Most people say there is just one unforgivable sin but I count two.
1) Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
KJV Mark 3:29
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
2) Not forgiving others trespasses:
KJV Matt 6:14-15
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The second is a hard pill to swallow.
Several years ago when I started moving towards a literal hermeneutic I started finding out that the Bible has a whole lot more to say to me than what I thought at first.
ReplyDeleteI had to start learning to pray for God to help me do the things He expects me to do. That's a lot harder sometimes than not doing the things He has restricted. I've struggled with Matt6:14 myself.
CHILDREN AND ORIGINAL SIN? BY STEVE FINNELL
ReplyDeleteSome theologians believe that all men are born with the guilt of Adam's sin. They believe all men are guilty of original sin and therefore are totally depraved at birth. They believe infants need to be forgiven for Adam's sin.
1. There no mention of original sin in Scripture.
2. There no Scripture that speaks of baptizing infants to wash away the guilt of Adam's sin.
3. There is no Biblical reference of any infant nor of any adult being guilty of inherited sin.
JESUS AND CHILDREN
Matthew 18:2-3 And Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.(NKJV)
Was Jesus saying you have to totally depraved like theses little children to enter the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus was not baptizing infants and little children for the forgiveness of original sin.
John the Baptists was baptizing adults for the forgiveness of sins, after they repented. Infants and little children have no sin for which they need to repent. Even adults cannot repent for the sin of Adam and Eve.
There were no denominational churches baptizing infants and little children while Jesus walked the earth, yet Jesus said become as little children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Original sin inherited from Adam is a doctrine invented by men.
Men are guilty of the sin they themselves commit.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (NKJV)
Men are sinners because they sin, not because Adam sinned.
James 2:9-11 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by law as transgressors......(NKJV)
When men transgress God's law they are guilty of sin. What law do infants break by being born? Infants are not transgressors of God's law. Infants are not sinners nor are they guilty of Adam's transgression.
1 John 3:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. (NKJV)
Sin is committed. Sin is not inherited.
James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (NKJV)
Are infants tempted in their mothers womb and sin before they are born? Of course not. Sin is committed by those capable of understanding right from wrong. Sin is committed by those who understand they are sinning against God.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.(NKJV)
Jesus did not say children are a slave to sin because they are guilty of original sin.
Jesus did not say you need to be baptized as infants so original sin can be washed away.
If men spend eternity in hell it will be because of unrepentant, unforgiven sins they have committed.
Not one person will go to hell because of the sin Adam committed.
The doctrine of original sin and the total depravity of man is man-made doctrine.
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY BLOG. http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com
The classical text is Romans 5:12 sqq. In the preceding part the apostle treats of justification by Jesus Christ, and to put in evidence the fact of His being the one Saviour, he contrasts with this Divine Head of mankind the human head who caused its ruin. The question of original sin, therefore, comes in only incidentally. St. Paul supposes the idea that the faithful have of it from his oral instructions, and he speaks of it to make them understand the work of Redemption. This explains the brevity of the development and the obscurity of some verses.
ReplyDeleteWe shall now show what, in the text, is opposed to the three Pelagian positions:
(1) The sin of Adam has injured the human race at least in the sense that it has introduced death — "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men". Here there is question of physical death. First, the literal meaning of the word ought to be presumed unless there be some reason to the contrary. Second, there is an allusion in this verse to a passage in the Book of Wisdom in which, as may be seen from the context, there is question of physical death. Wisdom 2:24: "But by the envy of the devil death came into the world". Cf. Genesis 2:17; 3:3, 19; and another parallel passage in St. Paul himself, 1 Corinthians 15:21: "For by a man came death and by a man the resurrection of the dead". Here there can be question only of physical death, since it is opposed to corporal resurrection, which is the subject of the whole chapter.
(2) Adam by his fault transmitted to us not only death but also sin, "for as by the disobedience of one man many [i.e., all men] were made sinners" (Romans 5:19). How then could the Pelagians, and at a later period Zwingli, say that St. Paul speaks only of the transmission of physical death? If according to them we must read death where the Apostle wrote sin, we should also read that the disobedience of Adam has made us mortal where the Apostle writes that it has made us sinners. But the word sinner has never meant mortal, nor has sin ever meant death. Also in verse 12, which corresponds to verse 19, we see that by one man two things have been brought on all men, sin and death, the one being the consequence of the other and therefore not identical with it.
