the
state into a god and men into
slaves of the state. "I'
The FOURTH LIE of Sa-
tan is that fallen man can live
beyond .God's standard of
good and evil and beyond the
consequences of doing evil,
because he himself can know
for himself and in himself
what constitutes good and
evil. This satanic' doctrine
makes good and evil purely
relative to man-whatever
man deems good at one point
in time is good; and whatever.
he deems evil is eviL for that.
person at that one moment, It
holds no claims on any other
person at any other moment
in history. Today premarital
sex is good. Tomorrow it may
be evil. It all depends on the
situation and, motive. Fallen
man believes that outside
man's consciousness no
moral absolutes exist, which
are. authoritative in all situa-
tions and to which man must
always submit. Fallen man,
like Adam, seeks to build his
life upon a principle of revolt
against his Maker.
The Transmission of Sin
Sin spread rapidly through-
out the earth. "Then the Lord
saw that the, wickedness of
man was great in the earth,
and that every intent of the
thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually," Gen-
esis 6:;;. "Now the earth was
corrupt in the sight of God,:
and the earth was filled
with viol!wce. And God
looked qn the .earth, and
behold, it was corrupt; for
all flesh had corrupted their
way upon'ihe earth," Gen-
. esis6:11-12. " ... the intent of
man's heart is evil from his
youth," Genesis 8:21. In less
than seventeen hundred years
after its creation, God de-
stroyed the earth in the
NOahlc Flood because of the
rapid and destructive growth
of sin in the human race.
Why did it grow so fast?
Since Adam, no one has been
exempt from its evil influ-
ences. "All have sinned and
come short of the glory of
God," Romans 3:23. Why?
King David said, "Surely!
have been a sinner from
birth, sinful from the time
my mother conceived me,"
Psalm 51:5 (NIV). He also
wrote that "the wicked are
estranged from the wOinb;
these' Who speak lies go
astray from birth:' Psalm
58:3. Everybody in the whole
world throughout history are
sinners from their conception
:in.tlle entirety of tlleir lives
and beings, except for Jesus.
What. is the connection be-
tween Adam and his, sin and
the plight and sinfulness of all
his descendants, i.e., the en-
tire human race? The an-
swbr to this question is found
in Romans 5:12-19.
"Therefore, just as through
one man sin entered into the
world, and death through sin,
.and so death spread to all
30 - THE COUNSEL of ChaIcedon - August/September, 1999
men, because all .sinned-jor
until the-Law sin was in. the., '.
world; but sin is not imputed
When there.is no .law. Never-
theless death rdgned from'
Adam until Moses, even over
those who had not sinned {no
the likeness of Adam's offense,
who is a type of Him who w,as,
to come. But the free giftis .
.not l,ike the transgression. For
if by the' transgression of the
one the many died, much.more
did the grace of God and .the .
gift by the grace of the one
man, Jesus Christ, abound to
the many. And the gift isnoe.
likthat which came ihro.zigh
the. one wh,o sinned; for on the
one hand the judgment arose
from one transgression result-
ing in cOl1demnation, but on
the other hand the free gift
arose from many transgres-'
sions resulting, in
For if by the transgression 0/.
the one, death reigned through
the one, much more those who
receive. theabl,mdance of
grace and of the gift of righ-
teousness will reign in life
through the one, Jesus Christ.
So then as throltghone trans-
. gression there resulted 'con- .
demnation to all men; even so
through one act 0/ righteous-'
ness there resuitedjUstification
of life to all men. For as .,
through the one man's disobe-
dience the many were made
sinnerS; eveliso through the
obediehCe of theOne, the mdny
will be made righteous.'"
., " " ' ',.-'
Tbis passage deals with
two undeniable facts of, hu-
man experience:
sality of sin and
sality of death.'Jt givestll.e
reason for both of thes'e is-
sues, The hist9ly p(the
man race can be summed up
1
in terms of what has hap-
pened because of Adam and
what has happened because
of Christ. This means that
salvation is not simply a mat-
ter of forgiveness. It is a
radical change in our whole
position before God-for-
merly we were "in Adam" and
now we are "in Christ." We
have become members of the
new kingdom, the new age,
the new race, the new hu-
manity, covenantally repre-
sented in Jesus Christ, just as
we were a part of the fallen
and condemned race,
covenantally represented in
Adam. All who stand con-
demned before God are con-
demned because of the sin of
Adam, as well as for their
own sin. All who are justi-
fied before God are justified
because of the obedience of
Jesus.
In order to understand the
point of Romans 5:12-19, we
must be aware of the paral-
lels this passage assumes be-
tween Adam and Jesus. (1).
One is as historical as the
other. Jesus lived in human
history, therefore, so must
have Adam, if the parallel is
to stand. (2). Both were ap-
pointed by God as the two
pivotal personages in human
history. (3). Each of them is
the representative of a group
of people: Adam represents
all faHen and unregenerate
people and Christ represents
all regenerate and believing
people. (4). God made a cov-
enant with each of these two
men, making each one a cov-
enant head: Adam had the
Covenant of Life, and Jesus
had the Covenant of Redemp-
tion. (5). Each represented
all his "seed." Adam repre-
sented all his genetic "seed,"
and Jesus represented all His
covenantal "seed," which is
His Spiritual body. (6). Each
passed on to his seed the ef-
fects of his life's work. He
passed on to those whom he
represents all the conse-
quences of the actions of his
life. Any objection to this
representation-principle is
rooted in ignorance, pride,
self-confidence, unbelief in
the Bible, or dissatisfaction
with God's government of the
world. The mind not held cap-
tive by the Word of God cries
out, "I want to represent my-
self, because I can do a bet-
ter job. I do not want to be
dependent upon anyone. I
want my autonomy. I want to
do it my way." However, if
we do not want covenantal
representation in Eden, we
may not have it on Calvary!
