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Hamartology

Hamartology. The study of sin As it affects all of mankind. Definition of sin. Is a TRANSGRESSION of the law Parabasis is “overstepping” (Rom 4:15) Is a FAILURE TO CONFORM to God’s standard Hamartia is to “miss the mark” (Rom 3:22-23) Is a PRINCIPLE within man

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Hamartology

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  1. Hamartology The study of sin As it affects all of mankind Survey of Hamartology

  2. Definition of sin • Is a TRANSGRESSION of the law • Parabasis is “overstepping” (Rom 4:15) • Is a FAILURE TO CONFORM to God’s standard • Hamartia is to “miss the mark” (Rom 3:22-23) • Is a PRINCIPLE within man • A natural desire to selfishness, egotism (Rom 7:14, 17-25) • Is REBELLION against God • Anomia is “lawlessness” (1 Jn 3:4) as a “frame of mind” (Tit 2:14; Matt 24:12) • Is WRONGFUL ACTS against God and man • Asebeia: “ungodliness” (Rom 1:18). Violate commands 1-4 • Adikia: “unrighteousness”. Violate commands 5-10 Survey of Hamartology

  3. Original Sin • Definition • The corruption of our whole nature. • The inherited nature to be independent from God • A universal principle in every human • Results • Man is depraved • Everyone is not as depraved as he could be, nor will everyone participate in all sins; Even depraved men can do some good • The depravity is sufficient to disqualify everyman from acceptance and merit before a Holy God. • Man has an innate sin nature • Every part of man is affected: intellect (2 Cor. 4:4); conscience (1 Tim. 4:2); will (Rom. 1:28); heart (Eph. 4:18); and the total being (Rom. 1:18–3:20) Survey of Hamartology

  4. Imputation of Sin Rom 5:12, Therefore, 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 • Palagian view: every soul is created, therefore innocent at birth. Adam was merely a bad example. Man only guilty of sins committed. (Unitarian) • Armenian view: Only when man choose to sin did God impute sin to him, but he has the power to not sin, esp. with the Spirit. (Methodists, Wesleyans, Pentecostals) • Federal view:Adam is seen as the Federal Head or representative of the human race. All descendents share his fate under judicial judgment. (Presbyterians, Reform theology) • Augustinian view: All are participants in Adam’s sin, just as Levi (though not born yet) paid tithe to Melchizedek through Abraham (Heb 7:9-10). He was seminally present in Abraham. (Calvin, Luther, Strong) Survey of Hamartology

  5. Summary of views Views Rom 5:12 Adam Humanity Modern Incur death when follow Adam’s example When all consent to Adam’s sin then sin is imputed Sin is imputed because of Adam’s sin Sin is imputed because of Adam’s sin Unitarians Methodists, Pentecostals, Wesleyans, Holiness groups Presbyterians Covenant theologians Reformers and Calvinists Sin affected Adam alone Adam sinned and affected partially everyone Adam alone sinned, but affected everyone Humanity sinned in Adam No one affected by Adam’s sin Depravity not total; All received corrupt nature, but not guilt Depravity is total; sin and guilt are imputed Depravity is total; sin and guilt are imputed Plebian Armenian Federal Augustine Survey of Hamartology

  6. The Christian and Sin • The Conflict • The world:1 Jn 2:15-16– warned not to love the world nor things in the world, which is under Satan’s control (5:19) • The flesh: Rom 7:17-20– the capacity for selfish satisfaction, lusts and mind perversion (Eph 2:3). • The devil: 1 Pet 5:8– a real person who seeks to destroy all that is God’s, and called to resist him (James 4:7) • The Provision • The Word: Psa 119:11– Protection is gained through wisdom and cleansing (Eph 5:26) • The Intercession of Christ: 1 Jn 2:1; Heb 7:25– Is seen as effective against Satan (Jn 17:15) and ultimate state (17:25) • The Indwelling Spirit: Acts 1:8; Eph 5:17;Gal 5:16– The empowering, filling and abiding presence empowers believer Survey of Hamartology

  7. The Fall and Human Depravity • N. African Bishop Augustine (354-430) developed his theology from controversy with Pelagius (350-423), a British monk • Pelagius wrote a defense of free will against the deterministic cults and philosophies of his day (coined the phrase, “free will”) • Augustine introduced determinism into Christian theology from his study of Greek philosophy Survey of Hamartology

