Hamartology
The study of sin
As it affects all of mankind
Survey of Hamartology
1
Definition of sin
• Is a TRANSGRESSION of the law
– Parabasis is “overstepping” (Rom 4:15)
• Is a FAILURE TO CONFORM to God’s standard
– Hamartia is to “miss the mark” (Rom 3:22-23)
• Is a PRINCIPLE within man
– A natural desire to selfishness, egotism (Rom 7:14, 17-25)
• Is REBELLION against God
– Anomia is “lawlessness” (1 Jn 3:4) as a “frame of mind” (Tit
2:14; Matt 24:12)
• Is WRONGFUL ACTS against God and man
– Asebeia: “ungodliness” (Rom 1:18). Violate commands 1-4
– Adikia: “unrighteousness”. Violate commands 5-10
Survey of Hamartology
2
Original Sin
• Definition
– The corruption of our whole nature.
– The inherited nature to be independent from God
– A universal principle in every human
• Results
– Man is depraved
• Everyone is not as depraved as he could be, nor will everyone
participate in all sins; Even depraved men can do some good
• The depravity is sufficient to disqualify everyman from
acceptance and merit before a Holy God.
– Man has an innate sin nature
• Every part of man is affected: intellect (2 Cor. 4:4); conscience (1
Tim. 4:2); will (Rom. 1:28); heart (Eph. 4:18); and the total being
(Rom. 1:18–3:20)
Survey of Hamartology
3
Imputation of Sin
Rom 5:12, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned
• Palagian view: every soul is created, therefore innocent
at birth. Adam was merely a bad example. Man only guilty of
sins committed. (Unitarian)
• Armenian view: Only when man choose to sin did God
impute sin to him, but he has the power to not sin, esp. with
the Spirit. (Methodists, Wesleyans, Pentecostals)
• Federal view:Adam is seen as the Federal Head
or
representative of the human race. All descendents share his
fate under judicial judgment. (Presbyterians, Reform theology)
• Augustinian view: All are participants in Adam’s sin, just
as Levi (though not born yet) paid tithe to Melchizedek
through Abraham (Heb 7:9-10). He was seminally present in
Abraham. (Calvin, Luther, Strong)
Survey of Hamartology
4
Summary of views
Views
Rom 5:12
Adam
Incur death when
follow Adam’s
example
Sin affected
Adam alone
When all consent
to Adam’s sin
then sin is
imputed
Adam sinned
and affected
partially
everyone
Federal
Sin is imputed
because of
Adam’s sin
Augustine
Sin is imputed
because of
Adam’s sin
Plebian
Armenian
Humanity
No one affected by
Adam’s sin
Modern
Unitarians
Depravity not total;
All received
corrupt nature, but
not guilt
Methodists,
Pentecostals,
Wesleyans,
Holiness
groups
Adam alone
sinned, but
affected
everyone
Depravity is total;
sin and guilt are
imputed
Presbyterians
Covenant
theologians
Humanity
sinned in
Adam
Depravity is total;
sin and guilt are
imputed
Reformers
and
Calvinists
Survey of Hamartology
5
The Christian and Sin
• The Conflict
– The world:1 Jn 2:15-16– warned not to love the world nor
things in the world, which is under Satan’s control (5:19)
– The flesh: Rom 7:17-20– the capacity for selfish
satisfaction, lusts and mind perversion (Eph 2:3).
