THE ORIGIN OF SIN

THE ORIGIN OF SIN

By C.D. Cole

This is one of the most difficult questions in theology. Since God

made everything good in the original creation, how did sin get

started? How was a good creation thrown into rebellion against its

Creator? By whom and how was sin originated? There is much we cannot

know about the question. But there are some necessary inferences.

1. Sin is not eternal; it had a beginning. The Gnostics believed

in two eternal principles: good and evil.

2. Sin was not created by God. God created everything good; He is

not the Author of sin. Moral beings were without sin when

created. Satan was created a sinless and perfect being "Thou

wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created,

till iniquity was found in thee" (#Eze 28:15). God made

man upright. "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made

man upright; but they have sought out many inventions"

(#Ec 7:29).

3. Sin was not the necessary result of finiteness. Some claim

that because God made man a finite being sin was inevitable.

But if this be true, men will always be sinners for none of us

will ever become infinite. Infinity belongs only to God.

4. Sin had its origin in a principle of negation, which means

that it is not the result of any positive force. Moral beings

were created good, but not immutably and independently good.

This would have made them equal with God; it would have

involved the absurdity of God creating another God. God alone

is immutable and independent. There cannot be more than one

God, self-existent and self-sufficient, sovereign and supreme.

Moral beings, angels and man, were dependent upon God in remaining good.

A sustaining power must continually go out from God if moral creatures

continue as created. "Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our

feet to be moved" (#Ps 66:9); "For in him we live, and move, and

have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also

his offspring" (#Ac 17:28); "For by him were all things created,

that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether

they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were

created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all

things consist" (#Col 1:16,17); "Who being the brightness of his

glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the

word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the

right hand of the Majesty on high:" (#Heb 1:3).

Now this sustaining power is of grace and not of debt. It is not a matter

of justice. God could exercise this grace or not as it pleased Him. He could

have upheld and confirmed in holiness all moral beings. He could have

prevented sin from ever getting started among the angels, just as He

graciously prevented it from spreading, confirming in holiness those

referred to as the elect angels: "I charge thee before God, and the Lord

Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without

preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality"

(#1Ti 5:21). He could have kept the sinless Adam from sinning. It

will not do to say that because God made Adam a free moral agent, He could

not prevent his sinning without violating the freedom of his will. God

withheld Abimilech, king of Gerar, from sinning by not allowing him to harm

Sarah. "And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this

in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against

me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her" (#Ge 20:6).

So sin had its origin in the withholding of that grace necessary to

sustain moral beings in a state of holiness. If God had not permitted sin

there could have been no display of some of His most glorious attributes.

There would have been no display of mercy, for mercy must have an object of

misery, and there could have been no misery apart from sin. There would have

been no exhibition of wrath and anger and hatred, for these are the exercise

of justice and holiness against sin. There would have been no display of

such gracious love as is seen in God's gift of His Son, who was punished for

sinners that they might not perish in their sins. Surely it is not too much

to say that God permitted sin that He might overrule it "to the praise of

the glory of His grace" (#Eph 1:6). "Surely the wrath of man shall

praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain"

(#Ps 76:10).

THE FIRST SINNER

Sin originated among the angels. That slimy, slippery, shining,

subtle thing we call sin was hatched the day Lucifer, son of the

morning, said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... I will

be like the most High" (#Isa 14:13,14). Lucifer sought equality with

God in government, and sovereignty was the bait he held out to man to

turn him against his Maker. And in sinning, man has become the tool

and ally of Satan.

Most people have a woefully inadequate conception of sin. Sin is

the abominable thing God hates. Sin is something more than a slight

misdemeanor for which God merely gives man a scolding; sin is a

species of high treason against the Almighty and thrice-holy God, and

is to be punished by consignment to the lake of fire.

THE ORIGIN OF SIN IN THE HUMAN RACE

In the human race sin was derived from the first man: "Therefore,

as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin;

and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned" (#Rom 5:12 R.V.)

Now there are but two conceivable ways sin can pass from one to

another. The one is by way of example, as Jereboam caused Israel to

sin, and as Eve caused Adam to sin. The other is by partaking of the sin

of another. It is obvious that our being sinners is not due to the force of

Adam's example. Moreover, in the comparison between Adam and

Christ "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so

by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (#Ro 5:19), it

is intended to show that sin came by Adam as righteousness comes by

Christ. Now we do not become righteous by following Christ as an

example, but by partaking of His righteousness. "But of him are ye in

Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,

and sanctification, and redemption" (#1Co 1:30). This raises the

question of Adam's relation to his descendants.