In Romans 5:12-19, Adam
is presented as the head of
the fallen race. His actions
were not exclusively private.
He was a "public" person and
his actions were those of a
representative. He acted for
those whom he represented;
and he represented the entire,
fallen, human race, I Corin-
thians 15 :22. Our solidarity
with him implicated us in his
disobedience. Through
mankind's representative,
Adam, "sin entered into the
world, and death through
sin, and so death spread to
all men, because all
sinned," Romans 5:12. The
verb in the last phrase in this
verse, because all sinned, is
in the Greek aorist tense, sig-
nifying a completed action in
the past. In other words,
when Adam sinned, the whole
human race sinned. All
sinned in Adam our represen-
tative! His transgression af-
fected his immediate descen-
dants, Genesis 5: 13f, and ev-
erybody else since then, Ro-
mans 3:23.
How does our covenantal
relationship with Adam af-
fect us today, six thousand
years later? In three ways.
First, Adam's sin, as our
representati ve and covenan-
tal head, constitutes all his
descendants sinners. "For as
through the one man's dis-
obedience the many were
made sinners," Romans 5:19.
We are considered to be such
by God judicially and legally,
thereby making us liable to
whatever Adam deserved for
his original sin. And it gives
us actual sinful human na-
tures, which we inherit from
our ancestors all the way
back to Adam. As David
said, we are sinners from
conception- "sinful from
the time my mothel' con-
ceived me." In fact, we were
constituted sinners in Adam's
loins. We sinned in him when
he sinned. We do not be-
come sinners when we com-
mit our first sin at some
mytholo gical age of account-
ability. We sin because we
are born sinners, which sin-
ful nature we inherited from
Adam.
Second, Adam's sin
~ o u g h t death and the reign
of death to all his descen-
dants. "For just as through
one man [Adam] sin entered
the world, and death
through sin," Romans 5:12.
"For if by the transgression
August/September, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 31
of the one the many died," before God because of our
5:15. "For if by the trans- involvement in Adam's sin, as
gression of the one, death well as because oJ our own
reigned through the one," sin.
efiting many, since it is granted
that Christ is much more power-
ful to save than Ada;m was to
destroy. - The meaning of the
whole passage is that since
Christ surpasses Ada;m, the sin
of Ada;m is overcome by the
righteousness of Christ. The
curse of Ada;m is overturned by
the grace of Christ, and the life
which Christ bestows swallows
up the death which ca;me from
Ada;m."
5:17. Before Moses, 'The.good news of this pas-
died,. even babies died, prov- sage is that Christ has come
ing the reality of inherited sin to be the head of a redeemed
of which death was and is the
just wage, Romans .6:23. God race of people, those who
told Adam that the moment he believe in Him as their Lord
sinned he would plunge him- and Savior. His actions were
self and his posterity into also those of a representa-
death, Genesis 2: 17, physical, tive; and our covenantal soli-
Genesis 5:5, spiritual, Eph- darity and union with Him im-
esians 2: I, and eternal, Rev- plicated us in His obedi- This representative-prin-
elation 20:14 .. All unbeliev- ence- "even so through the ciple in the Bible has many
ers live under the reign of obedience of the One important implications. (1).
death. No statement more [Christ] the many [whom He THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
accurately sums up life in this represents] will be made HUMAN ACTIONS: People
world apart from Christ as righteous," 5:19. His obedi- are capable of performing ac-
the reign of sin and death. ence is our salvation. It se- tions of great and lasting sig-
Therefore. death is not nificance. Do not take
natural. It is our last your actions lightly.
enemy and the wages of "Christ has come to be the head of God does not! (2). THE
sin. It is an invader and a redeem, ed of people, SOLIDARITY OF PAR-
a tyrant;''devasta;Nng'. ..... .. . '.' ".' " "ENTS
't,hose wh,o believe in' Him. as .their
apart from Christ. ' It is DREN: The actions of
the infliction of righ" ,,' Lord and Savior. parents db affect their
teous judgment by a children. We are always
holy God, whose LaW sinful' cured for the believer the teactiihg anclinfl'uem::ihg our
man has violated. "All [who abundance of grace, children, wllOse futures are
are] in Adam die, so also all 5:15,16,17,18,20,21. It gives tied up with our present ac-
[who are] in Christ shall us more than we lost in tions. (3). THE IMPOSSI-
live," I Corinthians 15:22.' Adam. The blessings exceed BILITY OF UNIVERSAL-
Third, Adam's sin brought
condemnation and divine
judgment upon all his descen-
dants, because of their culpa-
bility in his transgression.
" ... on the one hand the
judgment arose from one
transgression resulting in
condemnation," 5:16. "So
then as through one trans-
gression there resulted con-
demnation to all men," 5:18.
"He who believes in the San
has eternal life; but he who
does not obey the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of
Gad abides on him," John
3:36. We stand condemned
our loss.es. "In Him the tribes ISM: All and many in Romans
of Adam boast more blessings 5:12-19 represent two groups
than their father lost." It se- of people-all the many who
cures and imputes to the be- are in Adam. and all the many
liever Christ's very own righ- who are in Christ. All those
teousness, 5:16,17,18,19. Our represented in Adam will suf-
persons and works are ac- fer deatb, and all those rep-
cepted as righteous before resented in Christ will receive
God because of Christ and life. All unregenerate people
our union with Him. And will die, and all believers will
through faith it enables the live. So then, Adam repre-
believer to reign in life, sents the lost portion of the
5:17,18.21. human race; and Christ rep-
We may quite appropriately resents the saved portion.
infer that if the fall of Ada;m had All who are in Adam will die;
the effect of producing the ruin and all who are in Christ will
of many, the grace of God is live forever, I Corinthians
much more efficacious in ben- 15:22. '(4). THE HEADSHIP
32 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon August/September, 1999
PRINCIPLE ILLUSTRATED body, reason and emotions,
IN LIFE: The divinely del- will and sexuality, and an
egated headship of husbands, things are changed, altered
parents, elders and civil mag- and warped by the Fall. "I'
istrates demands submission Romans 8:6-8 teaches us that
as illustrative of our submis- fallen man's entire inner life
sion of Christ, our New Cov-
enant Head. (5). THE SOLI-
DARITY OF THOSE IN
CHRIST: Jesus deals with
believers as parts of a whole
body, as well as individuals.
