I delivered this message at Spring Creek Bible Church on December 6, 2015, as part 8 of The Doctrines of Man and Sin series.
Prefer what I actually said? Read the transcript (lightly edited for readability).
1. Introduction
This is part eight of our series on the doctrines of man and sin. We’ve covered the various aspects of the doctrine of man, and we’ve covered both the Fall and original sin in the doctrine of sin. Today we turn to the nature of sin.
2. Review
- 9/20: Introduction
- 9/27: The Origin of Man
- 10/11: The Nature of Man
- 10/18: The Image of God, Part 1
- 11/8: The Image of God, Part 2
- 11/15: The Fall
- 11/22: Original Sin
- 11/29: The Nature of Sin
- 12/13: Modern-Day Issues
3. Outline
We’re going to look at the nature of sin under these three categories:
- The Terms for Sin
- The Definition of Sin
- The Nature of Sin
But before we do, we’re going to finish up an important question related to our discussion two weeks ago on original sin.
4. Original Sin and Infants
Most Christians from most traditions maintain that infants are innocent and aren’t held accountable for their sins.
Pelganians, who reject original sin altogether, maintain everyone’s innocence until they become old enough to fully understand their responsibility to God and willfully sin against him.
But if, as I argued, we all inherit a sinful nature and guilt from Adam from the moment of conception, what is the fate of infants and young children who die in their sin before coming to personal faith in Christ?
Three Views
There are at least three ways people try to maintain their innocence:1
- Infant Baptism: Roman Catholics argue that the role of infant baptism is to remove the original sin and guilt they inherited from Adam. But we don’t believe Scripture teaches either infant baptism or its removable of original sin.2
- Prevenient Grace: Arminians argue for a doctrine of prevenient grace that serves essentially the same purpose. I don’t find evidence of this universal grace in the Bible.
- God’s Gracious Character: A final group appeal to some of the same principles as those who talk about an age of accountability, but instead point to the gracious character of God.
Infant Baptism
This view finds its roots in many of the early church fathers.
Origen said, “The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of divine sacraments, knew there is in everyone innate strains of sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit.”
Theologian J. Rodman Williams summarizes the view this way, “Since all persons born into this world come with the guilt of original sin, there is need for baptism as early as possible to remove this guilt and stain. Otherwise infants who die prematurely will be forever cut off from the presence of God. Infant baptism is essential to remove the inherited guilt of original sin so that babies if they die may go to heaven.”3
The Catholic Council of Trent said, “From a tradition of the apostles, even infants, who could not yet commit any sin of themselves, are for this cause truly baptized for the remission of sins, that in them that may be cleansed away by regeneration, which they have contracted by generation.”
Prevenient Grace
As we saw last time, Arminians teach a doctrine of prevenient grace, which, like the infant baptism of the Catholics, removes condemnatory guilt, which cannot happen until children are at an age where they can sin presumptuously.
Roger Olson puts it this way: “What all Arminians agree about is that in fact (de facto) condemnatory guilt that causes one to go to hell only attaches to presumptuous sinning which ALWAYS occurs with the awakening of conscience (what Baptists call the “age of accountability” which is not a specific age but a stage of moral and spiritual development). Thus, all Arminians deny that any children who die go to hell.”4
God’s Gracious Character
Some Reformed theologians have argued that only the children of believers are saved. Many have done this on the basis of covenant theology. But the majority of Reformed theologians appeal to God’s gracious character and freedom to saves whom he wills instead of to a doctrine of infant baptism or prevenient grace.5 And they argue for a universal salvation of all infants and children who die before they are old enough to have full responsibility for their sin.
Calvin said of Jesus’ statement that the kingdom of God is for children, “he includes both little children and those who resemble them.”
Charles Hodge agreed. He wrote, “All who die in infancy are doubtless saved, but they are saved by grace” (Systematic Theology, ii, 11).
Loraine Boettner explained why the doctrine of infant salvation must be uniquely Calvinistic:
“The doctrine of infant salvation finds a logical place in the Calvinistic system; for the redemption of the soul is thus infallibly determined irrespective of any faith, repentance, or good works, whether actual or foreseen.” (Unconditional Election, 145).
John Newton,
“I hope you are both well reconciled to the death of your child. I cannot be sorry for the death of infants. How many storms do they escape! Nor can I doubt, in my private judgment, that they are included in the election of grace.”
