Original Sin.
(De peccato originali.)
1. the concept of original sin.
The original sin, that is, the sin which is not done but is inherent in every man since Adam's fall, comprises two things: a. the hereditary guilt (culpa hereditaria), that is, the guilt of Adam's one sin, which God imputes to all men; b. the hereditary corruption (corruptio humanae naturae hereditaria), which, as a result of the imputation of Adam's guilt, is propagated by natural descent from fallen parents to all descendants. Scriptural evidence for the hereditary guilt: Rom. 5:18: Δΐ ενός — namely Adam's — παραπτώματος είς πάντας άνϑρώ-πονς εις κατάκριμα, "through one sin came upon all men the judgment of damnation"; v. 19: Διά τής παρακοής τον ενός αν&ρώπον — namely Adam's — Αμαρτωλοί κατεοϑάτηοαν οί πολλοί, "through the disobedience of one man. the many were set down as sinners". Scriptural evidence of hereditary corruption perpetuated by natural birth: Ps. 61:7: "Behold, I am begotten of sinful seed, and my mother conceived me in sins"; Jn. 3:6: "That which is born of the flesh (εκ τής οαρκός) is flesh" (σάρξ). That σάρξ here denotes not merely the body, but the whole sinful man, and indeed just after the soul with all its powers and movements, is evident from the context. It denotes the condition of a man who is outside the kingdom of God and must be born again if he is to enter the kingdom of God, v. 3. 6. We have a parallel for this meaning of σάρξ Rom. 8:7: "To be carnally minded (το φρόνημα τής σαρκός) is enmity against God."
Dogmatists distinguish between τιμωρία and παιδεία. By τιμωρία they mean the appropriate road of sin that comes to those who despise the atoning blood of Christ (Hebrews 12:29) and consists of nothing less than eternal damnation. By παιδεία they understand the castigationes paternae, which are not punishments in the strict sense (non ad vindicandam culpam iniuriamque Deo illatam compensandam inferuntur), but have the purpose of saving from eternal damnation those who are remitted guilt of sin and punishment of sin through faith in the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, 1 Cor. 11:32.
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The human contradiction has been especially directed against the hereditary guilt. Pelagians, Socinians, Arminians, even newer Lutherans claim that only what a man has done himself can be imputed to him as sin.1580) The strength of the contradiction runs through all degrees, from the simple rejection to the decided blasphemy.1581) We must freely admit that human feeling, according to the blindness that is in us (ίσκοτισμένοι rfj διανοία, Eph. 4:18), is downright indignant against the fact of original guilt. But this does not change in the least the fact, which God testifies in His Word Rom. 5:18-19 testifies, that through one man's sin there came about a sentence of condemnation (κατάκριμα) upon all men, and that through one man's disobedience the whole multitude (oί πολλοί) was placed before God in the category of sinners (αμαρτωλοί κατεστάϑηοαν). Next, the imputation of Adam's sin is clearly before us in the fact that after Adam's fall God causes all men to be born in hereditary corruption (corruptio hereditaria).1582) As for the righteousness of this
1580) The quotations from the writings of the Pelagians, Socinians and Arminians in Quenstedt I, 995. — About American sects (Socinians, Unitarians, Arminians, Quakers, Shepherds, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, etc.) cf. the quotations in Günther, Symbolik 4, p. 152 ff. [also Engelder's Popular Symbolics, p. 89, and Index] — On more recent Lutherans, such as Vilmar, the quotation in Baier-Walther II, 291 sq. from Vilmar's Dogmatik 1, 370 ff. What the dogmatists teach about the doctrine of hereditary guilt is briefly and correctly presented in Nitzsch-Stephan, p. 315 f.-on the rejection of hereditary guilt on the part of more recent theologians, even most conservative ones, Nitzsch-Stephan, p. 327 ff. [see Nitzsch 2nd ed. 1896 p. 288 ff.]
1581) The Pelagian Julianus: Non posse a Deo peccatum alienum parvulis imputari; at Quenstedt I, 995. — Socinus: Falsum est, Adami delictum et inobedientiam hominibus imputatum fuisse; and the Socinian Volkelius: Nos pernegamus, Adami peccatum illius posteris imputari; at Quenstedt, l.c.. — The Arminians in their Apology contra Censuram Leydensium, p. 84: Nec Scriptura, nec veracitas, nec sapientia, nec bonitas divina, nec peccati natura, nec ratio (character) iustitiae atque aequitatis permittunt, ut sic Adami posteris peccatum Adami imputatum fuisse dicant; at Quenstedt, l. c. — The Quakers in their Declaration of Faith of 1887: "We rejoice that we believe that sin is imputed to no one until they transgress the divine law, after sufficient ability is given to understand it (p. 27); in Günther, Symbolik 4, p. 153. The Quaker Barclay in his Apology (th. 4, 5) addresses hereditary guilt as a barbarism contrary to Scripture; in Günther, op. cit.