He sees us as members of
that body, that new Christian
humanity; therefore, we must
strive continuany for the
unity of the Christian church.
(6). THE UNITY OF THE
BIBLE: God deals with
people from first to last on
the same principles of grace,
faith and Christ. Therefore,
the entire Bible is to be un-
derstood in terms of these
over-arching and unifying
principles. (7). THE SOLI-
DARITY OF THOSE IN
ADAM: We must expect the
unregenerate to continue to
conspire against and oppose
the Church of Christ. The
Herodians, Pharisees, scribes
and Sadduccees were always
at each other's throats, ex-
cept when they united in ha-
tred of Jesus to kill Him.
Such people unite today to
attack Christ's church, just as
they united to crucify Him.
The Consequences of Sin
Fallen man's entire life,
personally and culturany is
devastated by sin. His whole
life is marked by TOTAL DE-
PRAVITY and TOTAL IN-
ABILITY.
Total depravity refers to
the fact that "every aspect of
man's being is affected and
governed by sin. Mind and
is set on death, is hostile to
God and is both unwilling and
unable to subject itself to the
law of God- "For the mind
set on the flesh [Le., fallen
human nature] is
death ... because the mind set
on the flesh is hostile to-
ward God; for it does not
subject itself to the Law of
God, for it is not even able
to do so; and those who are
in the flesh cannot please
God." Ephesians 2:1-3
teaches us that fallen man is
dead in sin, and that the en-
tirety of his life in this world
is dominated by Satan and the
desire to indulge funy in ev-
ery sinful lust- "And you
were dead in your tres-
passes and sins, in which
you formerly walked ac-
cording to the course of this
world, according to the
prince of the power of the
air, of the spirit that is now
working in the sons of dis-
obedience. 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." And in
John 3: 19-20, Jesus said that
fallen man hates the light,
Le., all that is associated with
God; and loves the darkness,
Le., all that is associated with
evil, because his deeds are
evil. This is not a pretty pic-
ture; but it is an accurate
one, however much it may
offend us. We cannot begin
to understand ourselves
aright, unless we take seri-
ously the fact of the total de-
pravity of fallen man apart
from Christ.
To speak of total deprav-
ity is not to say that all people
are as depraved as they can
be, but that all people are sin-
ful throughout every aspect
of their being. Man's mind is
corrupt, Romans 3:11, along
with all his wants and pref-
erences, Mark 4:21,22, his
conscience, Titus 1:15, his
memory and imagination, He-
brews 2:1, and his body,
which is susceptible to death
and which is used by sinful
desires to satisfy those de-
sires. He is not "basicany
good," rather he is "basically
evil," and his only hope is the
salvation that is in Jesus
Christ. Man is a sinner
through and through-
"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 useless;
there is none who does
good, there is not even one.
- There is no fear of God
before their eyes," Romans
3:9-18.
Synthetic versions of
Christianity, such as
Arminianism, (Le., the theol-
ogy of non-Reformed
evangelicalism), and
Thomism, (Le., the theology
of Thomas Aquinas and Ro-
man Catholicism), deny the
total depravity of fallen man.
" ... for them, the mind of man
is immune to the taint of sin,
so that man can be reasoned
with. If this were true, phi-
lo sophy should be the great
. August/September, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - 33
instrl.\ment for the conversion
of men. Reason would re-
place the Holy Spirit as the
instrument of salvation. The
fact is; however, that peo,ple
cannot be reasoned into sal-
vation. The Bible declares
,that both the heart and ,the
understanding of fallen man
are darkened.,., Romans 1:21,
lilphesians 4: 17 -18. - To
igno're this fact is to sentence
ourselves "to impotence in
dealing with men. We will
then trust in our reason, or in
some other humanistic idea of
common ground, rather than
in the effectual Word of our
sovereign God.
"It is important to under-
stand how total depravity op-
, erates, in order to escape its
consequences in history: We
cannot fully appreciate what
, S'alvation is uhtil we know
what'we are saved from, '-
Today, men's unWillingness to'
recognize the fact of total
depravity not only pollutes
their personal lives 'but their
sodallives as wel!.17 Fail-
ute tb recognize that fallen
man has a radically false cen-
ler leads inen to create sup-
poSedlynoble political and
social institutions and pro-
grams which become market-
places of corruption. The
nobler the goals,
the greaterthedell.\sion, and
hence the greater the ensu-
, rng corrupticm. Every. era
whiC;1i neglects to undelstand
tbe of total deprav-
ity is condemned' to suffer
frQmthe effects qf it. "18
i, TOtal inability has refer-
ence to the fact that sin has
totally incapacitated unre-
generate man from delivering
himself from his Sinful plight,
and from doing anything that
is ple!\sing to God as long as
he is in 'that unregenerate
condition-' "the mind set on
the flesh is hostile toward
God; for it. does not subject
itself to the law of God, for
IT IS NOT EVEN ABLE TO
DO SO; and those who are
in .(he flesh CANNOT please
God." That statement has
exceptions. The unbelieving,
,sinner is so filled with and
enslaved by his hostility to
God that he is not able to obey
God. He loves ,only himself.