B. B. Warfield put it this way:
“Their destiny is determined irrespective of their choice, by an unconditional decree of God, suspended for its execution on no act of their own; and their salvation is wrought by an unconditional application of the grace of Christ to their souls, through the immediate and irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit prior to and apart from any action of their own proper wills . . . . And if death in infancy does depend on God’s providence, it is assuredly God in His providence who selects this vast multitude to be made participants of His unconditional salvation . . . . This is but to say that they are unconditionally predestinated to salvation from the foundation of the world” (Two Studies on the History of Doctrine, 230).6
Spurgeon:
“Among the gross falsehoods which have been uttered against the Calvinists proper, is the wicked calumny that we hold the damnation of little infants. A baser lie was never uttered. There may have existed somewhere, in some corner of the earth, a miscreant who would dare to say that there were infants in hell, but I have never met with him, nor have I met with a man who ever saw such a person. We say, with regard to infants, Scripture saith but little, and, therefore, where Scripture is confessedly scant, it is for no man to determine dogmatically. But I think I speak for the entire body, or certainly with exceedingly few exceptions, and those unknown to me, when I say, we hold that all infants are elect of God and are therefore saved, and we look to this as being the means by which Christ shall see of the travail of his soul to a great degree, and we do sometimes hope that thus the multitude of the saved shall be made to exceed the multitude of the lost. Whatever views our friends may hold upon the point, they are not necessarily connected with Calvinistic doctrine. I believe that the Lord Jesus, who said, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven,” doth daily and constantly receive into his loving arms those tender ones who are only shown, and then snatched away to heaven.”
The Westminster Confession of Faith says,
“Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth” (10.3).
Piper and MacArthur7 also make a case for the universal salvation of infants.8
What Does the Bible Teach?
The testimony of Scripture is that infants are guilty by virtue of their solidarity with Adam.
But the real question is, does he?
The Bible doesn’t directly answer this question for us, but there are some texts that help us.
David has confidence that he’ll see his son again.
2 Samuel 12:21–23: Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
This is the clearest indication that a believer will be reunited with his child. Some have said that David is simply acknowledging that his body will go into the ground like his son’s, but surely this is not David’s thought. David comforted himself with thoughts of being reunited with his son, which only makes sense if he believed he’d see him again. Compare David’s response here to the death of his son Absalom, who died an evil man: “My son, Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
Job Wished He’d Been Stillborn
Job 3:11–19: “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? 12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? 13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, 15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. 16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. 19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
Ecclesiastes 6:3–6: If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place?
The Kingdom Belongs to Children
There are two other passages are referenced:
Matthew 18:1–6: At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 19:13–15: Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.
Luke 18:15–17: Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
At the very least, these passages affirm for us that young children are capable of the kind of faith necessary for salvation. But the point seems to be stronger than that. Some rightly point out that Jesus is using children as a metaphor for adults who will enter heaven. That’s true, but that doesn’t seem to be his only point. His first point is that the kingdom belongs to children—real children, not merely metaphorical ones.
The Children of Believers Are Saved?
Some also argue that the children of believers are made holy by their parents:
1 Corinthians 7:14: For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
Acts 2:38–39: And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Neither of these passages, though, seems to prove the point.
God Calls Children His and Innocent
Ezekiel 16:20–21: And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?
Jeremiah 19:4–6: Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, 5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—6 therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
Children Lack Knowledge of Good and Evil9
A third line of reasoning points to the ignorance of children. Adam and Eve lost their innocence when they attained the knowledge of good and evil, which only God and the angels possessed. There seems to be some connection between lacking the knowledge of good and evil and innocence.
Deuteronomy 1:39: And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
Isaiah 7:16: For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
Jonah 4:11: And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
God seemed to take special pity on Nineveh. Some think this was a reference to the children in Nineveh, but it may have been a reference to the ignorance of Nineveh as a whole, those who didn’t have the privileged access to God’s Word like Israel did.
There is a connection between knowledge and accountability.
John 9:41: Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
John 15:22: If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
John 15:24: If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
Romans 1:19–20: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 5:13–14: for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Hebrews 5:1–3: 1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
James 4:17: So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
There are degrees of culpability and punishment.
Deuteronomy 25:2: then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to his offense.