– The devil: 1 Pet 5:8– a real person who seeks to destroy
all that is God’s, and called to resist him (James 4:7)
• The Provision
– The Word: Psa 119:11– Protection is gained through
wisdom and cleansing (Eph 5:26)
– The Intercession of Christ: 1 Jn 2:1; Heb 7:25– Is seen
as effective against Satan (Jn 17:15) and ultimate state
(17:25)
– The Indwelling Spirit: Acts 1:8; Eph 5:17;Gal 5:16– The
empowering, filling Survey
and abiding
presence empowers 6
of Hamartology
The Fall and Human Depravity
• N. African Bishop Augustine (354-430)
developed his theology from
controversy with Pelagius (350-423), a
British monk
• Pelagius wrote a defense of free will
against the deterministic cults and
philosophies of his day (coined the
phrase, “free will”)
• Augustine introduced determinism into
Christian theology from his study of
Greek philosophy
Survey of Hamartology
7
The Issue Rages
• The controversy continued for a century
until a semi-Augustine position was
reached in the Synod of Orange (529)
• The Western church drifted toward semiPelagianism (free will and denial of human
depravity)
• At the Reformation Luther (fullAugustinian) argued with Reformist
Catholic scholar Erasmus (moderate
Pelagianism)
Survey of Hamartology
8
Only limit on Man’s Autonomy
• Gen 2:16-17– not to eat of one tree
– Adam was a free moral agent to choose
– Although dependent on God for his existence, his
behavior was not predetermined nor forced
– Man is not a puppet or the command was
meaningless
– Man was to learn dependence on God was good
and God’s way was always best
• Satan’s deception was to get Eve to not
depend on God and to doubt His goodness
and beneficial care
– Satan took advantage of man’s autonomy by
persuading him to disobey
– The rest of Biblical record shows man did not
loose his autonomy, but continued to exercise it in
disobedience to God and His will
Survey of Hamartology
9
Opinions on Significance of Fall
• Chafer distinguished between personal sin,
transmitted sin, and imputed sin
• Transmission of sin to the entire race is obvious
– Ephesians 2:1 And although you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived
according to this world's present path, according to the
ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit
that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3
among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives
in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath even as the rest…
– Romans 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world
through one man and death through sin, and so death
spread to all people because all sinned-Survey of Hamartology
10
Human Depravity Not in Dispute
• Calvinist insist on term “total depravity”
– Even Jacob Armenius and John Wesley had
developed view of depravity
• Geisler distinguishes Calvinist “intensive” view of
depravity vs. “extensive” view
– Intensive: the image of God and human will destroyed
– Extensive: whole humanity was corrupted by sin, but
the image of God and human will not destroyed, BUT
CORRUPTED
• This is the semi-Augustinian view of Synod of
Orange (529), not the semi-Pelagian view of
later Roman Catholicism
Survey of Hamartology
11
Depravity
• Sinners are given to a selfish preference. 2 Tim 3:4,
“treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather
than loving God.”
• Has an aversion to God and can be aggressively against
God (Rom 8:7, “because the outlook of the flesh is
hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God,
nor is it able to do so.”
• His every faculty is disordered and corrupted, Eph 4:18,
“They are darkened in their understanding, being
alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance
that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.”
• Has no thought, feeling or deed of which God can
approve Rom 7:18, For I know that nothing good lives in
me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I
cannot do it.
Survey of Hamartology
12
Does Man retain any Autonomy?
• Since man is enslaved to sin, Satan and a corrupt world
system the term “freedom” is relative
• RG Sproul objects, “If God is sovereign, then man
cannot be autonomous, conversely, if man is
autonomous, then God cannot be sovereign. The two
are mutually exclusive concepts.”
• Conflict depends on definition of terms
– If Augustinian definition of sovereignty is correct then so is
Augustine
– The term “autonomy rarely means total
– In geopolitics, an “autonomous region” in a sovereign country
usually has limited autonomy
– Thus there is no conflict between divine sovereignty and human
autonomy
Survey of Hamartology
13
Autonomy Limited by Sin Degenerates
into Rebellion
• From the Fall to the Deluge man perverted
God’s way and Will.
– God had not programmed man to become violent and
perverted (Gen 6:6, “The LORD regretted that he had
made mankind on the earth, and he was highly
offended.”)
• The history of Israel is not any better: Man was
“doing his own thing.”
– If God was programming this rebellion sovereignly,
then He is the author and responsible for sin!