THE HEADSHIP OF ADAM

Adam was the head of the human race. This headship was both

natural and federal---natural by the principle of generation (like begets

like); federal by Divine appointment.

1. Adam was the natural father or head of the race.

"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all

the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed,

and the bounds of their habitation" (#Ac 17:26); "And so it is

written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was

made a quickening spirit" (#1Co 15:45). Every person was seminally

in Adam. He begat children in his own moral and physical likeness, not

before but after his fall. His children became heir to all his ills of

body and soul. They inherited his moral depravity and physical

weakness. His nature was imparted to his posterity.

2. Adam was the federal head of the race.

This means that Adam was appointed a public and representative

person. He represented the race in the covenant of works. "But they

like Adam have transgressed the covenant" (#Ho 6:7 R.V.). The federal

headship explains why Adam's sin was imputed (charged) to his

posterity. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners"

(#Ro 5:19). Adam was acting for the whole race and what he did was

charged to all his descendants. This is the only way to explain the

death of infants. Infants die because of Adams' sin, or they die for

no reason at all, since they have not sinned personally "Nevertheless

death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned

after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him

that was to come" (#Ro 5:14). If Adam did not represent infants in

respect to sin, then Christ did not represent them in respect to

salvation. If they were not guilty with Adams guilt, they could not be

righteous with Christ's righteousness. Babies go to heaven, not on the

grounds of innocency, but on the ground of the blood of Christ. If

Christ had not died the whole human race, infants and all, would have

been forever doomed. There will be nobody in heaven except those

redeemed by the blood of Christ. Infants have the guilt of Adam

imputed to them without their knowledge and consent. And on the ground

of the death of Christ for them the Holy Spirit prepares their nature

(which is sinful) for the enjoyment of heaven.

THE FIRST AND LAST ADAM

In And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul;

the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the

earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven" (#1Co 15:45,47),

Jesus is called the second man and the last Adam. This

is not in respect of existence, but representation. He is not

considered personally but representatively. Considered as an

individual. He was not the second man or the last Adam. Individually,

there were many men between the Adam of Eden and the Adam of Calvary,

and there have been many men since Jesus. He is called the last Adam

because there are but two public or representative men. God deals with

all men through two men, and our destiny depends upon which of these

two men we have our standing in before God. Believers are accepted in

the beloved "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath

made us accepted in the beloved" (#Eph 1:6), and are complete in Him

"And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and

power:" (#Col 2:10).

GUlLT AND DEPRAVITY

There are two aspects or branches of sin:

1. That which consists of the guilt of some deed committed:

2. Inherent corruption or depravity of nature contracted by that

guilt. The sinner's standing is that of guilt before the law

of God; his state is that of depravity or corruption of

nature.

Two things resulted from Adams' first sin:

1. He was charged

with guilt and condemned by the law of God:

2. He lost the likeness of God in holiness and became corrupt.

Now which of these, or did both of these branches of sin,

come from Adam? Some say the guilt of sin is imputed, hence

their baptism of infants lest they should go to hell. Others

say the corruption of nature was imparted. But we believe

that sin in its two branches was derived from Adam. Guilt was

imputed, and the corruption of nature was imparted or

inherited. In other words, depravity or corruption of nature

is one of the consequences of Adam's transgression. Does God

punish the innocent? The answer is a loud, No! Then we must

all have been represented by Adam in the transgression or we

would not be punished with a sinful nature.

THE FIRST ADAM DISCHARGED

How many of Adam's sins were charged to his posterity? Only

one for it is written, "For the judgment was by one (sin) to the

condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification"

(#Ro 5:16).

Adam could convey sin to his posterity only as long as he was a

public or representative person. Immediately after his first sin, he was

put out of office and another covenant was published "And I will put

enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her

seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel"

(#Ge 3:15).

And when Adam exercised faith in the promised Redeemer, he

was acting in a private capacity; otherwise, his faith would have been

imputed as well as his sin. Let both writer and reader thank God for the

last Adam who is a life-giving Spirit.