Matthew 10:14–15: 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Matthew 11:21–24: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
Luke 10:10–15: But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.
Luke 12:46–48: the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
John 19:11: Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Hebrews 10:28–29: Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
2 Peter 2:20–21: For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
1 John 5:16–17: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
Sins of Ignorance
Psalm 19:12: Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Psalm 90:8: You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
Job 34:32: teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
Acts 3:17–19: “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
Acts 17:30–31: The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
1 Timothy 1:13–15: though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Hebrews 5:1–3: For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
Leviticus 4:27–31: 27 “If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
Leviticus 5:17–19: 17 “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. 18 He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the Lord.”
Numbers 15:27–31: 27 “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. 28 And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. 29 You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 30 But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”
God’s Elect Is Made Up of Every People Group
Revelation 5:9–10: And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 7:9–10: After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
There are people groups who have never had the gospel, and some of those people groups are no longer in existence. In order for this statement to be literally true, some from them would have to be saved. It seems most likely that this refers to infants.
Judgment on the Basis of Works
The Bible teaches that judgment is on the basis of works. Is an infant or young child really capable of works? Is a fetus in the womb?
Romans 2:6–8: He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
Age of Accountability
So is there such a thing as an age of accountability, an age when God will hold children accountable to eternal judgment for their sins?
Some argue that the age of accountability is thirteen.
In later Jewish culture, boys became responsible to keep the commandments at age thirteen, and girls at age 12. The former was called a bar mitzvah (son of the commandment); the latter a bat mitzvah (daughter of the commandment). This coming of age was celebrated with an event. But this custom developed later.
Others argue twenty.
Exodus 30:14: Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering.
Numbers 14:26–35: And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”
Others argue that there isn’t a specific age, but rather a time when a person’s mental and moral capacities reach sufficient understanding to be held accountable for their rejection of God’s authority.
The Gracious Character of God
Many point to the gracious character of God reiterated over and over throughout Scripture:
Exodus 34:6–7: The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . . . .”10
Psalm 86:15: But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Psalm 103:8: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Psalm 145:8–9: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.
God loves to show mercy and grace. And while God is glorified in the display of his just wrath, he delights in being gracious more than in judgment:
Romans 9:22–24: 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
All the indicators in the Bible point in the direction of the universal salvation of infants, but we’re still left with the question of how.
We’ve already affirms that from conception infants are depraved and guilty. God has said he’ll by no means pardon the guilty; that is, he won’t simply overlook sin.
There’s no doubt that the all-sufficient atoning death of Jesus can wipe away all the sin and guilt of young children. But doesn’t Scripture teach that salvation comes through faith alone? If they can’t exercise faith, how can they receive the benefits of salvation?
Scripture does give examples of salvation happening before personal faith.
Psalm 22:9–10: Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. 10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Luke 1:14–15: And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
The calling of Jeremiah and Isaiah may also suggest some sort of saving work beginning in the womb.
Jeremiah 1:4–5: Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Isaiah 49:1–7: Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. 3 And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” 4 But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.” 5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength— 6 he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
So God saves no one apart from the sin-atoning work of Jesus and the renewing work of the Spirit, but he may choose to apply that work apart from the faith of the sinner. Faith is the only means of salvation for those who have the moral and intellectual capacity for faith.
Although Scripture doesn’t give us a single unambiguous statement of the salvation of children, it does through a variety of different passages point us in the direction and give us a solid foundation on which to hope for the reunion with those little ones.
Why didn’t God make this clearer. He certainly could have. He doesn’t tell us why, but it’s possible that he was keeping us from embracing a lackadaisical view of abortion.
3. The Terms for Sin
There are dozens of general words used in the Bible to capture various aspects of the core concept of sin.
