ORIGINAL SIN, JUSTIFICATION, AND SANCTIFICATION

A proper understanding of the doctrine of original sin is essential for understanding justification and sanctification. A misunderstanding of original sin is likely to cause grave errors in the beliefs of an individual regarding these two vital areas. As August Pieper once said, "Any error taken to its logical conclusion will destroy faith." Thank God errors aren’t always taken to their logical conclusion.

The sin of Adam and Eve held dire consequences, not only for them personally, but also for the rest of the human race. The guilt of their first transgression and the corruption of their nature is charged to all their children, including us who are alive today. This hereditary guilt and depravity is called original sin. The Augsburg Confession says "Since the fall of Adam, all men begotten in the natural way are born with sin, that is without the fear of God, without trust in God, and with concupiscence, and this disease or vice of origin, is truly sin, even now condemning and bringing eternal death upon those not born again through Baptism and the Holy Spirit" (A. C., Art I, Triglot, p. 43). Concupiscence is the constant inclination of the human nature to sin. It stays with us as long as we are not born again through the Spirit and faith. Scripture attest to the fact that we are all sinful. Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Ro 3:23).

Before the fall, man was created in the image of God (Gn 1:27). This perfect image of God consists of a perfect knowledge of God’s will. Paul attests to this when he tells the Christians at Colosse that when they were brought to faith they "have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the Creator" (Col 3:10). Man was also created perfectly righteous and holy. The writer of Ecclesiastes said, "God made mankind upright" (Ec 8:12). Man was also created free of evil or sin. He was innocent. This can be seen in the fact that before the fall both Adam and Eve were naked but they felt no shame (Gn 2:25).

Man was created with a free will. The fact that he was able to sin is evident by the fact that he did sin. However, he also had the ability not to sin. "God saw all that he had made and it was very good" (Gn 1:31). Man was part of God’s creation. He was declared "very good." This would imply he had the ability to be good. The act of being good would mean that man had the ability not to sin. How, could God declare something good if the ability not to sin were not present?

The picture changes drastically after the fall. Man lost the image of God because of the fall into sin. Sin caused man to no longer be perfectly righteous and live a truly holy life. The innocence which was present before the fall is now gone. After the fall Adam and Eve realized they were naked and felt ashamed (Gn 3:8).

Because of the fall into sin man no longer possessed a free will. No longer was man able not to sin. After the fall, all men born in the natural way were born in the image and likeness of man (Gn 5:3). The image of man is sinful. Moses tells us that God looked down at man and saw that "the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time" (Gn 6:5). From birth, man is steeped in sin. The Psalmist, David, wrote, "Surely I was sinful from birth, from the time my mother conceived me" (Ps 51:5). God tells us through the apostle Paul, "The wages of sin is death" (Ro 6:23). Babies die every day. It therefore must follow that babies are sinful. Man can no longer choose to love God or have faith in God. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor 2:14). Man cannot keep God’s commandments. Jesus proved this to the rich young ruler who came to him asking what must be done to inherit eternal life. The Greek word "archon" used in verse 28 of the eighteenth chapter, of the Gospel of Luke to identify the person means ruler. Used in this context, it refers to a ruler of one the local synagogues or councils. These men were regarded as people who lived righteous lives. However, when the rich young ruler asked Jesus the question, Jesus replied, "You know the commandments; Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and your mother" (Lu 18:20). Jesus was recalling to the young man’s memory the Decalogue. Anyone who measures themselves up against the commandments should quickly realize how miserably they have failed if they are honest with themselves and examine themselves as God examines men. The point did not sink in for the rich ruler. He replied "All these I have kept since I was a boy" (Lu 18:21). Jesus had to prove to him that he had not kept all the commandments perfectly. He did this by challenging him. "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me" (Lu 18:22). In saying this, Jesus proved that the man loved the things of this world more than he did heavenly things. This violates the first commandment. As the rich young ruler went away sad, the disciples were amazed. Knowing this man’s reputation, they thought to themselves, if he cannot fulfill God’s demands then who could? Who possibly could be saved? Jesus answered this question for them. He said "what is impossible with man is possible with God" (Lu 18:27). For man, keeping God’s Law is impossible. Trusting in God, loving God, fearing God perfectly is an impossible task for man.

If one properly understands the doctrine of original sin, they are forced to look outside of themselves in their search for a way to be justified before God. However, the question that must be asked if salvation cannot be found in man where should man look? Since all men are sinful, looking to another man or to human reason becomes foolishness. Salvation cannot be found there. Since all other world religions teach that man must depend on his own good works to appease his God, the person understanding original sin will likewise be forced to rule out these religions. The Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God. Paul told his young protégé Timothy, "from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation" (2 Tim 3:15). God’s plan of salvation is outlined only in these pages. This is the only place we can find it.

How is man justified before God? God is a perfectly righteous God. Therefore he demands that man also must be perfect. "Be holy because I the LORD your God am holy" (Lv 19:2). There are no grades or degrees of holiness. A man is either holy or he is not holy. Holiness is like pregnancy. You can not be a little bit holy anymore than you can be a little bit pregnant. It is an all or nothing situation.

God love’s man and does not want him to be damned. He wants to redeem man. "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:3-4). But how do we balance the fact that God is perfectly righteous with God’s sincere love and desire that man not be condemned? For man this is impossible. However, for God nothing is impossible.

