Adam and Eve sinned, the penalty for that was death. God told them-
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
They disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and when they did that, they did something irrevocable. They gained the knowledge of good and evil together. They chose to know evil. They chose to take on all that evil is- in all its forms. To choose to know evil was a decision made by a bite into forbidden fruit. They knew they'd die, God told them beforehand. They were told of an action and the ultimate result of that action. Do this and then this will happen.
I believe it was because Satan used his influence on Eve that God did not simply irradicate humanity. This was one of probably other contingencies put in place for mankind. If man does this then this is the result, if man does that then this is what will happen, and so on. We know this-
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Foreordained BEFORE the foundation of the world. Part of the whole plan of mankind was a Savior if the Savior was needed, if mankind were worth the opportunity of redemption. Eve was beguiled, Adam listened to Eve- Satan was the beguiler. Satan used his influence on Eve urging her to do something she would not have done on her own.
Mankind needed a Savior and was worthy of that opportunity. Mankind hadn't chosen to disobey God's command all on their own, all of their own accord. That mankind could be influenced to disobey was in and of itself warranting the penalty they knew they'd have to pay. For even when Satan beguiled Eve and told her they wouldn't die, Eve knew God had told them they would. Death was on the table. They disobeyed and death became the penalty.
Because Adam and Eve had the knowledge of good and evil from the moment they ate the forbidden fruit they could not unknow the evil and any children they would have would eventually learn evil as well. So much of man changed upon ingesting the fruit of knowledge. That knowledge brought instant alteration to man's form inside and out- physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, everything changed. Nothing about man was left untouched by the evil knowledge they'd chosen. Because they no longer had access to the tree of life they no longer had the attributes the tree of life gave them. Everything altered, it had to because evil was unleashed. No, not every single bit of mankind was instantly changed, time ravaged what man was originally even more. The long slow decay of the first of mankind went on for hundreds of years, eventually to the point a mere 70 some years is the average lifespan and for the majority of those people there is a lot of pain in those years of living.
God knew mankind would survive as creatures knowing good and evil, and that each of mankind as individuals would make choices throughout the life they were allotted and the sum of those choices would determine what course their ultimate existence would hold. Man would have the power of choosing. That power of choosing was given to Adam and Eve upon their creation and that wasn't taken away from them. They brought death to all of mankind there was no changing that fact. God brought them another chance to live after that death. Jesus, the Savior! And Jesus told mankind that He would return for them and bring them back to life. Some would be brought back to eternal life, others to eventual eternal nothingness.
Our lives right now are spent locked in this spiritual warfare and we are either living for Christ, with Christ in us -our hope, or we are living hopeless.
God help us to be living in hope! All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior now and forever! Amen!!!!!!!
*******
A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Unjust (continued)
By J.H. Waggoner
DOUBLE INFLICTION OF THE PENALTY
Mr. Storrs claims that it would be unjust to inflict the same penalty a second time; and so much stress is laid on this idea that it demands a notice, though the objection really ceases to be of any force when it is shown that all now die by virtue of their relation to Adam, and that our probation is for a life and death beyond the present.
Mr. Storrs says:
"Is a revival into life not a reversal, or abrogation, of the penalty? If abrogated, can it be inflicted a second time without a second trial and sin repeated." Life from the Dead, p. 8.
To this I reply,
1. A revival to life is not a reversal of the penalty; for the penalty has not yet been inflicted. It is only a reversal of the inevitable consequence of Adam's fall, to which consequence our probation does not reach.
2.There is "a second trial and sin repeated," in the case of every individual transgressor; and
Mr. Storrs' remarks on the judgment of Adam present that fact in a striking view.
He says:
"Adam stood under a law, in a dispensation peculiar to himself. . . . It admitted of no repentance or renewed obedience by which the punishment could be remitted; for one transgression the transgressor must die. Under that law Adam was placed. He transgressed-his
dispensation ended, and God set in judgment on him; arraigned Adam at the judgment-seat-heard the testimony-found him guilty-proceeded solemnly to pronounce the penalty of the law, but saw fit to keep the day of execution of the sentence in his own power, and hidden from the knowledge of the criminal; but ultimately he was executed."