OT Terms
- ḥattāth (חַטָּאת): sin, missing the mark, failure; Judges 20:16
- ngawōn (עָוֺן): iniquity, guilt, punishment
- awen (אָ֫וֶן): iniquity, evil, wickedness
- peshang (פֶּ֫שַׁע): transgression, rebellion, offense, revolt
- reshang (רֶ֫שַׁע): wickedness, evil, iniquity, wrong, offense
- rashang (רָשָׁע): wicked, impious
- ra‘ (רַע): evil or wickedness
- ‘ābar (עבר): transgression
- ma’al (מַ֫עַל): trespass, breach, treachery
- shagag (שׁגג) / shag̱ah (שׁגה): wander, err, stray
NT Terms
- adikia (ἀδικία): injustice, unrighteousness, wrongdoing, iniquity
- anomia (ἀνομία): lawlessness
- asebeia (ἀσέβεια): ungodliness, godlessness, impiety
- hamartia (ἁμαρτία): sin; missing the mark
- parabasis (παράβασις): transgression, stepping over the boundary
- parakoē (παρακοή): disobedience
- paraptōma (παράπτωμα): trespass, transgression, false step
- poneros (πονηρός): evil, wicked, bad
4. The Definition of Sin
What is sin?
The reason we call sin sin is that it’s the primary word for not conforming to God’s requirements in both the Old and New Testaments. The root for sin occurs more than 8,300 times in the OT; and the root for sin occurs almost 10,000 times in the NT.
When we use it, we may mean it in its narrow sense of missing the mark, but often we mean it in the broad sense to represent all that isn’t in conformity to what God requires of us.
Definitions
One Bible dictionary defines sin as “human activity that is contrary to God’s will.”11 Is that a good definition or not?
It’s good in that it makes the standard, the reference point, God and His will. It’s ambiguous in that it doesn’t define which will of God.
It’s inadequate in that it defines sin as an activity. An activity may be sinful, but inactivity may also be sinful. That’s what theologians call sins of omission. Sin is more than activities. It’s also failure to take action.
Activity also may imply external acts of doing and saying, and may lead some to omit thoughts, attitudes, emotions, desires, dispositions. Sin is deeper than external activities.
ISBE’s definition is better:
Sin is to be defined primarily in relation to God. It is disobedience, unbelief, ignorance, the positive assertion of usurped autonomy, and the wicked deviation from, or violation of, God’s righteous will and law.12
Another puts it this way:
Evildoing seen in religious perspective, not only against humanity, society, others, or oneself, but against God. The concept of God, therefore, gives to the idea of sin its many-sided meaning.13
The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia says this:
Sin, therefore, is not only anything contrary to what God has said man should not do, but it is also anything contrary to what God would not want man to do on the basis of revealed principles. Thus, a completely inclusive definition of sin would be: Sin is anything contrary to the character of God. Since God’s glory is the revelation of His character, sin is a coming short of the glory or character of God (Rom 3:23).14
This is a helpful discussion, but I’d probably qualify what is meant by “the character of God.” It’s not a sin not to be omniscient. We would need to limit this is the communicable character of God, the attributes of God that he intends for us to mimic.
The most characteristic feature of sin in all its aspects is that it is directed against God (cf. Ps. 51:4; Rom. 8:7). Any conception of sin which does not have in the forefront the contradiction which it offers to God is a deviation from the biblical representation. The common notion that sin is selfishness betrays a false assessment of its nature and gravity. Essentially, sin is directed against God, and this perspective alone accounts for the diversity of its form and activities. It is a violation of that which God’s glory demands and is, therefore, in its essence the contradiction of God.15
It’s difficult to improve upon the WCF.
Q. 24. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature.16
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible defines it as
A reality signifying the broken relationship between God and humanity.17
Eerdmans Bible Dictionary defines it as
. . . the failure or refusal of human beings to live the life intended for them by God their creator.18
Grudem’s definition is good:
Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.19
The Bible Definition of Sin
The Bible defines sin in 1 John 3:4 as lawlessness [ἀνομία].
1 John 3:4: Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
There’s a general sense where sin is a rebelling against authority, against laws and rules imposed on us by others. But in the ultimate sense sin is a rebellion against God’s law and God’s authority.
5. The Nature of Sin
Sin Is Sin in Relationship to God
As we’ve seen already, sin needs to be understood in relationship to God. But why?
- God is creator. God created us and has authority over us. His character defines right and wrong, and he sets up the boundaries of what we can and can’t do.
- God is our father. God entered into an intimate relationship with us. We were designed for fellowship with God. Sin is a break in that relationship.
- God made us in his image. Remember our study of the image of God. God made us like him and set us up on earth to represent him and his glory on earth.
Romans 3:23 is helpful in understanding the nature of sin.