– Biblically, God is working “behind the scenes” to
prepare His plan for man’s salvation
Survey of Hamartology
14
Autonomy Limited by Sin Degenerates
into Rebellion
• Jesus warned disciples they would suffer
(Matt 10:16-42 “…:17 Beware of people, because
they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their
synagogues…”
• There will be continual rebellion until
Christ Returns (Mt 24-25; 1 Tim 4:1 ff; 2
Tim 3:1 ff; 2 Thes 2:1-12; 2 Pet 3:1-9)
• This is not man acting out an eternal
decree!
• It is man abusing his God-given autonomy
Survey of Hamartology
15
Image of God defaced, but not erased
• Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds human blood, by
other humans must his blood be shed; for in
God's image God has made mankind.“
• John 10:34 Jesus answered, "Is it not written in
your law, 'I said, you are gods'? 35 If those
people to whom the word of God came were
called 'gods' (and the scripture cannot be
broken), 36 do you say about the one whom the
Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are
blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of
God'?
Survey of Hamartology
16
Image of God defaced, but not erased
• Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move
about and exist, as even some of your
own poets have said, 'For we too are his
offspring.‘
• James 3:9 With it we bless the Lord and
Father, and with it we curse people made
in God's image.
• 1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man should not
have his head covered, since he is the
image and glory of God. But the woman is
the glory of the man.
Survey of Hamartology
17
Spiritual Death Defined
• Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you
will surely die."
– A spiritual death is meant since he did not die physically when he
ate
• Romans 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world
through one man and death through sin, and so death
spread to all people because all sinned—
• Ephesians 2:1 And although you were dead in your
transgressions and sins,
• "I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my
message and believes the one who sent me has eternal
life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over
from death to life. John 5:24
Survey of Hamartology
18
Spiritual Death Defined
• Spiritual death is SEPARATION from God, as
physical death is separation from body
– Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their
understanding and separated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them due to the
hardening of their hearts.
• Spiritual death is the rendering of the Godconscious part of man inoperative and thus
separates man from God
• The analogy of a corpse is misleading
• 1 Corinthians 2:11 For who among men knows
the things of a man except the man's spirit
within him? So too, no one knows the
things of God except the Spirit of God.
Survey of Hamartology
19
Does total depravity mean total inability?
• The new-birth is 100% a work of the Spirit:
John 1:12 But to all who have received
him--those who believe in his name--he
has given the right to become God's
children 13 --children not born by human
parents or by human desire or a husband's
decision, but by God.
• If repentant faith is a requirement for God
to regenerate – No where is there a notion
that man cannot respond
Survey of Hamartology
20
Does Fallen Man Retain Free Will?
• Tertullian (155-225), “I find, then, that man was
by God constituted free, master of his own will
and power; indicating the presence of God’s
image and likeness in him by nothing so well as
by this constitution of his nature…the entire
course of discipline is arranged in precepts by
God’s calling men from sin, and threatening and
exhorting them. [Tertullian, Against Marcion, book II, ch. 5]
• Gregory of Nyssa (335-395), “Not a single
church figure in the first 300 years rejected it
(free will) and mot of them stated it in works still
extant.” [Forster and Marston, God’s Strategy , pp. 244]
Survey of Hamartology
21
Who makes us do it?
• How could Adam with an innocent nature perform an evil
act? Some push the problem back to Satan
• Luther pushed the solution back to God and His inclusive
decrees to include sin.
• R.C. Sproul is not willing to go that far, but admits it to be
“an excruciating problem.” [Sproul, Chosen by God, p. 31]
• Geisler argues that self-caused actions are the best
explanation of the origin of evil—the best explanation is
that man was created with free choice
• God created Lucifer as a holy cherub, but Ezekiel
addressed him as power behind the wicked king of Tyre:
“You were in Eden, the garden of God;…On the day that
you were created they were prepared. You were the
anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you
there…You were blameless in your ways from the day
you were created, until unrighteousness was found in
you (Ezek 28:13-15)
Survey of Hamartology
22
Who makes us do it?
