I was just in the chat room discussing the impeccability of Christ and the topic shifted to original sin. I was asking if it was possible for Christ to have succumb to the temptation described in Matthew 4/Luke 4/Hebrews 4:15 and this guy kept saying that we cannot compare Christ to us because he was perfect, sinless, etc... And that the word "tempted" must have a different meaning when applied to Christ then when applied to anyone else. I quickly pointed out that I was not comparing Christ to anyone because there is no legitimate comparison.
Jesus was without sin, period. We all know this and we all agree that it is true. The question was not if Jesus did sin... We know that he didn't. Likewise, the question is not if Jesus would sin, because obviously he didn't. The question was could Jesus have succumb to temptation, and if he could not, then was it really tremptation? But obviously there is a false analogy between Jesus and other men because Jesus is the God-Man being is possession of the natures of Deity and Humanity via his incarnation and Hypostatic Union. Whereas we all have sinned. this is where original sin came into the discussion.
I made the comment that even those infants who have not yet sinned will sin by virtue of the fact that they have a sin nature. This gentleman then said, "technically infants have sinned, Ps. 51..." My response was, "technically, the sin is attributed to David's mother in Psalm 51..." We then got into a discussion on personal sin vs. imputed sin. His position was that they are one and the same. In other words, the personal sin of our ancestors are passed on to us. My position is that Adam's sin was imputed to humanity because he was the federal head of humanity representing us in the Garden of Eden. It is not Adam's personal sin that we are guilty of. We will all be judged according to our own sin (Romans 14:12).
The Catholic Encyclopedia says:
"Original sin may be taken to mean: (1) the sin that Adam committed; (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam."
The Calvinist Westminster Confession of Faith says:
"They [Adam & Eve] being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation." (VI:III)
I also made the statement that Ezekiel 18 as well as other passages show us that our Father's personal sins are not passed on to us and at this he called me a Pelagian. Let's look to the scriptures and then I'll comment on Pelagius.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
Deu 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Deu 24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
2Ki 14:6 But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
2Ch 25:4 But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.
2Ch 25:4 But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.
Now this gentleman is a Calvinist, so of course because I am not then I must be an Arminian, and since I am an Arminian I must be a Pelagian... This is the kind of reasoning that we do see from many (not all) of our Calvinist friends. so I went to great lengths to explain how I believe in the imputation of Adam's sin to mankind; how I believe in the universality of sin; how I believe that all men have sinned and those infants who haven't had the chance will sin. And after this he stilled said, "Then you are a Pelagian, lol [laughing out loud]."
Pelagius was an interesting fellow. He denied the doctrine of original sin because he felt it was somewhat of a copout... Kinda like saying, "I just couldn't help myself, my nature made me sin." Being a monk he favored asceticism (self-denial, spiritual discipline). Funnily enough, his biggest opponent St. Augustine is said to have called him a "saintly man." In any event, Pelagius taught that Adam was merely a bad example and we could in and of ourselves abstain from sin. Now I certainly do not believe this. He also believed that we could be perfect morally and keep the entire law, which is another thing I do not believe. His theology ultimately leads to a denial of the necessity of Christ's sacrifice for our sin, which I certainly do not believe.
So how I'm a Pelagian I'll never know... I guess I'll just have to keep wondering...
B"H
