| First most common objection: Are you saying
all men aren't sinners?
Over the years I have noticed that the first reaction of most people is the
same when they hear the doctrine of original sin refuted for the first time.
They immediately assume that we are saying that all men are NOT sinners.
This is just absolutely not true. The Bible is clear on that fact: “All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.” “There is none righteous, no not
one.” Many other verses prove that all men are sinners in need of a Saviour.
If they do not come to Christ and trust Him as the only hope for forgiveness
of sin they will perish forever in hell. That is why we are so fervently
contending that we MUST get the message right! We must make the path
STRAIGHT – and not crooked! We MUST understand what sin is, what its cure
is, and how to obtain it! The stakes are too high to handle the Word of God
lightly in this matter, or just accept what a certain school of theology
teaches. Eternal souls are at stake!
All men are sinners and must be saved or they will perish. That is not the
issue here. What IS the issue is the ORIGIN OF SIN. Most of modern
Christendom says it is part of our physical makeup we were born with and we
are contending that the Bible teaches otherwise. The Bible teaches that we
are born innocent and without any knowledge of good and evil and that we GO
ASTRAY. We TURN ASIDE every one to his own way.
They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy:
there is none that doeth good, no, not one. – Psa. 14:3
Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but
they have sought out many inventions.Eccl. 7:29
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. – Isa.
53:6
How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be
gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the
mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? – Matt. 18:12
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.– Rom. 3:12
Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following
the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
– 2 Pet. 2:15
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.1 Pet. 2:25
The Bible is clear in its language – man is born innocent and corrupts
himself by allowing himself to be controlled by his lusts. He “turns aside.”
He “goes astray.” He “becomes filthy.” He “turns every one to his own way.”
He “becomes unprofitable.” He “forsakes the right way.” We find man’s
waywardness expressed in the same way over and over in the Word of God. If
men are born guilty sinners then from what are they turning? If they are
already filthy how do they “BECOME filthy?” Sin is something that happens
AFTER you are born – it is not something that is in your genes, DNA, or
chromosomes. If sin IS a physical problem then man will surely come up with
a way to fix it on his own one day. Through genetic engineering and all they
are prying into they will surely find the “sin gene” and be able to make a
drug that will suppress it or kill it. Don’t you see how ridiculous it is to
believe that sin is physical? I’m sure that you would agree that this is
never going to happen. The reason it will never happen is because sin is a
HEART PROBLEM and NOT A PHYSICAL PROBLEM! Jesus said so:
And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? 17Do not
ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the
belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18But those things which proceed
out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19For
out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20These are the things which defile a
man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. –Matt. 15:16 through
Matt. 15:20
Sin is a moral issue and not a physical issue. It is impossible to be born
with your morals already corrupted. When you are born you have no knowledge
of good and evil. You have no ability to even reason with your mind. You
have no capacity to make choices. As you develop physically and mentally you
begin to acquire knowledge and part of that knowledge is the knowledge of
good and evil. Then you begin to make choices. Because “sin entered the
world” through Adam the world is corrupt and the influence to make the wrong
choices is overwhelming and powerful.
There has only been One in all of history who has made the right choices and
not become a sinner – the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who view the Bible
through the doctrine of original sin explain that fact by saying that Jesus
was different physically than the rest of us. Again, their false doctrine
blinds them to the plain teaching of the Scripture:
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of
the people. 18For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able
to succour them that are tempted.Heb. 2:16-18
Jesus was made just like us IN ALL THINGS. In fact, the Bible is so
forceful in this teaching that even any spirit that denies this fact is
labeled “antichrist.”
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye
have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. – 1
John 4:3
Jesus overcame the world, the flesh, and the devil by the same means
that are available to us – the Word of God and the Spirit of God. He used
divine power to still the raging sea and to raise the dead, and heal the
leper, but when it came to resisting temptation He only used the Word of
God, being led by the Spirit of God. No divine power was used to overcome
sin, and if it was then we certainly don’t have a chance at all because we
are not divine.
The wonderful thing is that we DO have the Word of God and we DO have the
Spirit of God indwelling us if we are saved, and therefore, there is victory
in Jesus for us! There IS power to overcome sin and live a holy life that is
pleasing to God! Hallelujah! That is such a different message than can be
preached by those who base everything on original sin. That is such a
different message than the defeated, hopeless Christian life that original
sin preachers present. They declare Romans 7 to be the best you can expect
as a Christian. If I had no better hope than that to give to a sinner I
certainly would quit preaching! But I don’t have to quit because there is
Romans 8, and a host of other Scriptures that make very clear that we are
“MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US!”
Next part: What about
our sinful nature? |