Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology

Anthropology: The Doctrine of Man

What does the Bible teach about humanity?

The Fall of Man

The Fall: Its Events

Mans disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit Gen 2:16-17: The LORD God commanded the man, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.

The Fall: Its Events

Gen 3:4-7: The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

The Fall: Its Events

Thus the fall of man refers to humanitys first transgression of a divine commandment; its first contravention of a divine mandate
1 Tim 2:14: And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.

The Fall: Its Events

Thus the fall of man refers to humanitys first transgression of a divine commandment; its first contravention of a divine mandate
Hos 6:7: But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me. Exod 19:5-6: Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

The Effects of the Fall

The Fall: Its Effects

1. Alienation from God 2. Enmity with God 3. Isolation from and hostility between members of the human family 4. Futility in nature 5. Death

Effect 1
Alienation from God

The Fall: Effect 1: Alienation from God

Man hid himself from Gods immediate presence
Gen 3:8-10: They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself."

The Fall: Effect 1: Alienation from God

God denied man access to his immediate presence
Gen 3:23-24: Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Effect 2
Enmity with God

The Fall: Effect 2: Enmity with God

Man was now at odds with God
Gen 3:12: The man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.

The Fall: Effect 2: Enmity with God

God was now at odds with man
Gen 3:23-24: Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Fall: Effect 2: Enmity with God

God was now at odds with man
Gen 3:16-19: To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you. Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

Effect 3
Isolation from and Hostility between Members of the Human Family

The Fall: Effect 3: Human Isolation and Hostility

Gen 3:7: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Gen 3:12: The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

The Fall: Effect 3: Human Isolation and Hostility

Gen 3:16: To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you. Gen 4:7: If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Effect 4
Futility in Nature

The Fall: Effect 4: Futility in Nature

Gen 3:17: Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.

The Fall: Effect 4: Futility in Nature

Rom 8:19-22: For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Effect 5
Death

The Fall: Effect 5: Death

Gen 3:19: By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return. Gen 3:22-23: Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

The Fall: Effect 5: Death

Although death was possible before the fall, it was not necessary The effect of the fall was to make it necessary by Gods curse upon man

The Fall: Its Effects: Review

1. Alienation from God 2. Enmity with God 3. Isolation from and hostility between members of the human family 4. Futility in nature 5. Death

Adams Fall and Ours

Adams Fall and Ours

All five effects of the fall did not impact Adam and Eve alone; Mans fall into sin has profound implications for everything in the created world, especially us. This is implicit (and sometimes explicit) in Genesis 3:

Adams Fall and Ours

1. By nature being cursed as well as man 2. By the womans curse being related to her childbearing 3. By the enmity that would ensue between the seed of the woman and the serpent
Gen 3:15: And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.

Adams Fall and Ours

4. By the names Adam & Eve
Gen 2:20: The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. Adam means man or mankind. Gen 3:20: Now the man called his wifes name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. Eves name means life.

Adams Fall and Ours

In addition to the indications of the effect of the fall on Adams posterity expressed in Genesis 3 The Scripture teaches that Adam was acting for the entire human race in the Garden of Eden. This means that when Adam sinned, he sinned for all of us, as the representative of humanity.

Adams Fall and Ours

Rom 5:12: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. Rom 5:15a: by the transgression of the one the many died. Rom 5:18: through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men. Rom 5:19: Forthrough the one mans disobedience the many were made sinners.

Adams Fall and Ours

So when Adam sinned, he sinned for all of us, as the representative of humanity.
Rom 5:12: Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. Rom 5:19: Forthrough the one mans disobedience the many were made sinners.

Adams Fall and Ours

Adams sin for us, as our representative, has two components:
1. All mankind is guilty before God 2. All mankind has a nature that is irresistibly inclined toward evil

Adams Fall and Ours

Guilt

Adams Fall and Ours: Guilt

Because of Adams sin for us, God counts each of us guilty; for sin entails guilt Rom 1:18-3:20 teaches that all the world is guilty before God; Rom 5:12-19 teaches why

Adams Fall and Ours: Guilt

Rom 5:13-14: for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. What this means is that even though people living from Adam until Moses did not have written laws, though sins were not counted as infractions of the law, they still died. The fact that they died is proof that God counted people guilty on the basis of Adams sin.