He cannot do anything what-
soever that will please God.
He is a total slave to sin and
Satan
19
, Romans, 6: 17f. He
loves his sin and his chains.
He cannot even produce, a
desire tbat is pleasing to God,
because everything he wills
and does is rooted in a heart
full, of rebellion against
God- "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 and fornications,
theffs, murders, adulter-
ies.... ,All these evil things
proceed from withi.n and
defile the man," Mark 7:20-
23., Unregen,erate men and
women cannot even think one
thought that pleases God, be-
cause they are haters of
God,Rom!lns 1:30, who do
not want God in their knowl-,
edge, 1 :28.
So then, a fallen human be-
ing is totally depraved and
totally unable to deliver him-
,self ftom his depravity. He
is under God's condemnation
because of his complicity in
Adam's rebellion, Romans
5:12-19. He has loSt all of his
34.-i'HE COUNSEL ofChalcedon - August/September, 1999
original righteousness-
"There is none righteous,
not even one .... there is none
who do good, there is not
even one," Romans 3:IOf.
And "all our righteous
deeds are like a filthy gar-
ment," Isaiah 6,4:6. He is "ut-
terly indisposed" to aU that is
good, because in his heart he
loved the darkness and
hates the light, John 3:19.
He is "utterly ... disabled" to
do anything that is good. He
does not submit himself to the
Law of God, and is not (!ven
able to do so; and those
who are in the flesh ,CAN-
NOT please God EVER, Ro-
mans 8:7-8, because he is the
of all that is good,
since the mind set on the
flesh is hostile toward God,
Rom ans 8:7. And he is
"wholly inclined to all evil,
and that continually"-, "EV-
ERy intent of the, thoughts
of his ,he,art was ONLY evil
CONTINUALLY," Genesi,s
6:5, ''for the intent of man's
heart is evil from his youth,"
Genesis 8 ;21.
Some well-intending
people have evangelized sin-
ners so as to leave the im-
pression that, if man will take
the first step, God will do the
rest. But the questioh is:
how many steps can a dead
man take? Unbelievers are
dead in their sins, Ephesians
2: 1. Others try to witness for
Christ with this unbiblical
method, saying, "God castsa
vote for you. 'Satan casts a
vote against you. And you
must cast the deciding vote."
But again,how many Votes
can a dead man cast? Unbe-
lievers are ina totally hope-
less and helpless situation in
and of themselves. The lib-
erating and redeeming Christ
is their only hope. He and his
salvation are received by
faith in Him; and that salva-
tion, including the faith tilat
receives it, is "the gift of
God; not as a result of
works, that no one should
boast," Ephesians 2:8,9.
Outside of Christ, there is no
cure for tile disease of a cor-
rupt human nature. Science
cannot do it. Technology can-
not dO it. Education cannot
do it. Governmental regula-
tion and welfarism cannot do
it. Personal resolution to re-
form oneself cannot do it.
"How much more will the
blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without
blemish to God, cleanse
your co.nscience from dead
works to serve the living
God?"- Hebrews 9:14.
Fallen man has also lost his
fellowship with God. After
tile Fall, Adam and Eve, who
were made for close fellow-
ship with their Creator, "hid
themselves from the pres-
ence of the Lord God among
the trees of the garden,"
Genesis 3:8. Tile fellowship
was broken. Our sins have
separated us from God and
"have hid His face from
[us}, so that He does not
hear," Isaiah 59:2. Fallen
man outside of Christ has no
hope and is "without God in
the world," Ephesians 2:12.
This close fellowship witil
God is restored only in the
reconciling' work of Jesus
Christ, Ephesians 2:16.
God placed a curse on the
central roles of fallen man
and woman. He cursed the
ground for Adam's sake, Gen-
esis 3:17; and He cursed
cilild-bearing for Eve's sake,
3: 16. Now, no fulfillment is
to be found in tilese central
roles and functions, wilich are
so essential to the life of man
and woman. Man was cre-
ated to find contentment in
meaningful work, but, apart
from Cilrist, there are only
tilorns and sweat, witil a loss
of meaning and purpose and
calling. Woman is to find ful-
fillment in Child-bearing, but
apart from Christ, there is
pain in childbirth and frustrat-
ing, embittering rivalry witil
man. All of life apart from
Christ is unfulfilled and
loaded with despair.
The entirety of unregener-
ate, fallen human existence is
under the fiery anger of Al-
mighty God. "For the wrath
of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodli-
ness and unrighteousness of
men," Romans 1:18. "He
who believes in the Son has
eternal life; but he who
does not obey the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of
God abides upon him," John
3:36. Tilere is anger in the
ileart, word and hand of God
against the sinner, Psalm
7:11, Isaiah 65:5, Revelation
3: 16. God is displeased with
all the sinner does. It is for
this reason that fallen human
beings are called "by nature
children of wrath," Eph-
esians 2:3. They are chil-
dren of wrath because they
are sons of disobedience,
Ephesians 2:2. Just as their
diSObedience to God is the
source of their distinctive,
depraved character, so God's
wrath is the source of the
punishment for their sins to
which they are destined. And
they are such by nature, i.e.,
fallen mankind was born in a
state of divine condemnation.
Man's only hope is 'to run
to Jesus for refuge from the
anger of God because Christ
has taken tile anger of God
against sin in Himself and has
removed the curse from all
who receive Him as Lord and
Savior, Galatians 3: 13f. The
unbelieving person has no se-
curity or protection from
God's anger outside of
Cilrist. It is sin alone that
places a person in this terrible
position. If he turns from his
sin to Christ, he will be
saved, Acts 16:31.
What is tile anger of God?
