The Doctrine Of Original Sin: Free Will or Free Choice?

Now to him who words , the wages are not

counted as grace but as debt. But to him

who does not work but believes on Him

who justifies the ungodly, his faith

is accounted for righteousness, just as

David also describes the blessedness

of the man to whom God imputes

righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose lawless

deeds are forgiven, and whole sins

are covered; blessed is the man to whom

the LORD shall not impute sin.”

Romans 4:4–8; cf. Psalm 32:1–2

            In our discussion of Original Sin, a theological doctrine given by the Early Church Fathers to account for sin and man’s inability to not sin we must address the dividing doctrine of Free Will. Free Will according to men such as Pelagius and Jacobus Arminius removes from man the doctrine of Original Sin which was passed down to Adam’s progeny. Yet it is this sin of Adam that affected both earth and the heavens that is why the universe groans for it is in turmoil (Romans 8:20–22). The sin of Adam had consequences far beyond what we can imagine for sin only existed with Satan, Lucifer, the angel that defied God and before man sin the only matter to be dealt with was Satan, and his legions of fallen angels. Satan fall did not affect the universe as did man’s for man willfully sinned against God in a manner that demanded justice for the world was made for man, not for angels, that is, not in the same way. Angels have a work to do in the realm of the universe and this work was to do the will of God, and yes, Satan willfully sinned, his pride, his ability to choose right from wrong was present when he sinned, but the world was for and is for man. God could have destroyed Satan and not have affected His glory for all other faithful angels would see that God was just in punishing Satan. Yet, for man it was different, for man was to live by faith in a physical real world that he was to rule and care for as his work in his eternal life. This Adam threw away and sinned against God and his eternal life. Now, all that was for man was to be affected and in each and every successive year from that point the earth began to groan under the pain of Adam’s sin affecting men who came after Adam, and God eventually dealt with man’s sin by global flood, destroying man, but saving Noah due to the faith of Noah in God, and obeying the command of God to build an ark, to believe in God that God would destroy the earth as then known and now, after the flood the earth having been reshaped, the atmosphere no longer separated by a water canopy, the earth was affected in a negative way: the earth groans to be what God had intended for it to be and will groan until God restores the earth by making it anew.

            The sin of Adam was due to his ability in his free will to choose and this he did without having an effect from sin, so he did it willingly knowing the will of God and willingly disobeyed God’s command. Pride, and a desire to do what his wife, Eve, asked of him and no longer believed that God could restore even for him a woman who would be faithful, he was afraid of losing what he had. This then made cause for heredity corruption and a lose of those ornaments that God gave to the first pair, first to Adam and passed on to Eve, the ornament of wisdom, virtue, truth, justice, and holiness and all was now substituted by dire pests, blindness, impotence, vanity, impurity, and unrighteousness, plunged his posterity into the same wretchedness. Satan knew all this but wanted by his pride and desire to have what God had, the universe and worship of man, hid all this from the first pair and deceptively deceived Eve, but Adam, Adam sinned outright and having walked with God, and talked with God, knowing that God created him and all that was, cast upon his posterity Original Sin a sin man could not of himself remove. But, not all believe this as a British Monk taught something far different and his teaching has been divisive in the Christian community even affecting Jacobus Arminius who has influenced those Churches who claim Christianity but teach that man could save himself and that there is no Original Sin that was caused by Adam and Adam’s posterity. So, I will give one such saying from Pelagius and then in the next blogs will discuss this even more.

“In the manner of good–for nothing and haughty servants, we cry out against the face of God and say, ‘It is hard, it is difficult, we cannot do it, we are but men, we are encompassed by frail flesh!’ [“The argument of the Gnostics] What blind madness! What unholy foolhardiness! We accuse God of a twofold lack of knowledge, so that he appears not to know what he has done, and not to know what he has commanded; as if, forgetful of the human frailty of which he is himself the author, he has imposed on man commands which he cannot bear. And, at the same time, oh horror!, we ascribe iniquity to the righteous and cruelty to the holy, while complaining, first, that he has commanded something impossible, secondly, that man is to be damned by him for doing things which he was unable to avoid, so that God –– and this is something which even to suspect is sacrilege – seems to have sought not so much our salvation as our punishment!” Pelagius (The Letters of Pelagius and his Followers by B.R. Rees, p. 53, published by The Boydell Press). Retrieved from the Internet: http://www.libraryoftheology.com/writings/freewill/Early_Church_on_Free_Will.pdf: March 29, 2013

