Basic Bible Doctrine

Man and Sin

• Is it appropriate to use the word “man” to refer to the entire human race?

• Gen. 5:1-2 This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man. "

• The Hebrew term translated “man” is adam.

• The practice of using the same term to refer – 1) to male human beings and – 2) to the human race generally is a practice that

originated with God himself.• We should not find it objectionable or insensitive

• God did not need to create man• God does not need us or the rest of creation for

anything• God is self-existent and enjoyed perfect love and

fellowship eternally within the trinity.– John 17:5, 24 And now, Father, glorify me in your

presence with the glory I had with you before the world began…"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Why was man created?

• God created us for his own glory• Is. 43:7 Bring my sons from afar and my

daughters from the ends of the earth--everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.“

• Col. 1:16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

• Our lives have genuine importance and significance

• We are important to God• Our purpose in life is fulfill the reason that

God created us: to glorify him.

• We begin to discover that to glorify him brings joy and delight to us.

• John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

• Ps. 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

• Ps. 73:25-26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

• Ps. 84:1-2, 10 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

• The first question of the Westminster Larger Catechism is:– What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer:– Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God,

and fully enjoy him forever.

What about God seeking his own glory?

• It’s wrong for man to seek his own glory (Acts 12:12, 12:23) because we rob it from God

• The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy himself forever

• God is righteous; he recognizes, welcomes, loves and upholds with infinted jealousy and every what is infintiely valuable, the worth of God.

• Is. 48:9-11 For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.

• Love is helping people toward the greatest beauty and the highest value and the deepest satisfaction and the most lasting joy and the biggest reward and the most wonderful friendship and the most overwhelming worship –love is helping people toward God. We do this by pointing to the greatness of God. God does it by pointing the greatness of God

John Piper

• Rom. 11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Man in God’s Image

• Only one creature is said to made “in the image of God” - Man

• Gen. 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

• Hebrew words for image and likeness refer to something similar, not identical

• It something that represents something else

• God’s image was distorted in the fall, not lost• Gen. 5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he

had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

• Gen. 9:5-6 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

• James 3:9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.

• Redemption in Christ is a progressive recovering of more of God’s image

• Col. 3:9-10 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

• 2 Cor. 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

• Rom. 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

• At Christ’s return: complete restoration of God’s image

• 1 Cor. 15:48-49 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

• 2 Cor. 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God

• Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

• Heb. 1:2-3 in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being

• 1 John 3:2-3 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

So what does “likeness” mean?

• We are moral creatures• We are morally accountable to God for our

actions• We have an inner sense of right and

wrong

• Spiritual aspects

– We have immaterial spirits as well as physical bodies

– We have a spiritual life that can relate to God, pray to him, praise him and listen to him

– We have immortality; we will not cease to exist but will live forever

• Mental aspects– We have the ability to reason, think logically, and

learn (abstract reasoning)

– We use complex abstract language

– We have an awareness of the future

– We exhibit creativity in art, music, literature, cooking, science and technological inventiveness

– We exhibit a complexity of emotions

• We have dignity as God’s image bearers

• Every single human being, no matter how much the image is marred by sin, weakness, illness, age or any other disability, still has the status of being in God’s image and must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due to God’s image bearer

Sin

• Any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature

• Sin is defined in relation to God• 1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the

law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

• This definition emphasizes the seriousness of sin.

• Joseph: Gen. 39:9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

• David: Ps. 51:13-14 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Where did sin (evil) come from?

• Denial of Dualism: there is an eternally existing evil power in the universe similar to or equal to God himself in power

• God created evil (for his purposes)

• I take this to mean that sin does not come from God’s nature. That is, it’s not an extension or aspect of God’s nature or character. God is holy, and there is no unholiness in him. God is light, and in him is no darkness. The darkness and unholiness of sin do not arise as part of God’s nature or character. They don’t come from him in that sense. Sin can be from God and through God in the sense of ultimate and decisive cause, but not in the sense that sin comes from his nature or character. God wills that sin be, without himself sinning. It is not a sin when God, with infinite wisdom and holiness, ordains that sin exist. Sin is “from him” as the one who ordained it, but “not from him” as an expression of his nature.

Inherited Sin

• Inherited guilt• We are counted guilty because of Adam’s

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

• This is unfair! Be careful!• Rom. 2:6 God "will give to each person

according to what he has done." • Col. 3:25 Anyone who does wrong will be

repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

• If we think it’s unfair for us to be represented by Adam, then we should also think it is unfair for us to be represented by Christ and have his righteousness imputed to us by God.

• Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

• Inherited corruption: we have a sinful nature because of Adam’s sin

• Traditionally called “original sin”• Ps. 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful

from the time my mother conceived me.• Eph. 2:3 All of us also lived among them at one

time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath

• This inherited tendency to sin does not mean that human beings are all as bad as they could be.

• There are restraining influences on the sinful tendencies of our heart

• We totally lack spiritual good before God

• Every part of our being is affected by sin.

• Rom. 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.

• Jer. 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

• We are totally unable to do spiritual good before God

• Rom. 8:8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

• Is. 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags

Rom. 3:9-20 "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.“ "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.“ "The poison of vipers is on their lips.“ "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”

"There is no fear of God before their eyes." Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to

those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Are there degrees in sin?

• Yes and no! It depends.• Legal guilt

– Any sin makes us legally guilty before God and worthy of eternal punishment

– Consider the Garden of Eden (one sin of disobedience) Rom. 5:16 The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation

– James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

• Results in life and relationship with God• Some sins are worse than others in that

they have more harmful consequences in our lives and in the lives of others

• John 19:11 Jesus answered ( to Pilate), "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin."

• Unintentional sin is still sin, but the penalties required are less than in the case of intentional sin.

• Coveting your car is sin before God. • Stealing your car would be a more serious

sin. • Stealing your car and injuring you in the

process would be even more serious

• If you lose your temper and get into a fight at church, that’s sin

• If I lose my temper and get into a fight at church, I lose my job

• What happens when we (Christians) sin?• Our legal standing before God is

unchanged• Rom. 8:1 Therefore, there is now no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

• Salvation is not based on our merit, but a gift from God

• Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

• Fellowship with God is disrupted and our life and witness damaged

• We can “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”• The Lord disciplines those he loves• 2 Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before

the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

• The danger of “unconverted evangelicals”

• A consistent pattern of disobedience and a lack of the elements of the fruit of the Spirit is a warning signal that the person is probably not a true Christian inwardly.

• There is reason to doubt the regenerating work of the HS and genuine faith