1582) Hönecke, Ev.-luth. Dogmatik II, 413, according to the procedure of old dogmatists: "That now all men born since Adam are born equal as being in the state of perdition, into which Adam got by the fall,
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divine action, we must not lose sight of the further fact that Scripture parallels the imputation of Adam's sin with the imputation of Christ's righteousness to all mankind, Rom. 5:18-19: ὡς δι᾽ ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα οὕτως καὶ δι᾽ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς, and v. 19: ὥσπερ γὰρ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθησαν οἱ πολλοί οὕτως καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται οἱ πολλοί. He who declares the imputation of Adam's sin unjust and therefore rejects it, must consequently also declare the imputation of Christ's righteousness unjust and reject it, thus taking a standpoint outside the Christian church. — As for the proof of hereditary guilt, a reminder is in order. We freely point out for the righteousness of imputation of Adam's sin the fact that Adam was the moral as well as the physical head of all mankind, and that therefore the one sinful act of Adam is justly imputed to all his descendants.1583) But against this the question is raised whether it is right that the son should bear the iniquity of the father.1584) We may well say: Adami voluntas erat interpres voluntatis omnium hominum; that is, God foresaw that we would have acted just as Adam did under the same circumstances. But against this it was and is objected that it seems to be more justified to let each human individual "interpret himself". Therefore we must
this has its reason only in the fact that God sees the deed of Adam as their deed, counts it as guilt and lets them be born in the state of misery of the original sinfulness as in one deserved by themselves. The same, p. 408 f.: "The fall of Adam counts to all men as guilt and punishment, not only because the sinfulness (peccatum originis originatum) acquired by the fall and inherited by them makes them condemnable before God (imputatio mediata), but also in such a way that the fall of Adam itself (peccatum originis originans) is imputed to them as guilt (imputatio immediata).
1583) Thus Quenstedt I, 995 quotes from Meisner's anthropology: In unoquoque corpore, sive sit physicum sive politicum sive mysticum, id, quod facit caput, quatenus caput, hoc toti corpori iure imputatur. … Facta magistratus toti reipublicae, facta patris familias toti familiae imputantur, adeo ut liberi ob crimen rebellionis vel laesae maiestatis, licet a solo patre commissum sit, omnibus bonis iure spolientur a principe. [Google]
1584) Thus Israel argues with its God, Ezek. 18.
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finally rely on one reason, before which all contradiction naturally falls silent. This is the reason to which Quenstedt1585) refers after citing several other reasons with the words: Deus ut iudex iure quo pollet summo crimen maiestatis laesae etiam in posteris … punit, "God as judge, in accordance with his supreme judicial law, rebuke the crime of violating his divine majesty even in the descendants." This fact of divine imputation is now one of the "stubborn facts" against which to argue is futile, foolish, and ungodly. God always acts justified, even where we do not understand Him. We cannot and should not measure God's righteousness by human standards.1586) Moreover, let us not forget the other fact published in the Scriptures, namely, that the same God who condemned all men for Adam's sin has already justified all men for Christ's righteousness. This is, after all, what the apostle Paul sets forth in detail in the passage Rom. 5:12-21. In order to prevent any misunderstanding of this passage, the apostle himself summarizes v. 18 his detailed^ exposition with αρα ovv ("therefore now") in the summarium: "As by one sin came condemnation judgment upon all men, so also by one righteousness came justification of life upon all men." Christians understand this by singing, "Just as we were all rejected by a foreign sin in Adam, so we were all reconciled by a foreign grace in Christ.."1587)
The fact of the hereditary corruption (corruptio hereditaria) is recognized to some extent also by human reason. We see therefore that also pagan writers refer to a tendency to evil inherent in man from birth. Horace:
1585) Systema 1, 994.