• Geisler suggests only three options:
– My actions are uncaused
– My actions are caused by someone else
– My actions are caused by my Self. **All the evidence
points here.
• God’s judgment of Lucifer for his sin (1 Tim 3:6;
Rev 20:10), of fallen angels (Jude 6-7; 2 Pet
2:4), of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-19) makes it
clear that God holds free creatures morally
responsible for their free choices.
• Since all mankind is morally responsible for
moral choices, fallen man must have adequate
freedom of will to make moral choices, or they
could not be judged for their deeds (Rev. 20:12)
Survey of Hamartology
23
Direct Scriptural Evidence
• “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today,
that I have set before you life and death…so choose life
in order that you may live… (Deut 30:19-20a)
• “And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord,
choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…(Josh
24:15)
• Elijah asked, “How long will you hesitate between two
opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal,
follow him” (1 Kgs 18:21)
• Isaiah exhorted Israel, “Come now, and let us reason
together,…If you consent and obey,…But if you refuse
and rebel…” (Isa 1:18-19)
• “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I
am God, and there is no other.” Isa 45:22
• The Calvinist deny man the freedom to choose, stating
that it robs God of His sovereignty!
Survey of Hamartology
24
Direct Scriptural Evidence
• “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
and saying, …repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mk
1:14-15)
• “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I
will give you rest.”(Mt 11:28)
• “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the
teaching…” (Jn 7:17)
• “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He
who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his
innermost being will flow river of living water’” (Jn 7:37-8)
• “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets… How
often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were
unwilling. (Mt 23:37-8)
• Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance,
God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere
should repent” (Acts 17:30)
Survey of Hamartology
25
Can man respond to General Revelation?
• John Calvin comment on John 1:9, “For we know that men have this
unique quality above the other animals, that they are endowed with
reason and intelligence and that they bear the distinction between right
and wrong engaved in their conscience. Thus there is no man to who
some awareness of the eternal light does not penetrate.” [Calvin,
Commentaries, vol 4, p. 15]
• Two kinds of General Revelation: Nature and Human Conscience
• “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things
of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that
they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience
bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else
defending them…” (Rom 2:14-15)
• “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is
declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pour forth speech, and
night to night reveals knowledge…Their line (sound) has gone out
through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world (Ps
19:1-4).
Survey of Hamartology
26
Can mankind seek God?
• Calvinists depend on Rom 3:10-11, “There is
none righteous, not even one; There is none
who understands, There is no one who seeks for
God.”
– Paul’s paraphrase of LXX Psa 14, uses the intensified
verb, ekzeteo, rather than simple zeteo. This means,
“diligently seeks” in the present, thus customarily or
habitually.
– “No one customarily and diligently seeks God.”
– There are 50 verses that state man must seek God
– The context is saying that the atheistic fool, who says
in his heart there is no God, does not diligently seek
God.
Survey of Hamartology
27
Scriptures exhort man to seek
• “But from there you will seek the Lord your God,
and you will find Him if you search for Him with
all your heart and all your soul” (Deut 4:29)
• David said, “Now set your heart and your soul to
seek the Lord your God” (1 Chr 22:19)
• “If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if
you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chr
15:2)
• “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon
Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and
let him return to the Lord, and He will have
compassion on him, and to our God, for He will
abundantly pardon” (Isa 55:6-7).
Survey of Hamartology
28
Conclusion
• The original imagine of God involved all the
communicable attributes of God, which have been
perverted, but not lost entirely – No hint that man cannot
respond to God’s initiative
• Man is multi-faceted and lost his God-conscious part,
resulting in spiritual death and separation from God (Eph
4:18), not the total destruction of his spirit.
• Man’s limited autonomy, has only been abused in his
rebellion. A proper definition of sovereignty is compatible
with an understanding of man’s limited autonomy without
making God the author of sin.
• While man is depraved, he is not totally unable to
respond in trust, especially under the presence of the
Spirit in the preaching of the Gospel (Rom 1:18)
Survey of Hamartology
29