It is comprised of three ele-
ments: (a). His great dis-
pleasure at all sin- "Now the
people became like those
who complain of adversity
in the hearing of the Lord;
and when the Lord heard it,
His anger was kindled, and
the fire of the Lord burned
among them and consumed
some of the outskirts of the
camp," Numbers 11:1. (b).
His passionate resistance to
every will set against His
own will- "God is opposed
to the proud, but gives
grace to the humble," James
4:6. (c). His fierce, judicial
attack on all resistance and
rebellion against Him in atti-
tudes or actions- "All its
land is brimstone and salt,
a burning waste, unsown
and unproductive, and no
grass grows on it, like the
overthrow of Sodom and
Gomorrah ... which the Lord
overthrew in His anger and
in His wrath. And all the
August/September, 1999 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 35
nations shall say, Why has
the Lord done thus to this
land? ' Why this great out-
burst of anger? Then men
shall say, Because they for-
sao!> the covenant of the
Lord.... - Therefore, the
anger of the Lord burned
against that land, to bring
upon it every curse which is
written in this book," Deu-
teronomy 29:23-27.
God's anger is not arbi-
trary, irrational, impulsive or
unjust. It is His eternal de-
testation of all sin in His uni-
verse. It is His holiness, of-
fended and insulted by our
sin, stirred to activity against
it. It is, as someone has said,
"the onslaught of the holy
God asserting anci establish-
ing His absolute claim t<1 do-
minion." It is of irresistible
force-' "Thou, even Thou,
art to be feared; and who
may stand in Thy presence
when once Thou art an-
gry?" - Psalm 76:7. 'It is con-
tinuing and abiding- "G ad is
a righteous judge, and a
God who has indignation
every day," Psalm 7:11. It is
of great destructive power as
a consuming fire, Jeremiah
15: 14, a devastating storm,
jeremiah 30:23, poured out
streams of lava and pitch,
jeremiah 10:25. However, al-
though God's judgment is al-
ways severe, it is sometimes
brief, Psalm 30:5, delayed,
James 1: 19, and slow, Exodus
34:6. But God's anger re-
mains tIiemost devastating
power in the entire uni-
verse- "A jealous and
avenging God is the LORD;
the LORD is avenging and
wrathful. The LORD takes
vengeance on His adversar-
ies, and He reserves wrath
for His enemies. The LORD
is slow to anger and great
in power, and the LORD will
by no means leave the
gUilty unpunished. In
whirlwind and storm is His
way, and clouds are the'dust
beneath His feet. He re-
bukes the sea and makes it
dry; He dries up all the riv-
ers. - Mountains quake
because of Him, and the
hills dissolve; indeed the
,earth is upheaved by His
presence.... Who can stand
before His indignation?
Who can endure the burning
of His anger? His wrath is
poured out like fire, and the
rocks are broken up by
Him," Nahum 1 :2-6.
God's anger is revealed
anger- "the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men,
whll suppress the truth in
unrighteousness," Romans
1:18. It is powerfully, effec-
tively and irresistibly opera-
tive,in the world of men itnd
proceeds from the sovereign
throne of God. " From His
awesome throne, He inflicts
penalties in time and history;
and He will reveal His anger
climactically at the end of his-
tory- "Fllr after all it is
only just for God til repay
with affliction those who
afflict you ... when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with His mighty an-
gels in flaming fire, dealing
out retribution to those who
d9 not know God and to
those who do not obey the
gospel of our Lord Jesus.
And these will pay the pen-
alty of eternal destruction
36 - THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon - August/September, 1999
... when He comes to be glo'
rifiedin His ,saints on that
day," II Thessalonians 1 :7f;
because He aims at the total
destruction of all that is con"
trary to or opposed to Him in
His universe- "Prepare for
his sOns a place of slaugh-
ter because of the iniquity
of their fathers. They must
not arise and take posses-
sion of the earth and fill the
face of the world with cit-
ies. 'I win riSe up, against
them,' declares' the Lord of
hosts, and will cUt off from
Babylon name and survi-
vors, offspring and poster-
ity, declares the Lord,. -
.. .1 will sweep it with the
broom of destruction,"
Isaiah 14:21-23.
This abiding anger on the
unbeliever brings God's purl-
ishments upon him in this life
as well as in the life to come',
unless he repents. In this life
it can cause several things to
happen to him. '
(1). Because of God's an-
ger, He often blinds the minds
of the unbelieving, as a righ-
teous judicial response to the
willful refusal of man to use
his milId, ,and life for G o d ~
glory. ' Ephesians 4: 18 speaks
of the unbelievers as "being
darkened in their under_
standing, exclUded from the
life of God, because of the
ignorance that is in them,
because of the hardness of
their heart."
(2). In His judgment on
people and their c'u,ltures, God
sometimes "gives them over
to a reprobate mind," Ro-
mans 1 :24,26,28. The ca!1se
of God's anger, which,is our
sin, is sometimes the judicial
effect of His anger. Some-
times, in righteous judgment,
God gives over rebellious man
to the depravity in his heart
"to do those things which
are not proper," Romans
1:28. In other words, some-
times God punishes sin with
sin, by removing His restraint
on our sin, not by forcing us
to sin. " ... there is that pecu-
liar manifestation of the an-
ger of God, according to
which He punishes sin with
more and greater sin ....
When men indulge in the evil
passions of their corrupt na-
ture, they play with the
dreadful fire of the wrath of
God. For God's wrath against
sin is operative in and upon
those wicked passions and
evil lusts, and by means of
them He gives men over to
greater sins and fouler deeds,
till they become worse than
the beast of the field.... Let
no man imagine that it is pos-
sible for him to sin even for
a moment with impunity, for
God is terribly displeased
with all sin, and in His just
judgment punishes sin in time
as well as in eternity. "20
(3). In His holy anger God
sometimes punishes the
wicked by sending upon them
"a deluding influence so
that they might believe what
is false in order that they
all may be judged who did
not believe the truth, but
took pleasure in wicked-
ness," I Thessalonians 2:11f.