Pelagius (fl. c. 390-418) was an ascetic who opposed the idea of predestination and asserted a strong version of the doctrine of free will. He was accused by Augustine of Hippo and others of denying the need for divine aid in performing good works. For him (according to them), the only grace necessary was the declaration of the law; humans were not wounded by Adam's sin and were perfectly able to fulfill the law apart from any divine aid. He denied the more specific doctrine of original sin as developed by Augustine. Pelagius was declared a heretic by the Council of Carthage

            I will close this blog with this to jar your thinking: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom” (Psalm 51:5–6.

Create in me a clean heart,

O God,

And renew a steadfast

            Spirit within me.

Do no cast me away from

            Your presence,

And do not take Your

            Holy Spirit from me.

                        Psalm 51:10–11

God Desires Your Faith: He Gave It To You As A Free Gift

Richard L. Crumb

Flee From Sin: Flee To God!

Man who is born of woman is of few days

and full of trouble. He comes forth like

a flower and fades away: He flees like

A shadow and does not continue.

And do You open Your eyes on such a one,

and bring me to judgment with Yourself?

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?

No one!

Since his day are determined, the number

of his months is with You; You have

appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.

Look away from him that he may rest,

till like a hired man he finishes his day.

Job 14:1–6

            Oh! What a fallacy it is to think that you are autonomous, that you control your life. I some ways you do, but you do not have the day, hour, or minute that you pass from this world. God knows and controls our time here on earth. We do know that death is coming, how, when, why, where, and by who, we do not know unless it is be some terrible disease, but we do know it will fade away like a flower. Who can save one from such a terrible curse? NO ONE! No one but God. This is His world, it is His to maintain, to control so that His purpose for creation will be accomplished. None of this curse that is applied to the world caused by man’s sin, or the death that plagues the world would exist if not for the sin of one man; Adam. Would it not have been better if Adam had obeyed the command of God? Would it not be better for us to obey the commands of God? To not obey God is not to love God, it is to be carried away by the blasphemies of Satan; it is to annihilate the glory of God. Would have not been better for Adam to keep his desires in restraint? Yes, Satan did exist, and Satan is a liar, a thief for he stole what man had, a true relationship with the creator, and immortal life, a time by which he could eat of the Tree of Life. God would then in His providence deal with Satan, and man would not be in the turmoil he finds himself, the world would not be groaning under the sin that plagues the universe: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with the pangs together until now” (Romans 8:20–22).

            We may fail to realize that Adam’s spiritual life was what was affected and that is the cause for him to have the curse put on him by God. Our spirit life is to be bound with our creator, and not to be bound to Him is to be estranged from Him by the death of our soul: this is what happened to Adam. Now the world, a perfect world, was perverted and the whole order of nature is deteriorated by this revolt towards God. Are you revolting from God? Why should the world bear the punishment of Adam? This question is asked and it is a good question. The world was made for man, for a perfect man but now man was no longer perfect as created and the world fell under the curse upon Adam, a curse that would not allow for the world to provide the perfection that was lost by sin. This was the punishment deservedly for man, for man was the “apple of God’s eye” and the reason for all other things to exist. All creatures were then affected by this original sin, and this made cause for death, for sickness, for pain, and suffering. Ante–flood people still lived in a world that is not as our is, a world that was still in the throes of perfection but was being destroyed by sin, and sin would have it way with the people of that era, a sin that made cause for God to desire to destroy all that He had created but for one man Noah who found favor in the eyes of God, God was merciful and saved him and seven others of his family. God is merciful, but God does require payment for sin. The question for us is will God be merciful to us and save us from the calamity that is destroying us eternally? Will God see faith in us, a faith in Him? If so that faith will be seen in our exercise of that faith by following His commands. Noah was faithful and built a “boat” when boats were not even known about at that time, a boat to house animals: think on this, a faith that God would somehow bring to him animals of all kinds? HUH! How, how can I believe that? Noah may have wondered but Noah believed in God. God offers salvation to His children, eternity that was lost by original sin of Adam that spread to all the world, his progeny. Do you believe that? Or is it just a hope! Are you doing the will of God that is as simple as what Adam had placed upon him, to not eat of one tree in the garden? God gives us two things: His commands, things which we can perform, and He gives His children His Spirit to guide us in our exercise of His commands. Unless we ignore the influence of the Holy Spirit, and we ignore His commands so that we can live the way we desire, a way that is blasphemous to God, a revolt against the God, our creator, our Sustainer, our Savior.