And then he asks:
"Why is Adam to be made alive, to be judged over again, and die a second time? We discover no Scripture warrant for such an idea." Id., p. 75.
Now, according to Mr. Storrs' own showing, that dispensation or probation ended with that "one transgression," and judgment set, and sentence was pronounced on the act; but the sentence was not executed for nearly one thousand years after that judgment. Then, I inquire, was Adam on probation during the many hundred years that he lived after that sentence was
pronounced? I think he was; but if so, he was, of course, under a new probation. But if not, then there were over nine hundred years of Adam's life for which he was not held accountable! I cannot discover any warrant, either in Scripture or reason, for his being "made alive to be judged over again," so far as that "one transgression "is concerned for which he was judged, but I do discover an evident reason why he should be judged for the actions of a long life that he lived after that first judgment. And they must admit the conclusion, or deny that Adam had a second [original illegible] But such a denial is attended with further difficulty, it being equivalent to a denial that [original illegible] children after him had any probation. For, if [original illegible] be inquired where the probation was introduced under which his children
were placed, everyone will point to the promise given to Adam that "the seed of the woman" should bruise the serpent' head. Here commenced the gospel system. But it was revealed to Adam, and through him to [original illegible] posterity. And if a new probation was not there introduced to Adam, when and where was it introduced? Will the believers in the non-resurrection theory point to the scripture giving information on this point, that is, if they deny that Adam had another probation granted to him? We find but one revelation of the bringing in of a gospel hope to Adam and his immediate descendants-that in the third chapter of Genesis concerning" the seed" of the woman. But if that was the introduction of a new dispensation, of a probation under which repentance and faith in "the seed" would procure remission, it then follows that Adam had a second trial in this new system. And, of course, for transgressions under this new probation there must be another judgment; and if this transgression was not forgiven, the penalty must be inflicted for this, as well as for the other. Otherwise the penalty of one of these dispensations and judgments will never be executed. And now, as Adam died under that transgression without any possibility of remission by repentance or renewed obedience, so do all his posterity-all who share in that "Adamic condition;" no degree of repentance, faith, nor obedience, will avert this death; because they were not under that dispensation which was "peculiar" to Adam, as Mr. Storrs correctly says. We had no trial of obedience or disobedience in that first judgment, though we fall under its consequences by virtue of our nature-our "Adamic condition." On this point Mr. Storrs says again:
"Adam's posterity were made subject to corruption by being excluded from the tree of life, not as a penal infliction on them," etc. Life from the Dead, p. 11.
And it is just as true that they die for Adam's sin, as that they were made subject to corruption thereby; for exclusion from the tree of life has the same effect on them that it had on him, to wit: it prevents their living forever. And this, says Mr. Storrs, was "not a penal infliction on them." True; a penal infliction can only relate to an act under probation; but our probation does not relate to the exclusion from the tree of life, and consequent death; and therefore this death
cannot be the penalty of our personal transgressions; but the "second death" is that penalty.
On this point I will only add:
1. We are never exhorted to repent of Adam's sin, nor to avert its consequences. Here is where the Pedobaptists err. Infants have no personal sins to be remitted; therefore if they are baptized for the reason given in the gospel, that is, for the remission of sin, it must be Adam's sin, not
their own. But such an idea is never hinted in the Scriptures; it is contrary to the facts and reasons given in the case. Yet according to the non-resurrection views it is the only chance for the salvation of children, Infant-baptismal regeneration and this non-resurrectionism should go together.
2. Christ is to be the judge of men, for the Father has put all judgment in his hands, and the secrets of men are to be judged by him. And into that judgment "every work" shall be brought, evil as well as good. And it is in view of that judgment that the exhortations are given, and threatenings made, in the Bible. But there is no intimation that Adam's sin will come into that judgment. The judgment for that is far in the past; with that we, as probationers, have nothing to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment