Truth.Seeker
posted on Mar 25, 2009 - 09:32 PM
This is from a document by H.E. Metropolitan Bishoy (probably an English transcription of an Arabic lecture he gave):
<i>" First: The doctrine of The Original Sin is one of the important corners of Christian doctrine, because, if there were no original sin there would not have been death for the rest of humanity, and the descendents of Adam would not have had need for salvation. Therefore, non-Christians who reject the doctrine of redemption also reject the doctrine of the original sin and its inheritance.
The Bible says: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom 5:12). Now the question is: “Is original sin the inheritance of death only”? If this were the case, then God would be unjust (God forbid), because inheriting death would be inheriting the punishment without justification. But, sin entered the world through our forefathers’ sin, and it passed from them to all humanity who came from their seed. So, passing on death was caused by passing on sin. Otherwise, what does St. Paul mean in saying in his epistle to the Romans: “Through one man sin entered the world”? What is the intended world here, but the human race; and who is this one man but Adam.
The Bible also says: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22).
As we inherited the original sin from Adam through our birth from him (he being the origin of the human race), likewise we inherited from Christ His righteousness and inherited life, because we have been born of Him in baptism through the Holy Spirit; He is the origin of all believers who put on Christ –putting on the righteousness of Christ: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27).
Original sin is the sin of Adam, and original righteousness is the righteousness of Christ.
The first Adam led humanity into sin and death, and the second Adam led humanity into righteousness and life. Everyone born of Adam and Eve says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps 51:5).
Everyone born of Christ in baptism through the Holy Spirit says, “[We are] being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24).
The term origin in the theological understanding means the source, so the term The Father means origin who is the source in the Holy Trinity, as the first church fathers explained.
If we say original sin we mean the sin from which sprang the sins of all humans, carrying with it the punishment of death, “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).
From The Saying Of The Holy Fathers:
St. Athanasius the Apostolic wrote: “For as when Adam had transgressed, his sin reached unto all men, so, when the Lord had become man and had overthrown the Serpent, that so great strength of His is to extend through all men” .
He also wrote: “For no longer according to our former origin in Adam do we die; but henceforward our origin and all infirmity of flesh being transferred to the Word, we rise from the earth, the curse from sin being removed” .
In his book On the Incarnation of the Word he wrote: “He [Christ] next offered up His sacrifice also on behalf of all, yielding His Temple to death in the stead of all, in order firstly to make men quit and free of their old trespass”
Here we notice that St. Athanasius the Apostolic mentioned the old trespass (or original trespass) of humanity, contrary to what the monk Basil St. Macarius claimed in The Sunday School Magazine issue 8 of year 2002, that St. Augustine is the first to invent the phrase Original Sin, and that this understanding is a Catholic concept.
What confirms the annulment of the claim of the monk Basil St. Macarius is what was mentioned in the teachings of St. Cyril the Great, where he mentioned the phrase Original Sin of humanity: “For it is the time of holiness, when our old (original) sin () having departed to utter destruction, the soul of each is renewed to a habit of virtue unwavering.”
So, St. Athanasius the Apostolic is not alone, but St. Cyril the Pillar of Faith mentioned the Original Sin… and St. Ambrose and St. Augustine thereafter… so now what!
Second: The Difference between Personal Responsibility and Inheriting Original Sin
It is understandable that each person has a personal responsibility in determining his fate; therefore the Lord arranged salvation for all humans who inherited the original sin, to whom death passed as a result of sin coming to them.
Though the descendents of Adam were not personally responsible for the Original Sin, they inherited the state of sin into which Adam and Eve fell. However, they have the opportunity, along with Adam, to choose the way of salvation and gain adoption to God, by accepting God’s gift in Christ.
An individual person’s responsibility is what determines his fate; therefore, there are people who chose the path of fellowship with Satan, and there are others who chose the path of fellowship with God.
The Old Testament saints slept in hope of salvation, and the Lord Christ went to them and preached to them the fulfillment of redemption, saved them from Hades, and transferred them to Paradise. This is what St. Peter the apostle clarified in his first epistle when he spoke of the Lord Christ, “being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison” (1Pe 3:18-19).
And the New Testament saints are the ones who accepted the faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, and accepted the new birth in baptism: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4).
St. Cyril the Great pointed to the question of personal responsibility in light of the verse that says, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ez 18:4), and why sin passed from Adam to all humans although they did not exist at the time of his fall, and did not personally will to share in his actions at that point in time. He said:
“Yes, ‘the soul that sinneth, the same shall die.’ But we have become sinners through the disobedience of Adam in this way. Adam, you see, had been made for incorruption and life. Moreover, the life he led in the paradise of delight was suited to saints; his mind was ever absorbed by the vision of God; his body was perfectly at peace, all base lust at rest; for unbecoming emotions did not disturb him. But when he fell subject to sin and sank down to corruption, from that time forth impure lusts invaded the nature of the flesh and the law of sin blossomed which rages in our members. Human nature has, therefore, contracted the malady of sin through the disobedience of one man, Adam. It is in this way that the many have been made sinners - not as though they had transgressed with Adam (for they did not yet exit), but because they are of his nature, the nature that fell beneath the law of sin….Human nature grew ill with corruption in Adam because of the act of disobedience, and so the passions entered in…”. [In Romanos, Rom 5:18-19 (Pusey, In Ioannem 3, 186-87)].”
Third: His Holiness Pope Shenouda III (may the Lord preserve his life) said: “The judgment of death passed against Adam and Eve was passed against every cell in their bodies, which includes the cells from which we as humans came thereafter.” Therefore no one is exempt from this judgment of death. The matter was in need of renewing the nature, and salvation from the judgment of death –through the death of Christ instead of us, as our teacher St. Paul the apostle said, “If One died for all, then all died” (2 Cor 5:14)." </i>
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These are my thoughts for what they are worth:
As for the other questions, just keep in mind that if Christ had had sin (not only would it be blasphemy and impossible), but He would not have been able to save anybody, as He Himself would have needed someone to save Him from His sin. Does that thought put your mind at ease?
Remember also that everybody is going to resurrect in the body, whether good or bad. Note also that everybody dies in the body, whether good or bad. So, when we are saved from death through Christ, we are saved from eternal death, not physical death.
So, perhaps the best way to think about it is that Christ was subject to physical death, never subject to eternal death. He "inherited" the judgment against Adam's sin (death/physical death), but not the consequences of Adam's sin (inclination to sin).
Sorry this isn't as broken down as your questions, but it's hard to break the quotes down. Is there any part that is still unclear?
Joined: Feb 25, 2008 | Posts: 961