(4). Often God responds to
the persistently disobedient
who harden their hearts and
stiffen their necks against
Him, by hardening their
hearts even harder, thus com-
pleting in judgment what the
sinner had begun in rebellion.
Pharaoh hardened his heart
against the Word of Jehovah,
so Jehovah hardened his
heart totally in judgment on
him. God has mercy on whom
He will, and He hardens
whom He will, Romans 9;18.
He makes some men so hard
in their hearts that they wili
never repent and be saved,
Matthew 13:14f.
(5). God's wrath can also
constantly terrify a sinner
and make him a miserable
slave to that terror, driving
him to irrationality, Isaiah
33: 14, Genesis 4:13, Matthew
27:4.
(6). According to Leviticus
26 and Deuteronomy 28, God
sends a large variety of ef-
fects of divine wrath upon a
rebellious culture: poor
health, malignant diseases,
and war, 26:14-17, famine and
economic collapse, 26:18-20,
wild animals, 26:21-22, the
devastations of war, 26:23-
26, national destruction, exile
and slavery, 26:27-39. "But
it shall come about, if you
will not obey the Lord your
God, to observe to do all
His commandments and His
statutes which I charge you
today, that all these curses
shall come upon you and
overtake you. Cursed shall
you be in the city, and
cursed shall you be in the
country. Cursed shall be
your basket and your
kneading bowl. Cursed
shall be the offspring of
your body and the produce
of your ground, the in-
crease of your herd and the
young of your flock.
Cursed shall you be when
you come in, and cursed
shall you be when you go
out. The Lord will send
upon you curses, confusion,
and rebuke, in all you un-
dertake to do, until you are
destroyed and until you per-
ish quickly, on account of
the evil of your deeds, be-
cause you have forsaken
me," Deuteronomy 28:15f.
(7). God's wrath brings
death- "the wages of sin is
death," Romans 6:23. God
struck down Ananias and
Sapphira, suddenly and unex-
pectedly, because they lied
to Him, Acts 5: If.
The most horrifying pun-
ishment of sin is what awaits
the unbelieving sinner after
death in HELL. It is a real-
ity. Jesus spoke of it often.
He said in Matthew 25 :46
that the wicked would "go
away into everlasting pun-
ishment," while the righteous
would go "into eternal life."
He will say to the wicked on
the last day: "Depart from
me, accursed ones, illto the
eternal fire," 25:41. He
warned people: "Do not fear
those who kill the body, but
are unable to kill the soul:
but rather fear Him who is
able to destroy both soul
and body in hell," Matthew
10:28.
Hell is a place and condi-
tion of unimaginable torment,
misery, pain and woe. Jesus
taught that the repro bate will
be "cast out into the outer
darkness: in that place
there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth," Matthew
8:12,22:13,25:30. They will
be excluded from the warmth,
light, life, nourishment and joy
of the festivities of Christ's
AugustiSeptember, 1999 - THE COUNSEL ofChalcedon - 37
kingdom, and be sent to fore" soul in hell." He said, "11 wicked will be tormented in
boding loneliness, cut off your eye causes you to hell. The blessedness of,the
from the goOd presence of stumble, [sin]; cast it out; it redeem,ed is everlasting and
God and .the loving associa- is better 10r you to enter the the punishment of the wicked
tion of His people. The ex- kingdom of God with one is equally everlasting. More-
istence of those in hell will be eye, than having two eyes, over, iIi Jesus' story of the
'nothing else but one of sor- to be cast into hell, where rich man and Lazarus, the
row, regret uncontrolled their worm does not die, rich man, who 'went to hell,
and unceasing anger and rage, and the fire is not was FULLY CONSCIOUS
requiring unceasing punish- quenched," Mark9:47f. In OF HIS ,UNBEARABLE
ment. hopeless despair, the damned TORMENT, BEING IN THE
Hell is a place of un- will suffer mentally and FULL POSSESSION OF
quenchable fire. Jesus called physicaliy the just conse- ALL HIS FACULTIES, Luke
it everlasting fire. There the quences of their sin-, mental 16:]'9f.
wicked will be "tormented torment plus the sinking of It should be noted that,
with fire and brimstone in ' the physical body, the entire whereas no one goes to hell
the presence of the hoiy an- person' with all its senses, who does not deserve to be
gels," Revelation 14:10. into the fiery torments of hell. there; 'and, whereas God
"A'n'd' whos'oe'v' er was' not The punishment and pain wili '
never punishes anyone more
found written in the book of be external and physical- than he deserves; and,
life was cast into the lake of where the fire is not whereaS everyone in heli will
fire," Revelation 20;15. quenched, and internal- be in anguiSh and torment,
Those who do not obey the where the worm does not
there are degrees of punish-
g
ospel "will pay the penalty die. The damned wilIalways
ment in hell. God is a just
01 eternal destruct,ion, away be the objects of God '8 ' ,
God. Some sins against God
f rom ,the presence of the wrath, never of His love. ' " ,
are more heinous'tha,n others,
Lord and from the glory of "They will be tormented
thus deserving greater pun-
His power," II Thessalonians with fire and ishment. Jesus made this
1:9. lIell is an actual, never-, brimstone ... and the smoke poilit in Luke'12:47f- "iirid
ending existence oJ wicked of their torment ascends that slave who knew his
human beings in excruciating, forever and ever, so that '
. master's will and did not get
everlasting fire, as a just they have no rest day ot
ready or act' in accord with
puniShment for their sin. Ba- night," Revelation 14:9-11,
his will, shall receive many
sic to divine justice is the 19:3,20:10 .
