Of Original Sin

We believe that, through the disobedience of Adam, original sin is extended to all mankind; which is a corruption of the whole nature, and a hereditary disease, wherewith infants themselves are infected even in their mother’s womb, and which produced in man all sorts of sin, being in him as a root thereof. 

• Belgic Confession

Introduction

Slavery is a wretched, wretched thing. And of course, American chattel slavery of the nineteenth century, as well as modern slavery going on all over the world, and all the slavery of human history, is a great evil; a sin for which its progenitors and propagators will receive a severe judgment (lest they repent) and be rewarded with eternal fiery torment. So, without belittling or beguiling this reality, it is important to understand sin, and our slavery to it properly. 

Slavery

Slavery to sin is a slavery unlike any other. It is a bondage that is rivaled by no other form in any other time. It is a taskmaster that is more heinous, ruthless, relentless, conniving, deceiving, and destructive than any other that has ever or will ever exist. Sin demands more, and takes more than any slave on Earth has ever given. Sin is the cause of all other forms of slavery, claiming for itself the pinnacle of decadent repugnance, requiring other men to mimic its repulsive schemes. What’s more, every single solitary human is or has at one time been sin’s slave. Men and women may - and I hope they do - escape the clutches of evil men in this life, but unless they are freed by the power of Christ, they will die under the whip of the most gruesome tyrant: sin.

What is particularly odious regarding sin, is the love we have for it. We love this master. We adore him and how he makes us feel. We willfully go back again and again to the pool of slop imagining it to be a feast for kings. We bemoan the evils of the slavery of men but celebrate the slavery of this villainous despot. The field owned by this master is your heart and here he makes you kill, lie, deceive, cheat, and steal. But instead of disgust by us, there is an absolute delight. There is a feeling of liberation and freedom as if we’re saying, “Thank you sin, for ruling over me as you do!” He makes us ask for his whippings over and over because we have been made to love him and love serving him. He calls to us “come!” and we run impishly right away. We are completely under his thumb - under the darkness of his domain. 

These are my words, but sin has been seen as a ghastly lord for the entirety of church history. What follows is the understanding of sin as seen by the puritans, our reformed confessions, and ultimately the scriptures themselves. 

Sin and the Puritans

Sin is a plague, yes, the greatest and most infectious plague in the world; and yet, ah! how few are there that tremble at it, that keep at a distance from it!

• Thomas Brooks

God's wounds cure — sin's kisses kill!

• William Gurnall

Death came in by sin — and sin goes out by death!

• Edmund Staunton

The throne of sin is in the heart. The strength of sin lies in the love of it. Sin ruins none but those who love it.

• Nathaniel Vincent

Crying sins are commonly answered with the echo of roaring judgments.

• John Arrowsmith

Holiness is spiritual beauty: sin is spiritual deformity.

• Peter Sterry

Sin will be always acting, if we be not always mortifying, we are lost creatures…

• John Owen

When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion

• John Owen

Sin and the confessions:

Q. 14. What is sin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God

• Westminster Shorter Catechism

Q. 27. What misery did the fall bring upon mankind?

A. The fall brought upon mankind the loss of communion with God, his displeasure and curse; so as we are by nature children of wrath, bond slaves to Satan, and justly liable to all punishments in this world, and that which is to come.

• Westminster Larger Catechism

Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all; all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

• 1689 LBCF 6.2

Q 16.  Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

A.  The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery

• A Puritan Catechism 

Every sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of God, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, bring guilt upon the sinner,o whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal.

• Westminster Confession of Faith 6.6

As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are deserving of eternal death, God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin, according to the words of the apostle: "that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God." And: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," And: "For the wages of sin is death."

• Canons of Dort first head article 1

Sin and the Bible

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

• Romans 6:16

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

• Romans 3:11-19, 23

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned

• Romans 5:12

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

• Jeremiah 17:9

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me

• Psalm 51:5

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

• Genesis 6:5

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

• 2 Peter 1:4

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

• Ecclesiastes 7:20

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

• Isaiah 64:6

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.

• Psalm 58:3

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. 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. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

• Romans 1:18-31

Conclusion

These are all but a few choice selections. If time and space allowed, there is no telling what examples and snippets heralding the awful nature of sin we may find. However, ultimately our interest in sin must conclude with two roads. The road of repentance and Christ, and the road of continued delusion and sin. 

If you are not in Christ, then you remain sin’s slave. You remain the glad grunt of a mean and injurious owner. You are owned. You don’t feel owned, you reject the notion, you balk, “I have never been a slave in my life!” but alas, this is precisely the response you have been trained to give. You are the proud and happy captive of a miscreant. There is rescue, however: Christ! He can redeem you. He has the authority and the desire to do so. Repent. Turn from sin and turn to Christ. Hate all that sin commands of you, and desire all that Christ demands of you. The burden of Christ is light and easy but feels heavy, yet the burden of sin is heavy and rough but feels light. You must choose truth over lies, Christ over sin. 

But, if you are in Christ, then you were at one point sin’s slave. You loved and worshiped it, and bowed down before it. But now you have been brought out from under sin’s domain. He still calls, “Come!” But because he no longer rules over you, you may shout back “No! I will serve my new master, Jesus Christ is his name!” and you may walk in true freedom by the power of His Spirit. You are free, truly free. While in this life you experience difficulty, because sin is always pursuing, chasing you down, tempting you to come back to your old ways - he is relentless. Yet you know that you are not your own. You have been purchased by Christ - who is kind - from the evil dictates of your former master. You know that sin was preparing for you a grave for your body, bones, hopes, and dreams to rot in, but now in Christ a home in heaven is being prepared for you, with all the other saints rejoicing over Christ and the redemption he gave! 

Rejoice in the Lord, for he has done marvelous things!

S.D.G.