Romans 3:21–26: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Doug Moo’s comments on this passage are helpful:
“Glory” in the Bible characteristically refers to the magnificent presence of the Lord, and the eternal state was often pictured as a time when God’s people would experience and have a part in that “glory” (e.g., Isa. 35:2; Rom. 8:18; Phil. 3:21; 2 Thess. 2:14). And just as this sharing in God’s “glory” involves conformity to the “image of Christ” (Rom. 8:29–30; Phil. 3:21), so the absence of glory involves a declension from the “image of God” in which human beings were first made. “The future glory may be regarded as the restoration of the lost, original glory.” Paul, then, is indicating that all people fail to exhibit that “being-like-God” for which they were created; and the present tense of the verb, in combination with Rom. 8, shows that even Christians “fall short” of that goal until they are transformed in the last day by God.20
As a result of this God-centered nature of sin, all sin is fundamentally and primarily against God.
Joseph viewed the opportunity to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife as a “great wickedness and sin against God” (Gen. 39:9).
The prodigal son acknowledged that he’d sinned against heaven (Luke 15:18, 21).
David’s confession of his sin with Bathsheba makes this explicit:
2 Samuel 12:13: David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” . . .
Psalm 51:4: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight . . . .
Does David mean here that he didn’t sin against Uriah or Bathsheba? No. The Bible talks often about sinning against people. David’s point must be understood in the larger canonical context and in the immediate context of emotional, poetical confession. He was using hyperbole to indicate that all sin is ultimately and primarily against God.
Sin is sin against God not only because he created us and has authority over us, but because he made us to be like him. When we sin we’re not like him.
Recall that murdering another person who is made in the image of God is sinning against God, the one whose image they bear.
Paul said that we can sin against each other and wound each other’s consciences. But in doing so, we’re sinning against Christ (1 Cor. 8:12).
Sin Is Deeper and Wider Than Actions
It’s deeper than actions because it includes how we talk, how we feel, how we think, what we desire, and who we are at our very nature.
It’s wider than actions because it includes not only commissions, but omissions.
| Commission | Omission | |
| Being | what we are | what we aren’t |
| Desiring | what we desire | what we don’t desire |
| Thinking | what we think | what we don’t think |
| Feeling | how we feel | how we don’t feel |
| Speaking | what we say | what we don’t say |
| Doing | what we do | what we don’t do |
We exist in a state of sin. Everything we do is tainted by sin. While it’s right to distinguish between a directly sinful desire, thought, feeling, word, or act, sin goes deeper than these expressions. We express sinfulness because we are sinful.
Sin is fundamentally a matter of the heart.
Proverbs 4:23: Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Matthew 12:34: You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
Matthew 15:17–19: Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Luke 6:43–45: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
This was one of the fundamental points Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.
- Righteousness is a matter of the heart, not merely the external things you do.
- Sin is a matter of the heart, not the external things you don’t do.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:20, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
He then goes on to internalize righteousness and sin:
- Yes, murder is sinful (5:21). But behind murder lies the sin of anger (5:22).
- Yes, adultery is sinful (5:27). But behind adultery lies the sin of lust (5:28).
Sin has attached itself to our very natures. Our hearts, which represent our entire inner person, are sinful. It’s sinful to have a sinful heart, even when our heart isn’t expressing itself.
To illustrate this, think about the state of your heart while you sleep. Its fundamental nature doesn’t change. It’s still sinful, and our hearts don’t sleep. Our dreams are expressions of our sinful hearts. We’re culpable for the expressions of our hearts, even while we’re sleeping. Let me qualify: there’s a difference between a thought and a desire. A thought isn’t necessarily sinful. It becomes sinful when it’s welcomed by our hearts and finds a home in our desires. Prior to that it’s a temptation. But it can be rejected when our hearts respond with disgust and hatred and rejection of the evil thought.
Martin Luther illustrated this distinction nicely in a line from the desert fathers that he quoted often: “Dear brother, you cannot prevent the birds from flying over your head, but you can certainly keep them from building a nest in your hair.”21
The Sins behind Other Sins
The Bible lists over 100 different kinds of sin. I have a list of more than 150 that I made. How do these sins relate to one another? Are all these sins equal?
As we saw earlier, all sins aren’t equal. Some are more heinous than others. And some will be punished worse than others.
But how else might we relate sins to each other? Are there some sins that are behind other sins?
The Most Fundamental Sins
While sins are overlapping and interconnected, I think there are some sins that are at the core of almost every sin.
The greatest commandment is to love God with our entire being above everything else. The second is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Jesus said that when we do these two things we fulfill everything the OT law requires of us. That’s no doubt also true of the NT.
If in these two things we have summed up all that the Bible, God’s law, requires of us, then it stands to reason that in the absence of these we have all that the Bible forbids. We have sin, which is lawlessness.
Sin, then, is most fundamentally the absence of love for God and others.
What we’ve replaced this love for God and neighbor with is a distorted love for ourselves. Self love itself isn’t sinful. The Bible repeatedly appeals to us on the basis of our self interest and assumes we love ourselves. Love is simply seeking the highest good of its object. Where self love goes astray is when we distort love and misdefine good. The highest good we can do for ourselves is to love God with all our being and our neighbor as ourselves.
So our entire disposition as fallen people is no longer directed toward God as the supremely worthy being and to our neighbor as one to serve and put above ourselves. Instead, we’ve set ourselves up at the one to be worshipped and served and loved.
This fundamental distortion of self-love manifests itself in a several central ways:
- Idolatry, living as if there are other things worthy of what only God is worthy.
- Atheism, living as if the one true God doesn’t exist and has no claim over our lives; living independently of God.
- Autotheism, living as if we are god.
- Disobedience, living as if we don’t owe God obedience.
- Rebellion, living in direct defiance of god.
- Unbelief, living as if God’s Word were not true.
- Pride, living as if we are the most important being in the universe.
- Selfishness, living as if we are at the center of the universe
All of these things demonstrate that at our core things are backwards, they’re not as they’re supposed to be. It’s like putting your shoes on the wrong feet or your pants or shirt on backwards. We’re fundamentally broken and distorted and out of whack.
Sin is fundamentally living independently from God, his authority, and his worthiness.
Tracing Sins to Their Roots
Christians often have a tendency to externalize sin and make sin in the things we do or say or wear or in the places we go. There’s often sin in these external expressions and manifestations, but it goes much deeper. And we won’t truly understand our sin or how to fight against it until we see how deep it goes.
Is it a sin to hit someone? Maybe, but maybe not. You can hit someone because you’re angry and trying to hurt them. But you can also hit someone on accident or because you’re trying to kill a mosquito about to bite them or because you’re disciplining them in love and obedience and deep concern for their soul. The act of hitting isn’t itself sinful. What makes one kind of hitting sinful and another not? It all has to do with your heart, your motives, why you’re hitting them. Sinful hitting flows out of a heart that is full of pride and directed toward itself, one that is living independently from God and rejecting his authority, one that sets itself up as the god and ruler of the universe.
Is it a sin to say certain words? Maybe, but maybe not. Saying a word that expresses and evil heart is bad because of what it represents. Saying that same word to teach your children and instruct them on matters of the heart is not. Sin isn’t fundamentally in words; it’s in the attitude and desires of our hearts that express themselves in words. Choosing not to say certain things doesn’t get us off the hook. Now, we may by grace resist the temptation to express our sinful hearts and instead repent and confess. That’s better than expressing our sinful hearts and compounding our sin.
It’s important in all of our sins to connect the dots back to our heart and find out what’s going on. This is critical for parents as well. We regularly ask our kids when they’re misbehaving what’s going on in their hearts. We don’t want them to have a superficial or external view of sin. We want them to know that sin goes down deeply into the very core of who they are. They don’t just need to stop doing and saying wrong things. They need the radical work of regeneration; they need a new heart. And they need to be united to Jesus and counted righteous in him and because of him.
If we’re going to put our sin to death, we need to find its source and go below the surface of its expressions.
8. Rescue from Sin / Conclusion
The doctrines of Christology, Pneumatology, and Soteriology are glorious truths that show us how God rescues by through his Son by his Spirit. But I’d be remiss to leave us with this desperate picture of sin. The whole of Scripture tells the story of God’s work to rescue us from our desperate condition.
God deals with our corruptions in regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
God deals with our guilt in justification.
It’s a beautiful thing that as we wrap our study of the doctrines of man and sin we see both of those come together beautifully in the incarnation, the first advent of Jesus.
