Divine Justice Issues (XIV)

The above text is appropriate as we discuss the subject of God's justice in the imputation of Adam's sin to those he represents as a head and the justice of imputing the sins of others to Christ, or of imputing his righteousness to those who believe. What is knocked down (or "cast down" kjv) are "reasonings," i.e. false reasoning ("imaginations" kjv) or false "arguments." And, there is a lot of false reasoning by Pelagians and others of their ilk about the teaching of the apostle Paul in Romans chapter five on the subject of original sin, and about imputed sin and imputed righteousness. Romans five is what we will continue to examine in this chapter.

If we say that the death that results from Adam's sin excludes physical death, and only speaks of spiritual death, as the Pelagians affirm, then we must deny that "all men" (all human beings) means all men, for those dying in infancy are human beings, and who Pelagians say are not spiritually dead when born. If we grant, for the sake of argument, that death is passed upon all men because every man sins like Adam, then we must affirm either 1) that "all humans" does not really mean "all humans" or 2) that even infants sin by imitating Adam's sin (an absurdity). This is a case where "the legs of the lame are not equal" (Prov. 26: 7). Which one of the horns of this dilemma do Pelagians want to hold on to or let go of?

Death is a Penalty for Being Judged a Sinner

"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2: 17 nkjv)

Louis Berkhof writes the following in his Systematic Theology (as cited here - emphasis mine):

"The penalty with which God threatened man in paradise was the penalty of death. The death here intended is not the death of the body, but the death of man as a whole, death in the Scriptural sense of the word. The Bible does not know the distinction, so common among us, between a physical, a spiritual, and an eternal death; it has a synthetic view of death and regards it as separation from God. The penalty was also actually executed on the day that man sinned, though the full execution of it was temporarily stayed by the grace of God. In a rather un-Scriptural way some carry their distinction into the Bible, and maintain that physical death should not be regarded as the penalty of sin, but rather as the natural result of the physical constitution of man. But the Bible knows of no such exception. It acquaints us with the threatened penalty, which is death in the comprehensive sense of the word, and it informs us that death entered the world through sin (Rom. 5:12), and that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). The penalty of sin certainly includes physical death, but it includes much more than that."

If it be a proven fact that physical death is a penal consequence of being judged a sinner, then all who die physically are viewed by God as guilty of sin, of Adam's sin. It seems absurd to think that the threatened death for sin by God in the garden excluded physical death. 

If physical death is not part of man's condemnation on account of sin, then immortality and eternal life for the body, through Jesus Christ, is not a result of justification. In such a case the salvation that is in Christ excludes salvation from physical death. But, the bible is replete with affirmations that salvation includes deliverance from death to body, soul, and spirit. Notice these verses from a chapter that deals with physical death and resurrection to immortality.

"53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Cor. 15: 53-57 nkjv)

These words of the apostle Paul tell us that the death of the body is a result of sin. This is in keeping with what he affirmed in the Roman epistle in chapter five and in chapter six where he says "for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." There is simply no reason to limit the death of these texts and to exclude physical death. Also, in Romans 8: 10 he says that "the body is dead because of sin," and the body is distinct from "the spirit is life because of righteousness." There are so many bible texts that say that physical death is because of sin and that it is a penalty resulting from having been condemned. But, there is no need to flood the reader with additional texts which plainly affirm the same fact.

It may be argued that since believers, who have been delivered from sin and death, and from the penalty of sin, nevertheless die physically, this therefore proves that death is not always penal. To which I reply by saying that death for the believer is no longer a penalty but a blessing. So we read -

"Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints." (Psa. 116: 15 nkjv)

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." (Rev. 14: 13 kjv)

Death for the believer is no longer a curse nor a penalty. However, as the text above from Corinthians says, physical death is the "last enemy" that shall be destroyed. Death has been defeated by the death and resurrection of Christ but death's destruction awaits the time of Christ's second coming. So, it is not denied that physical death even for the believer was at one time a penal result of sin and inherited corruption, but since being justified it is now only a blessing. Wrote Paul: "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." (II Cor. 4: 16 nkjv) However, believers, like the "whole creation" will one day be "delivered from the bondage of corruption." (Rom. 8: 21)

The death resulting from sin is an all inclusive death, not limited. It is physical death, spiritual death, and eternal death (what is called "the second death" or being "twice dead"; Rev. 20: 14; Jude 1: 12) 