Adams Fall and Ours

Inclined towards Evil

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

Not only did we sin in Adam and received the punishment of death for our guilt We also became sinnerswe became people who were irresistibly inclined toward evil in our very natures

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

This sinful nature, this irresistible inclination to sin has two components:
1. We are not good 2. We do no good

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We Are Not Good

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We are not good
Gen 6:5: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Ps 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Ps 143:2: And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We are not good
Jer 17:9: The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? Luke 11:13: If you then, being evil Eph 4:17-18: So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We are not good
Eph 2:1: And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. Rom 7:18a: For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh [my fallen nature]. Titus 1:15: To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. See Rom 1:18-32

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We Do No Good

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We do no good
In fact, we are incapable of doing any spiritual good in terms of a relationship with God. Rom 8:7-8: because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We do no good
In fact, we are incapable of doing any spiritual good in terms of a relationship with God. Heb 11:6: And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. 1 Cor 2:14: But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We do no good
In fact, we are incapable of doing any spiritual good in terms of a relationship with God. John 3:3, 5: Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.5Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We do no good
In fact, we are incapable of doing any spiritual good in terms of a relationship with God. John 6:44, 65: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.65And He was saying, For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We do no good
Eccl 7:20: Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins. John 8:34: Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. See Rom 3:9-20

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

We do no good
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

When the Bible teaches that we are irresistibly inclined toward evil; i.e. We are not good and We do no good, incapable of good

Adams Fall and Ours

Sin Is Universal

Adams Fall and Ours: Sins Universality

Since we are guilty sinners by imputation and by nature, It follows that sin is a universal problem; that is, that no member of the human family is exempt from the effects of the fall.

Adams Fall and Ours: Sins Universality

Ps 14:3: They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. Ps 143:2: And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous. 1 Kgs 8:46: When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin).

Adams Fall and Ours: Sins Universality

Prov 20:9: Who can say, I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin? Rom 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 1 John 1:8-10: If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

Adams Fall and Ours

Final Consequences for Sin

Adams Fall and Ours: Final Consequences

Though we will address the final destination of humanity in our lectures on eschatology, We would be remiss if we did not mention something about the final consequences for sin.

Adams Fall and Ours: Final Consequences

Rom 2:5-6: But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds. Rev 21:8: But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Adams Fall and Ours

Summary

Adams Fall and Ours: Summary

When Adam sinned, he sinned for all of us, as the representative of humanity.
Imputed guilt Tendency toward evil Universality of sin

This teaching is called Original Sin; Not because this was mans first sin, But because the sin that is ours has its origin in us as a consequence of the fall. Final consequences: the judgment of hell

Adams Fall and Ours: Inclined towards Evil

None of what weve said should be taken to mean that man is not good or capable of doing good in some sense; What it means is that man is not good and incapable of doing good with respect to God. This is because we are still the image-bearers of God And God in his grace has not allowed us to sink as far as we would have (common grace)

Adams Fall and Ours

The Effect on Man as the Image of God

Adams Fall and Ours: The Image of God

Man is still Gods image-bearer
Gen 9:6: Whoever sheds mans blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. 1 Cor 11:7: For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God Jas 3:9: With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. Psalm 8

Adams Fall and Ours: The Image of God

Thus we must understand sin to affect us as the image-bearers of God in terms of distortion, not destruction. We are not as fully like God as we were before we fell.
Eccl 7:29: Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices.

Adams Fall and Ours: The Image of God

In some ways we are no longer like God:
We are unrighteous, unholy, impure We are despotic overlords rather than deputy rulers of Gods creation We are, in a word, sinful (as we have seen)

Adams Fall and Ours: The Image of God

In other ways we are still like God
We are capable of acts of beauty, wisdom, kindness, and justice And many more

Adams Fall and Ours

Common Grace

Adams Fall and Ours: Common Grace

We are not as bad as we would be only by Gods kindness toward us.
Matt 5:45: for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Rom 13:3-4: For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

Conclusion
Next time The Doctrine of Christ, Lecture 1