. , lashes, but the one who did
principle that punishment, The eternal destruction of not know it, and committed
must fit the crime. Revolt the wicked mentioned above
agal
'nst the l'nfl'nl'te holy God" , , deeds worthY of a flog ging,
in reference to hell does' not
is infinitely wicked, demand- will receive but few. And
imply, an instantaneous anni- from everyone who has been
ing infinite punishment. hilation, so that the wicked '
Moreover, the wicked con- givenrn'uch shall much be
are punished by simply being '. d' 'd t h th
tinue their angry hostility to- reqUIre ;' an 0 w om ey
, "snuffed ,out," i.e., ceasing to ' , d' , h 1 h' h'
ward God in hell, which also ' entruste mUG , 0 ' zin t ey
exist, at death. Matthew'I'l k II 'h "
deserves continuing ,punish- wz a's ate more.
, 25 :46 brings this out unmis-
ment. takably by using the same
Hell is a place where both, word eternal to describe both
the body and the soul of the the destiny of the righteous as
wicked are tormented for- well as the destiny of the
ever, with no hope of cesS a- wicked. The durationoHheir
Hon or escape. Jesus warns existence is identical-eter-
us to fear God, "who is able nal. As long as the righteous
to, destr!?y bO,th body and live and heaven, the
38 THE COUNSEL of ChalcedoD" August/September, 1999
Conclusions
1. You must come to grips
truth which is as
clear as,
,AWAITS THE IMPENITENT
UNBELIEVER. Since such
,
a place as hell, exists, noth-
ing is worth anything unless
you are not going there. If
the Bible said that only one
person in every billion would
go to hell, we would spend
our lives making sure we are
not that one. But Christ said
MANY will go to hell. Do
you have solid, Biblical
grounds for believing that you
will not go to hell? Only
Jesus Christ can save you
from sin and hell. Make sure
of your relation to Him. "B e-
lieve all the Lord Jesus, alld
you shall be saved; you
alld your household," Acts
16:31.
2. If God has saved you
. from His fierce anger, you
ought to be wholly committed
to Him in love, gratitude and
submission. "The only reason
your eyes are not blinded by
the smoke of the pit; and your
hands are not bound with the
chains of darkness; and your
tongue not bOiling in the fire
of hell and your feet not
standing in the lake that burns
with fire, is JESUS CHRIST.
Therefore, use your eyes in
reading of Him, your hands in
serving Him, your tongue in
speaking for Him, and your
feet to quickly run His er-
rands. To one who knew him-
self once to be a child of
wrath, but now delivered by
Jesus Christ, nothing will be
too much to do or to suffer
for Him."- Source unknown
3. Be more afraid of sin
than you are of hell. Sin is
contrary to everything God is.
It is destructive of everything
man is. It degrades man. It
makes him a fool. It dehu-
manizes him and makes him a
beast. It separates him from
his Maker. And it sends him
to hell. If it had not been for
sin, hell would not have ex-
isted. And people would
never go to hell if they would
repent and believe the gospel.
How is sin worse than hell?
"Hell is only a punishment,
but sin is a crime. It is more
evil than the punishment, and
it is that of which hell is the
punishment. The very great-
ness of this punishment ar-
gues the greatness of the
crime and the sinfulness of
sin. That God is glorified on
men in such a way is clear
and full proof what an evil
thing it is to sin against and
dishonor God. Consequently
hel! itself does not inflict so
much hurt as sin does. Hell,
indeed, is a dismal place of
horror and torment, the ex-
tremity of suffering, but it
never had any existence till
sin had. Nor could hell have
such names and such tor-
ments as it does now if sin
were not there. It is reported
as a saying of Anselm that if
sin and hell were set before
him and he must go through
one of them, he would choose
to go through hell rather than
sin. Sin is the worst of hell,
and worse than hell. It is what
makes sinners cry out for the
uninhabitableness of devour-
ing fire and everlasting
burnings, which are no terror
to righteous and upright
souls, Isaiah 33:14,15. It is
sin that makes hell to be hell.
God was never angry until sin
made Him so; His wrath was
never kindled except by sin.
Now just as sin made hell, so
the more sin the more hell, as
Tyre and Sidon suffer more
than Sodom and Gomorrah.
Even if there were no hell but
such as Cain and Judas felt
within them, it would still be
a great one. They would tell
you that it is damnation
enough to be a sinner and to
feel the horrors of a guilty
and accusing conscience. ,,"
Praise God, Jesus came,
not only to save us from hell,
but to save us from our sinsl
"Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins,"
Matthew 1 :21.
1 For a discussion of the relation of sin
and predestination, see pages 162f. See
also appendix to this chapter on page
2 Robert Shaw, THE REFORMED
FAITH. (fuverness, Scotland: Christian
Focus Publications, 1974 reprint), p. 75.
3 Belfrage quoted by Robert Shaw in
THE REFORMED FAITH, p. 75.
, Curtis Vaughan, JAMES: A STUDY
GUIDE, (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p.
31.
S Samuel Rutherford,
RUTHERFORD'S CATECHISM,
(Edinburgh: Blue Banner Productions,
1998 reprmt), p. 24.
, R.J. Rushdoony, SYSTEMATIC
THEOLOGY, (Vallecito, California: Ross
House Books, 1994), Vol. I, p. 471.
7 Greg Bahnsen, THEONOMY IN
CHRISTIAN ETHICS, (Nutley, NJ: The
Craig Press, 1977), p. 270.
B John Calvin, INSTITUTES OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION, (Philadelphia,
PA: The Westminster Press, 1960), II,I,4.