  8. The Issue Rages • The controversy continued for a century until a semi-Augustine position was reached in the Synod of Orange (529) • The Western church drifted toward semi-Pelagianism (free will and denial of human depravity) • At the Reformation Luther (full-Augustinian) argued with Reformist Catholic scholar Erasmus (moderate Pelagianism) Survey of Hamartology

  9. Only limit on Man’s Autonomy • Gen 2:16-17– not to eat of one tree • Adam was a free moral agent to choose • Although dependent on God for his existence, his behavior was not predetermined nor forced • Man is not a puppet or the command was meaningless • Man was to learn dependence on God was good and God’s way was always best • Satan’s deception was to get Eve to not depend on God and to doubt His goodness and beneficial care • Satan took advantage of man’s autonomy by persuading him to disobey • The rest of Biblical record shows man did not loose his autonomy, but continued to exercise it in disobedience to God and His will Survey of Hamartology

  10. Opinions on Significance of Fall • Chafer distinguished between personal sin, transmitted sin, and imputed sin • Transmission of sin to the entire race is obvious • Ephesians 2:1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world's present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… • Romans 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned-- Survey of Hamartology

  11. Human Depravity Not in Dispute • Calvinist insist on term “total depravity” • Even Jacob Armenius and John Wesley had developed view of depravity • Geisler distinguishes Calvinist “intensive” view of depravity vs. “extensive” view • Intensive: the image of God and human will destroyed • Extensive: whole humanity was corrupted by sin, but the image of God and human will not destroyed, BUT CORRUPTED • This is the semi-Augustinian view of Synod of Orange (529), not the semi-Pelagian view of later Roman Catholicism Survey of Hamartology

  12. Depravity • Sinners are given to a selfish preference. 2 Tim 3:4, “treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God.” • Has an aversion to God and can be aggressively against God (Rom 8:7, “because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.” • His every faculty is disordered and corrupted, Eph 4:18, “They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.” • Has no thought, feeling or deed of which God can approve Rom 7:18, For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. Survey of Hamartology

  13. Does Man retain any Autonomy? • Since man is enslaved to sin, Satan and a corrupt world system the term “freedom” is relative • RG Sproul objects, “If God is sovereign, then man cannot be autonomous, conversely, if man is autonomous, then God cannot be sovereign. The two are mutually exclusive concepts.” • Conflict depends on definition of terms • If Augustinian definition of sovereignty is correct then so is Augustine • The term “autonomy rarely means total • In geopolitics, an “autonomous region” in a sovereign country usually has limited autonomy • Thus there is no conflict between divine sovereignty and human autonomy Survey of Hamartology

  14. Autonomy Limited by Sin Degenerates into Rebellion • From the Fall to the Deluge man perverted God’s way and Will. • God had not programmed man to become violent and perverted (Gen 6:6, “The LORD regretted that he had made mankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.”) • The history of Israel is not any better: Man was “doing his own thing.” • If God was programming this rebellion sovereignly, then He is the author and responsible for sin! • Biblically, God is working “behind the scenes” to prepare His plan for man’s salvation Survey of Hamartology

  15. Autonomy Limited by Sin Degenerates into Rebellion • Jesus warned disciples they would suffer (Matt 10:16-42 “…:17 Beware of people, because they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues…” • There will be continual rebellion until Christ Returns (Mt 24-25; 1 Tim 4:1 ff; 2 Tim 3:1 ff; 2 Thes 2:1-12; 2 Pet 3:1-9) • This is not man acting out an eternal decree! • It is man abusing his God-given autonomy Survey of Hamartology

  16. Image of God defaced, but not erased • Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God's image God has made mankind.“ • John 10:34 Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? 35 If those people to whom the word of God came were called 'gods' (and the scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? Survey of Hamartology

  17. Image of God defaced, but not erased • Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.‘ • James 3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God's image. • 1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. Survey of Hamartology

  18. Spiritual Death Defined • Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die." • A spiritual death is meant since he did not die physically when he ate • Romans 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned— • Ephesians 2:1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, • "I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24 Survey of Hamartology

  19. Spiritual Death Defined • Spiritual death is SEPARATION from God, as physical death is separation from body • Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. • Spiritual death is the rendering of the God-conscious part of man inoperative and thus separates man from God • The analogy of a corpse is misleading • 1 Corinthians 2:11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man's spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Survey of Hamartology

  20. Does total depravity mean total inability? • The new-birth is 100% a work of the Spirit: John 1:12 But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children 13 --children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband's decision, but by God. • If repentant faith is a requirement for God to regenerate – No where is there a notion that man cannot respond Survey of Hamartology