(3) Since Adam transmits death to his children by way of generation when he begets them mortal, it is by generation also that he transmits to them sin, for the Apostle presents these two effects as produced at the same time and by the same causality. The explanation of the Pelagians differs from that of St. Paul. According to them the child who receives mortality at his birth receives sin from Adam only at a later period when he knows the sin of the first man and is inclined to imitate it. The causality of Adam as regards mortality would, therefore, be completely different from his causality as regards sin. Moreover, this supposed influence of the bad example of Adam is almost chimerical; even the faithful when they sin do not sin on account of Adam's bad example, a fortiori infidels who are completely ignorant of the history of the first man. And yet all men are, by the influence of Adam, sinners and condemned (Romans 5:18, 19). The influence of Adam cannot, therefore, be the influence of his bad example which we imitate (Augustine, "Contra julian.", VI, xxiv, 75).
On this account, several recent Protestants have thus modified the Pelagian explanation: "Even without being aware of it all men imitate Adam inasmuch as they merit death as the punishment of their own sins just as Adam merited it as the punishment for his sin." This is going farther and farther from the text of St. Paul. Adam would be no more than the term of a comparison, he would no longer have any influence or causality as regards original sin or death. Moreover, the Apostle did not affirm that all men, in imitation of Adam, are mortal on account of their actual sins; since children who die before coming to the use of reason have never committed such sins; but he expressly affirms the contrary in the fourteenth verse: "But death reigned", not only over those who imitated Adam, but "even over them also who have not sinned after the similitude of the transgression of Adam." Adam's sin, therefore, is the sole cause of death for the entire human race. Moreover, we can discern no natural connexion between any sin and death. In order that a determined sin entail death there is need of a positive law, but before the Law of Moses there was no positive law of God appointing death as a punishment except the law given to Adam (Genesis 2:17). It is, therefore, his disobedience only that could have merited and brought it into the world (Romans 5:13, 14).
ReplyDeleteThese Protestant writers lay much stress on the last words of the twelfth verse. We know that several of the Latin Fathers understood the words "in whom all have sinned", to mean, all have sinned in Adam. This interpretation would be an extra proof of the thesis of original sin, but it is not necessary. Modern exegesis, as well as the Greek Fathers, prefer to translate "and so death passed upon all men because all have sinned". We accept this second translation which shows us death as an effect of sin. But of what sin? "The personal sins of each one", answer our adversaries, "this is the natural sense of the words 'all have sinned.'" It would be the natural sense if the context was not absolutely opposed to it. The words "all have sinned" of the twelfth verse, which are obscure on account of their brevity, are thus developed in the nineteenth verse: "for as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners." There is no question here of personal sins, differing in species and number, committed by each one during his life, but of one first sin which was enough to transmit equally to all men a state of sin and the title of sinners. Similarly in the twelfth verse the words "all have sinned" must mean, "all have participated in the sin of Adam", "all have contracted its stain". This interpretation too removes the seeming contradiction between the twelfth verse, "all have sinned", and the fourteenth, "who have not sinned", for in the former there is question of original sin, in the latter of personal sin. Those who say that in both cases there is question of personal sin are unable to reconcile these two verses.
Original Sin
ReplyDeleteScripture
Gen. 2:17 - the day you eat of that tree, you shall die. Adam and Eve ate of the tree, and they spiritually died. Some Protestant communities ignore or deny the reality of original sin. But if there is no original sin, then we do not need a Savior either. The horrors of our world testify to the reality of original sin.
Gen. 3:14-19 - God's punishment for eating of the tree was cursing satan, increasing women's pain in childbirth, and condemning man to toil and labor for his whole life.
Job 14:1,4 - man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? All humans are afflicted with original sin, and this includes babies as well. This is why the Catholic Church has baptized babies for 2,000 years.
Psalm 51:5 - I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. We have inherited Adam's sin from the moment of our conception. This is why babies need baptism – to wash away the original sin inherited from Adam and Eve.
Rom. 5:12 - sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and death came through this sin. This sin affects all people, men and women, babies and adults. Through the merits of Jesus Christ, we have the sacrament of baptism to wash away the sin that came through Adam.
Rom. 5:14 - death reigned from Adam to Moses, born from Adam's original sin. This is a mystery we do not fully understand, but we must all acknowledge our propensity toward evil and our need of God.
Rom. 5:16 - the judgment following one single trespass brought condemnation for all. This means all have inherited the sin of Adam, and all must be washed clean of this sin in the waters of baptism.
Rom. 5:19 - by one man's disobedience many were made sinners. Original sin is passed on as part of the human condition, and only God in the flesh could atone for our sins by the eternal sacrifice of Himself. Through this sacrifice, God has re-opened the doors to heaven, and through baptism, we are once again made children of God.
1 Cor. 15:21 - for by one man came death. In Adam, all die. In Christ, the new Adam, all now may live.
Eph. 2:1-3 - we were all dead through sin and all lived in the passions of our flesh until Christ came to save us.