The loving God sent his only begotten Son into the world to do what man cannot do. God loves man. This love is the prompting cause of our salvation. It is completely different from the way man loves. God does not love because there is something in man worth loving. God loves man because God loves man. But, there must be some meritorious cause to effect man’s justification. God’s righteousness demands that sin be punished. The punishment demanded for sin is death (Ro 6:23). Eternal life must be earned by living a perfectly righteous life here on earth. God provided this meritorious cause in the perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus was true man. He had to be true man to be under the law. He had to be true man to be tempted in every way as a man. However, he is also true God. For if he was not true God, he could not have kept the Law perfectly as demanded. If he were not true God then his death would have only atoned for his sins. Since Christ was both true God and true man his life and death was enough to pay for the sins of the whole world. "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world" (1 Jn 2:2). Because of Jesus life and death, God declared every person who ever lived or ever will live not guilty. It is a declaration that is made by the Supreme Judge. Man, contributes nothing to this decision. It is not earned but given man solely by God’s grace.

What has been universally declared and objectively completed for the world must somehow be appropriated to us individually. That is, along with the objective justification there must also be subjective justification. However, just as in the universal justification, so also in subjective justification God must do it all. The prompting cause of subjective justification is God’s grace. Grace, by definition, is an undeserved gift. It can not be earned, for if it is earned it is no longer grace but wages(Ro 4:4). The meritorious cause of subjective justification is, again, the perfect life innocent death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The instrument through which subjective justification is transmitted to man is the Gospel in Word and Sacrament that bring man to faith. Faith is a result of justification not a cause. The Bible generally uses three different terms to describe the process by which man is brought to faith.

Conversion is used as one of the ways to describe the process of man being brought to faith. Conversion means turn around. The Bible presents a picture of man walking straight down the path to hell and God interrupting with the Gospel and turning the man 180 degrees toward heaven. Because of original sin, man’s role in conversion must be purely a passive role. The process must be instantaneous.

Another term used to describe the process of man being brought to faith is regeneration. Regeneration means born again. God comes to man with his Word and gives man a spiritual life he did not have before. It is an instantaneous work, which is accomplished through the means of grace. Man is once again passive in regeneration.

The final term used to describe the process by which man is brought to faith is quickening or raising from the dead. Once again, this is accomplished through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. Man is completely passive. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, Lazarus did not "choose" whether he wanted to be raised or not. He was not required to do anything to help Jesus or to do anything before Jesus raised him. It was instantaneous. There was no middle ground where he laid between being alive and being dead. He was dead. And immediately, when Jesus spoke he was alive.

If man is purely passive in salvation, How is it that some are brought to faith while others never come to faith? This is a question that cannot be answered. We can not say, as Calvin and his followers do, that some people are chosen to be damned while others are chosen to be saved. Likewise, we cannot say, as Arminians do, that man must choose to believe. Nor can we say, as Rome does, that original sin is not damning sin. We cannot say that man must do something to earn salvation. The Scriptures clearly teach that God wants all men to be saved. Likewise, the Scriptures clearly teach that man plays no active part in his justification. While this does not reconcile with human reasoning, we must let Scripture stand on its own. We must not limit God to the capacity of human reason.

Where, then, does good works come to play. Good works are part of the Christian life after being brought to faith. The Biblical term for this Christian living is sanctification. In sanctification, man does play a role. Man does cooperate in living the God-pleasing life.

Although even here, man does not cooperate on an equal basis with God. God gives man the opportunity on a daily basis to do good works. God, through faith, places in man the desire to do good works. God gives man the ability to do God pleasing works that the believer does not have. The believer’s responsibility in the living of a sanctified Christian life is to do the works, which God provides.

Errors in understanding the doctrine of original sin will also cause errors in understanding justification and sanctification. Those who deny original sin do so because they cannot accept that man does not have free will regarding spiritual matters. Denial of original sin will cause man to look to something other than God and his Word alone for salvation. Denial of original sin will nullify God’s grace by making it something earned, either because man has decided to be a believer, or because man earns grace through good works. Denial of original sin will cause one to look at something lying within himself as the meritorious cause of salvation and he will deny the cross. Denial of original sin will cause man to view the means of grace as something other than Word and Sacrament. Instead of the Gospel being the means by which man is converted the means of grace become the persuasiveness of the preacher, or prayer, or the altar call, or the emotional tug of a hymn. Whatever touches the emotions to the point that it causes the sinner to decide for Christ becomes the means of grace. Denial of original sin will cause the Sacrament of Holy Baptism to become nothing more than a public profession of faith instead of being "the water that now saves you" (1 Pt 3:21). Denial of original sin will cause the Sacrament of Holy Communion to become a memorial meal instead of something that offers the believer forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith. Finally, denial of original sin will cause one to diminish God’s role in our sanctified Christian living. As Pieper said, "Any error in doctrine will destroy faith if taken to its logical conclusion." But, thank God errors are not always taken to their logical conclusion.

WORKS CITED

Bente, F. Concordia Triglot. St Louis MO

Concordia Publishing House, 1921

Thompson, Frank Charles, D.D., Ph.D. The Thompson Chain-Reference

Bible. New International Version. Indianapolis, IN. B.B.

Kirkbridge Bible Co., Inc. 1990.