, R.J. Rushdoony, REVOLT
AGAINST MATURITY, (Fairfax, VA:
Thoburn Press, 1977), p. 70.
10 Ibid., p. 71.
II Ibid., p. 71.
12 Ibid" p. 71.
"Ibid., p. 71-72.
" Ibid" p. 72.
IS John Calvin, CALVIN'S COM-
MENTARIES, (Grand Rapids, Michi-
gan: Baker Book House, 1979 reprint),
Vol. XIX, p. 206.
16 R.J. Rushdoony, SYSTEMATIC
THEOLOGY, (Vallecito, California:
Ross House Books,1994), Vol. I, p. 445f.
17 "Just as sin is total in the life Of man.
affecting his total being, so sin is total in
the life of society. Total depravity means
that every aspect of man's life and soci-
ety is tainted by sin, so that death haunts
every son of Adam, and every culture r e ~
August/September, 1999 THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon . 39
ated by the sons of Adam. Technology
does not eliminate this death-bound na-
ture of society; rather, it expedites and
enhances the workings. of sin." - R.I.
Rushdoony, SYSTEMATIC THEOL-
OGY, Vol. I, p. 451f.
U Ibid .. p. 445ff.
Non-Profit Org.
.D.S. Postage
PAID
Permit # 1553
Greenville, Sc.
29602
19 Larger Catechism Q. 27 speaks of
fallen human beings as "bond slaves to
Satan," and then gives this Biblical foot-
note to support its statement: And that
they may recover themselves out of the
snare of the- devil, who are taken cap-
tive by hiin at his will, II Timothy 2:26.
"A truly shocking condition, when the
devil has so -great power over us, that he
drags us, as captive slaves, here and there
at his pleasure. Yet such is the condition
of all those whom the pride of their heart
draws away from SUbjection to God .. And
this tyrannical dominion of Satan we see
plainly, every day, in the reprobate; for
they would not rush with such fury and
with brutal into every kind of
base and disgraceful crimes, if they were
not drawn by the unseen power of Satan.
- Such examples admonish us to keep
ourselves carefully under the yoke of
Christ, and to yield ourselves to be gov-
erned by His Holy Spirit. And yet a cap-
tivity of this nature does not excuse
wicked men, so that they do not sin, be-
cause it is by the instigation of Satan that
they sin; for, although their being carried
along so to that which is evii
proceeds from the dominion of Satan, yet
they do nothing by constraint, but are
inclined with their whole heart to that to
which S,atan drives them. The result is.
that their captivity is voluntary."- John
Calvin, CALVIN'S COMMENTARIES,
Vol. XXI, p. 235.
20 Herman Hoeksema, THE TRIPLE
KNOWLEDGE, (Grand Rapids, Michi-
gan: Reformed Free Publishing Associa-
tion, 1970), Vol. I, pp. 215-216.
21 Ralph Venning, THE PLAGUE OF
PLAGUES, (Edinburgh, Scotland: The
Banner of Truth 1965 ), p. 187.
"Ro ots fl,.< 'Vi H"les" Rebecca B. Morecraft, Becky lo her from a rootedness
\!::.J llL In the soil of her native Vlr8lrua - sevea I\enernuons 100& - and from
i\ coliectJOn 01 poems b\ RebeccJ Hekher
a ferUle ChriStian heritBi\e. Visil the home place With her - he down
on the bill rock and walch her Granny pick black raspberries from vines broU&l1l over on a ship 8I'neralions ae,o: swin&
with her on Uncle Tommy's tire swin& and then pull up a buckel of cold waler Rom the .slone-mouthed well. Go home lo
the mounlains wilh her, meel the folks and you may nol wanl lo leavel
H8ecky Morecraft writes out at her own ir:fectious exhilaration
with the bubbling stuff of life. I sense that her antennae are out
there, paying combing the air for messages from
Beyond, and for insights about Here _af!d Now, which _she
turns into vivid heartwarming veises so that we may get the
message too. Ajoy to read, this collection is reality transformed
into art!" -Luci Shaw, author of "Writing the and "Wa-
@!MySoul."
"8.eaut}i, grace and godliness come together in Becky Morecraft's
poetry. I am sure her work will stand the test of time as more .
and more Christian children learn to'appreciate the grandeur
of being born into Christian homes where many generations
have loved and served King Sabaath. Her voice will teach the
way back as we begin to reclaim a godly covenant heritage."
-Susan Burns, author and Managing Editor "of The Cha/ce-
d.on Report.
H8ecky's poetry' is born in the soul of one who Sees and
understands.' She stirs the heart and sends the spirit soar-
ing through an of bountiful, delicious
words. Each thread from word to thought is impeccably W(J..
. ven. You. will read her work and quietly exclaim, 'That
is exactly how I fel.t ... that is precisely what J wanted
to say!'" -Judy Roge-rs, singer/songwriter/recording
artist of "Why Can,'t I See God?" and "If You Love
(Songs from the Ten Commandments).
HBecky Moreaaft,'s poems give' new meaning to the idea of
heritage, for here is a Southern feast of words accompanied by
the full and haunting st;ains of the bagpipe. I cannot help but
smile at-the tenderness, humor, and downright deliciousness of
her language. The underlying vision is serious, for the soil of all
Mrs. Morecraft's poems is Christ the Lord." -Suzanne Clark,
Author; Sketches of Horne
This 'chapbook' of poems (also. includi11& a mountain ballad and rnspberry cobbler recipe!) is available
.from the author for $10.00 plus $2.00 poslB&eand handli11& .!lend checks made oul and addressed lo her lo:
Becky Morecrafl, 6819 Posl Road, Cummi!l(\, Gil 30040.
40 - THE. COUNSEL of Chalcedon August/September, 1999