Matthew 1:21: She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Romans 3:21–26: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 8:1–4: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Titus 2:11–14: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Hebrews 2:5–18: For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.” 13 And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.” 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
9. Resources
10. Review Questions
11. Next Week
Next time we’ll turn our attention to modern-day issues.
12. Pray and Dismiss
Extras
1 Samuel 12:23: 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
Unbelief is sin (cf. Rom. 14:23).
Sin is wrongdoing [ἀδικία] (1 John 5:17).
Sin is omission (James 4:17).
- Pride
- Selfishness: there is no i in team, but there is an i right in the middle of sin.
- Idolatry
- Love of self and hatred of God and others
What Sin Is Not
We mustn’t confuse sin with things it’s closely related to.
Sin isn’t the same as evil. All sin is evil, but not all evil is sin. Death is evil, but death is not sin. Death is the result of sin. Sickness is evil. But like death is was the result of sin.
War is evil, but not necessarily sinful.
Sin isn’t the same as temptation.
Jesus was tempted, yet without sin. It’s possible to be tempted without sinning.
Sin isn’t weakness or imperfection. It’s not a sin to be tired or miscalculate a math problem or use incorrect grammar.
At the heart of sin is idolatry, the worship of something other than God. Even more, it’s autotheism—the setting yourself up as your own God.
Satan, Adam, and Eve all rejected God’s authority and set themselves up as their own gods.
Sin is also fundamentally pride, the belief that you’re more important and more valuable and better than other people.
Sin is also fundamentally selfishness. Because of the Fall, our bent is inward toward ourselves. Instead of being directed in love and worship toward God and love and service of our fellow man and love and stewardship of God’s creation, sin has fundamentally distorted all of these relationships and made them all about us.
Sin is an interconnected mess. You can’t neatly parse out one sin from another. Where one sin is, there are several others as well.
6. The Characteristics of Sin
Sin is irrational.
Sin is willful.
Sin is often conscious, but often unconscious.
Sin is often deception.
Sin is unbelief; it’s rejection of the truth and belief in a lie.
7. The Results of Sin
Death, guilt, shame, regret, etc.
What of those who never hear the gospel?
But the Bible doesn’t seem to treat this group as innocent.
2 Kings 2:23–25: 23 He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 And he turned around, and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys [yeled; from yalad, “to give birth”]. 25 From there he went on to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.
Romans 5:20: Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
Romans 2:12: For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/27/27-4/27-4-pp459-464_JETS.pdf
A close second comes in Job:
Job 3:16–17: Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? 17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
1 Kings 14:13: 13 And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
http://www.challies.com/resources/what-happens-to-children-who-die
Notes
1. http://www.challies.com/resources/what-happens-to-children-who-die http://markdriscoll.org/what-happens-to-babies-when-they-die/ ↩
2. http://www.catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/general/original.htm ↩
3. John Rodman Williams, Renewal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective ↩
4. http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2010/09/arminian-teaching-regarding-original-sin/ ↩
5. http://thecripplegate.com/theologians-on-infant-salvation/, http://thecripplegate.com/what-happens-to-infants-who-die-the-ot-answers/, http://thecripplegate.com/what-happens-to-infants-who-die-the-nt-answers/ ↩
6. https://archive.org/stream/twostudiesinhist00warf#page/230/mode/2up ↩
7. http://www.gty.org/resources/articles/A264/the-age-of-accountability http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/80-242/the-salvation-of-babies-who-die-part-1 ↩
8. http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-happens-to-infants-who-die–2 http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-do-you-believe-that-infants-who-die-go-to-heaven ↩
9. Exodus 30:14; Numbers 14:28–30. ↩
10. Numbers 14:18 ↩
11. J. Jordan Henderson, “Sin,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015). ↩
12. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., “Sin,” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 518. ↩
13. Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1967. ↩
14. Charles C. Ryrie, “Sin,” ed. Charles F. Pfeiffer, Howard F. Vos, and John Rea, The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia (Moody Press, 1975). ↩
15. B. A. Milne with J.M., “Sin,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1106. ↩
16. 1 John 3:4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. Gal. 3:10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Ver. 12. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition (Philadelphia: William S. Young, 1851), 180. ↩
17. Clayton N. Jefford, “Sin,” ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid B. Beck, Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 2000), 1224. ↩
18. Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 951. ↩
19. Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 490. ↩
20. Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 226–227. ↩
21. Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 42 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 73. ↩