1586) Baier II, 290 points to this, even if somewhat shyly, with the words: Ut subtilius disputetur, quomodo Deus lapsum protoplastorum posteris ipsorum nondum existentibus ita imputare potuerit, ut propterea etiam ipsos iustitia originali destitutos et peccatores nasci oporteret, non opus est, nec fortasse consultum. Sufficit enim το δτι esse revelatum, etsi το πώς ignoretur. [Google]
1587) St. L. Gesangbuch, No. 236, 3. Also No. 27, 2: "What I lost in Adam and Eve by dying, You have chosen for me, Jesus, by living and suffering. Good God, all my sorrow and distress ended when you were born."
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Nam vitiis nemo sine nascitur; optimus ille est, qui minimis urgetur.1588) The same: Naturam expellas furca, tamen usque recurret.1589) Cicero: Simulatque editi in lucem et suscepti sumus in omni continuo pravitate et in summa opinionum perversitate versamur, ut paene cum lacte nutricis errorem suxisse videamur.1590) But the whole extent of the innate sinful corruption and the origin of this corruption from the fall of the first men is known only from the revelation of the Holy Scriptures. To this fact the Smalcald Articles point out with the words: "Such original sin is so utterly a Lief evil corruption of nature that no reason can know it, but must be believed from Scripture revelation." 1591) How little, for example, Cicero recognized of the depravity of human nature, in spite of his "ut paene cum lacte nutricis errorem suxisse videamur," is evident from the fact that both in the preceding and in the following he declares human nature to be essentially good, and attributes the prevailing depravity to the evil influence of nurses, teachers, and much-heard and much-read poets. The Formula of Concord therefore remarks that "no philosopher, no papist, no sophist, indeed no human reason, however acute, can give the right explanation [of the depth of hereditary corruption], but all understanding and explanation must be taken from Holy Scriptures alone."1592) On the origin of hereditary perdition from the fall of the first men, Rolle says:1593) "Without divine revelation, no one can know that the inclination to evil comes from the fall of the first parents, is truly sin, and that man is therefore subject to eternal damnation."
With regard to hereditary corruption erring: 1. All who deny hereditary corruption altogether, claiming that sin passes from parents to children not by natural descent (generatione) but by evil example (exemplo), against John. 3:6: Το γεγεννημένον έκ τής σαρκός σάρξ έατtv;1594) 2. All those who admit an inherited corruption but
1588) Satir. I, 3, 68 sq.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1589) Epist. 1. 10, 24.
1590) Tuscul. Disp. III, 1.<w:t>1591) M. 310, 3. [Trigl. 477, I, 3 🔗]
1592) M. 586, 60 [Trigl. 879, 60 🔗]<w:t xml:space="preserve">1593) Quoted in Baier-Walther II, 281.
1594) So the Pelagians: Peccatum non propagatione in alios homines ex primo homine, sed imitatione transisse. (In Seeberg, Dogmengeschichte I, 263,
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deny that it is sin because peccatum must always be voluutarium, that is, it must come from deliberation, self-decision, etc., against Eph. 2:3: τέκνα φύσει οργής [“And were by nature children of wrath”];1595) 3. all who diminish hereditary corruption. This is done on the part of the Semipelagians and Synergists of all ages, in that they do not consider man dead (νεκρός) in sins after the fall (Eph. 2:1, 5), but still ascribe to him, in various degrees and under various appellations, so much ability in spiritual things, that the attainment of the grace of God and of salvation depends not only
from Augustine's De Peccator. Meritis et Remiss. 1, 9, 9; cf. in Quenstedt 1, 999 the quotation from Augustine's De Nat. et Grat., c. 9: In Adamo peccasse omnes, non propter peccatum nascendi origine attractum, sed propter imitationem dictum est.). Just as among the heathen Seneca, Epist. 69: Erras, si existimas, nobiscum nasci vitia; supervenerunt, ingesta sunt. (In Quenstedt 1, 999.) Likewise the Socinians; quotations in Günther, Symbolik 4, p. 148 [Pop. Symbolics, pp. 396, 403]; in Quenstedt 1, 1000; in Plitt, Grundriß der Symbolik 3, p. 154.