  21. Does Fallen Man Retain Free Will? • Tertullian (155-225), “I find, then, that man was by God constituted free, master of his own will and power; indicating the presence of God’s image and likeness in him by nothing so well as by this constitution of his nature…the entire course of discipline is arranged in precepts by God’s calling men from sin, and threatening and exhorting them. [Tertullian, Against Marcion, book II, ch. 5] • Gregory of Nyssa (335-395), “Not a single church figure in the first 300 years rejected it (free will) and mot of them stated it in works still extant.” [Forster and Marston, God’s Strategy , pp. 244] Survey of Hamartology

  22. Who makes us do it? • How could Adam with an innocent nature perform an evil act? Some push the problem back to Satan • Luther pushed the solution back to God and His inclusive decrees to include sin. • R.C. Sproul is not willing to go that far, but admits it to be “an excruciating problem.” [Sproul, Chosen by God, p. 31] • Geisler argues that self-caused actions are the best explanation of the origin of evil—the best explanation is that man was created with free choice • God created Lucifer as a holy cherub, but Ezekiel addressed him as power behind the wicked king of Tyre: “You were in Eden, the garden of God;…On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there…You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you (Ezek 28:13-15) Survey of Hamartology

  23. Who makes us do it? • Geisler suggests only three options: • My actions are uncaused • My actions are caused by someone else • My actions are caused by my Self. **All the evidence points here. • God’s judgment of Lucifer for his sin (1 Tim 3:6; Rev 20:10), of fallen angels (Jude 6-7; 2 Pet 2:4), of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-19) makes it clear that God holds free creatures morally responsible for their free choices. • Since all mankind is morally responsible for moral choices, fallen man must have adequate freedom of will to make moral choices, or they could not be judged for their deeds (Rev. 20:12) Survey of Hamartology

  24. Direct Scriptural Evidence • “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death…so choose life in order that you may live… (Deut 30:19-20a) • “And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…(Josh 24:15) • Elijah asked, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kgs 18:21) • Isaiah exhorted Israel, “Come now, and let us reason together,…If you consent and obey,…But if you refuse and rebel…” (Isa 1:18-19) • “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” Isa 45:22 • The Calvinist deny man the freedom to choose, stating that it robs God of His sovereignty! Survey of Hamartology

  25. Direct Scriptural Evidence • “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, …repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:14-15) • “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”(Mt 11:28) • “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching…” (Jn 7:17) • “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow river of living water’” (Jn 7:37-8) • “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets… How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. (Mt 23:37-8) • Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30) Survey of Hamartology

  26. Can man respond to General Revelation? • John Calvin comment on John 1:9, “For we know that men have this unique quality above the other animals, that they are endowed with reason and intelligence and that they bear the distinction between right and wrong engaved in their conscience. Thus there is no man to who some awareness of the eternal light does not penetrate.” [Calvin, Commentaries, vol 4, p. 15] • Two kinds of General Revelation: Nature and Human Conscience • “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them…” (Rom 2:14-15) • “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pour forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge…Their line (sound) has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world (Ps 19:1-4). Survey of Hamartology

  27. Can mankind seek God? • Calvinists depend on Rom 3:10-11, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is no one who seeks for God.” • Paul’s paraphrase of LXX Psa 14, uses the intensified verb, ekzeteo, rather than simple zeteo. This means, “diligently seeks” in the present, thus customarily or habitually. • “No one customarily and diligently seeks God.” • There are 50 verses that state man must seek God • The context is saying that the atheistic fool, who says in his heart there is no God, does not diligently seek God. Survey of Hamartology

  28. Scriptures exhort man to seek • “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deut 4:29) • David said, “Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God” (1 Chr 22:19) • “If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chr 15:2) • “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa 55:6-7). Survey of Hamartology

  29. Conclusion • The original imagine of God involved all the communicable attributes of God, which have been perverted, but not lost entirely – No hint that man cannot respond to God’s initiative • Man is multi-faceted and lost his God-conscious part, resulting in spiritual death and separation from God (Eph 4:18), not the total destruction of his spirit. • Man’s limited autonomy, has only been abused in his rebellion. A proper definition of sovereignty is compatible with an understanding of man’s limited autonomy without making God the author of sin. • While man is depraved, he is not totally unable to respond in trust, especially under the presence of the Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel (Rom 1:18) Survey of Hamartology

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