Death will be swallowed up in victory when Christ returns and resurrects the dead and when he in the ages to come eliminates death in the new heavens and earth. For the present time, death's "reign" over God's people is ongoing, even though its end has been made certain by the resurrection of Christ. Salvation in the bible has phases to it. We have been saved, are being saved, and will yet be saved. So, is physical death still a penalty for the justified? No, it is not. It is only suffered for the time being and is no longer an evil but a good. A criminal may be in jail when a judge acquits him but it may take some time before he is released. The fact that many of the saints will not die shows that physical death is no longer a penalty. Those who are "alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" will be "caught up" to meet Christ when he comes and will not die. (I Thess. 4: 13-17). Further, Paul says "we shall not all sleep...but we shall all be changed." (I Cor. 15: 51-52)

Imputation is an Act of God

Descendants of Adam, excepting Christ, are born under condemnation and have the guilt of Adam's original sin imputed, accounted, or reckoned to them by God. They are born with a depraved nature, a sinful nature, and this is the proof or effect of having been so condemned. As previously stated, whether inheriting a depraved nature comes first and condemnation comes later when a child comes of age and commits his first sin, or vise versa, is a matter of dispute among bible believers. That debate comes under the heading of either "mediate imputation" (or indirect imputation) or "immediate imputation" (direct imputation) and will be a question we will address in another upcoming chapter. In either case, the imputation is an act of God, what he chooses to do. The next question is - "when does God impute Adam's sin to an individual?" Was it when Adam sinned or when each person is born? Or, perhaps at both times? 

When God declared Adam to be guilty and sentenced him to death, he at the same time declared all his descendants to be guilty and sentenced to death, physical, spiritual, and eternal. This is because there was a sense in which every human being was represented in Adam, and because he was appointed to be the head and representative of the human race. 

As to "how" imputation takes place, we say that all were condemned when Adam was condemned. This also leads to the proposition that all are born into the world condemned and guilty. Testified the apostle Paul:

"1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others." (Eph. 2: 1-3 nkjv) 

When Paul says that believers in Christ were "by nature children of wrath, just as others" he is teaching that everyone is born into the world with the sin of Adam put to his account and under condemnation. The sinful or depraved nature, as we will elaborate on later, is not a mere unfortunate consequence, but is a penal infliction. This is clear from the fact that they are at birth the objects of God's wrath.

My debate opponents on original sin argued that "by nature" did not mean "by birth" nor included the idea of what is by birth, and cited Greek scholar Joseph Thayer, who in his lexicon suggests that "phusei" can also mean "a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature." In response I cited the words of the same apostle who said "We who are Jews by nature." (Gal. 2: 15) In that text it means those who were Jews from birth. Though I did not have Thayer's lexicon with me at the time of the debate, I later found out that Thayer did not exclude the idea that phusei (nature) may denote what is true of someone from birth and did not exclude it from being a possible use of the word. Thayer said:

"(Others (see Meyer) would lay more stress here upon the constitution in which this ‘habitual course of evil’ has its origin, whether that constitution be regarded (with some) as already developed at birth, or (better) as undeveloped."

In this Thayer does not discount that the word may denote what is true of a person naturally or by birth, or else he would have stated that Meyer and others were wrong and given us the reasons why. What Thayer and others want to do is to say that people are born innocent of all sin and are in nature pure and uncorrupted, and after they have lived in sin for awhile, sinning then becomes natural, or we might say, a person's "second nature," which describes a habit or skill so deeply ingrained through practice that it feels automatic and natural, almost as if it were part of one's inherent nature. But, that is not what Paul means. He rather intends what is one's primary nature, although it would not exclude what people do out of habit.

The truth is, because of original sin, it is more correct to say that "we do what we do (morally) because of what we are, rather than being who we are because of what we do." (See Luke 6: 45; etc.) We sin because it is our nature to do so. That nature we have from birth. So David wrote: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." (Psa. 51: 5 nkjv) "The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." (Psa. 58: 3)

So, is one born basically good or bad? The bible says they are all born with a depraved nature and this is because God has imputed to all the one sin of the one man Adam, who by God's appointment stood for all the human race. 

So, is this just? Well, to some it will never appear to be just. That is because they are looking at things from the wrong perspective. To them it is because it is always wrong for God to impute someone's sins to someone else. But, if that is true, then it was wrong to impute sins to Christ, and if so, then all are still guilty and will remain so, being unable to right the wrong themselves.