1595) Thus Zwingli in Fidei Ratio, Niemeyer, x. 20: Velimus igitur nolimus admittere cogimur, peccatum originale, ut est in filiis Adae, non proprie peccatum esse, quomodo iam expositum est; non enim est facinus contra legem. Morbus igitur est proprie et conditio. Rome doctrines Trid, sess. V, 5, Smets, p. 18 f., that the inclination to sin (concupiscentia, fomes) remaining after baptism is no longer sin, although Scripture sometimes calls it sin: Hanc concupiscentiam, quam aliquando (Rom. 6:7. 8; Col. 3) apostolus peccatum appellat, sancta Synodus declarat, ecclesiam catholicam nunquam intellexisse peccatum appellari, quod vere et proprie in renatis peccatum sit, sed quia ex peccato est et ad peccatum inclinat. Si quis autem contrarium senserit, anathema sit. Likewise Cat. Rom., De Baptismo, qu. 32: qui tamen motus (animi appetitio natura sua rationi repugnans), si voluntatis consensum aut negligentiam coniunctam non habeat, a vera peccati natura longe abest. [Google] — It has already been pointed out that among the newer theologians also Hofmann lets sin begin only with the "conscious" self-determination and therefore consequently denies that hereditary perdition is sin. On the American sects which deny original sin as sin, Günther, Symbolik 4, p. 152 ff. On the Methodists, Günther, p. 151: "The Methodists, whose Articles of Faith are an excerpt from the 39 Articles of the Episcopalians, omit the important words in the Article on Original Sin: 'This corruption of nature remains even in those who are born again. ... And although there is no condemnation in the born-again and believers for Christ's sake, yet the apostle testifies that lust itself has the nature and character of sin'. ... The doctrine that evil lust is truly sin even in the born-again does not fit with their doctrine of entire sanctification." On Wesley's saying, "Such [involuntary] transgressions you call sins, if you please; I do not" cf. vol. III, 37, note 112.
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on God's grace for Christ's sake, but also on man's cooperation, his self-determination or self-decision, his right conduct and his lesser guilt in comparison with others, etc.1596
Because in every reduction of hereditary corruption, whether in a gross Roman-Arminian way, or in a fine and subtle way,
1596) The papal doctrine teaches that in fallen man the capacity for good, that is, for attaining justification and salvation, is not completely lost, but only weakened. Trid, sess. VI, can. 4: Si quis dixerit, liberum hominis arbitrium a Deo motum et excitatum nihil cooperari assentiendo Deo excitanti et vocanti, quo ad obtinendam iustificatioms gratiam se disponat ac praeparet, ... anathema sit. Can. 5: Si quis liberum hominis arbitrium post Adae peccatum amissum et extinctum esse dixerit, ... anathema sit. Sess. VI, cap. 1, it says of the liberum arbitrium in heathen and Jews: minime extinctum, viribus licet attenuatum et inclinatum. The Arminians represent essentially the Roman doctrine, of which Möhler (Symbolik 5, p. 634) gives them credit with the words: "Their doctrines on this (on hereditary perdition) find pretty much the Catholic ones, for which reason they also, like the Synod of Trent, speak of an awakening grace, which only stirs up the powers still existing in fallen man, in contrast to the Lutheran conceptions, according to which the higher (the spiritual) powers in man must first be created again." Quenstedt quotes 1, 1103 from the Arminian Collatio Hagiensis (1610): Duae sunt fidei et conversionis causae, prima: gratia Dei tanquam praecedens et excitans, secunda: voluntas hominis sequens et cooperans. Nec donum fidei datur sine cooperatione voluntatis humanae. Affirmamus, hominem cooperarium esse in regeneratione. In the Apologia pro Confessione Remonstrantium, [Google] Leyden 1630, p. 162, it is said that the effect of God's grace sine cooperatione liberae voluntatis humanae would not succeed. About the Arminian sects: Methodists, Mennonites, etc., see the quotations in Günther, Symbolik 4, p. 159 ff. — That also the synergistic Lutherans, from the later Melanchthon down to more recent times, diminish the doctrine of inheritance from Scripture, comes to view in detail vol. II, 542 ff, in the doctrine of conversion, especially under the sections: "The Objections to the Sole Efficacy of God," p. 564 ff. All talk of a facultas se applicandi ad gratiam, of a liberum arbitrium established before conversion, according to which man can "set himself," "determine for himself," "decide for himself" pro or contra, or that the conversion which actually occurs depends on the right conduct of man or on a lesser fault — all these and other ways of speaking presuppose that man is not dead after the Fall, but only half-dead or apparently dead in sins, i.e., with their doctrine of hereditary perdition they do not belong to the Lutheran, but to the Roman and Arminian camp.
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which has also crept into the Lutheran Church, sola gratia and with it the whole Christian doctrine is consequently abandoned, we leave here a special section on the effect of hereditary corruption on the mind and will of man.