            It is not unreasonable to think that a holy God would require payment for willfulness of man, a willfulness shown in revolt to Him, and a willful sinning that has affected to world. God is just, not just a fair God. This is His world, it is His to control, and to determine even our days on this earth. It was Original Sin that we are in bondage too, and there is NO ONE who can save himself; it requires what man cannot do: It requires God who created us to save us. This He has done by His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and all we have to do is allow the faith that God gives freely to believe on the Only Begotten Son of God and be saved. Will you!

For those who live according

            To the flesh set their

Minds on the things of the flesh,

            But those who live according

To the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

            For to be carnally minded

Is death, but to the spiritually minded

            Is life and peace.

                                    Romans 8:5–6

Be Counted Today As One Of God’s Children

Richard L. Crumb

Pride And Ambition Are In Opposition To God

Now the serpent was more cunning than any

beast of the field which the LORD God had made.

and he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said,

‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent,

‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,

but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst

of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it,

nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’

Then the serpent said to the woman,

 ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in

the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened,

and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:1–5

            How often men get so involved in arguments that have no basis, that is, they argue what can never be known, at least in this life. Many want to argue as to the serpent, what was he, how could he be talked with, and why did Eve listen to a serpent? And so on! I don’t know! You don’t know! And no one can give an answer to any of these questions. Why? Because we do not have enough information about the pre–flood era. Any such argument in regards to the Serpent is to miss the point of this narrative. Eve knew what God had commanded. Period! Eve knew not only not to eat of this tree in the middle of the garden, but also not even to touch it, and if she did she would die. Now, the serpent gave a bold–faced lie: “You will not surely die…’ (vs. 4). The woman at this point should have scolded, in the least the serpent for saying such a thing, but she did not, she kept on listening to the serpent. Now the serpent told Eve the one thing that intrigues and draws people away from God, His commands, and it pride, pride to be autonomous, to be more than they actually are, to be great, to be a celebrity, to have fame, fortune, to have somehow through there own efforts a happy, and fulfilled life. The serpent led Eve by furthering his lie by saying that “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (vs. 5). The serpent spoke in direct contradiction as to what God had said, and then gave this subtle fact, “God knows” and this was to speak that God was holding back some knowledge, a knowledge hidden from man so man could not become a god. And in her desire to have what possibly was being kept from her, a chance to be as God and to know good and evil, she listened to the serpent and did eat of the fruit that God had commanded her not to eat or even touch. Did she get to know good and evil? Yes! Did she become like God, Yes, in this sense she now knows what God knew, good and evil and her attitude was one of defiance in light of the truth that God was Good, and that God was with her and Adam and that God had provide all they needed and only gave a simple but direct command. Eve knew she sinned, and this sin was against a holy and just God. When a person looks upon those things that God has commanded for man to avoid they become a desirable thing, and man will not only approach this thing which God commanded to be avoided they will continue to look upon it and soon they will act upon this detestable thing in the eyes of God: “So when the woman say that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (vs. 6). Keep looking at the bottle of Vodka, that beer, that chocolate, that huge plate of food, more than is necessary, or that woman or man, and soon all thought of its evil are gone and it has a pleasant aroma of being good, and you will partake of it. It becomes no longer a matter of the eyes, it becomes a matter of the heart. In a large sense these objects of our desire take on a matter of worship, and no longer are to be used properly as God intended, rather they are used as objects of our enjoyment and not simply an object of use, and object if used properly will become objects that lead a person to worship of the only object that has a right to worship; God. To not do what God has commanded is to despise God, and to try, as best we can, to become as god, to know what only God knows, to have which has no business in our life, a business that will draw us away from our God and Savior. When God approaches a sinner they run away and try to hide, to hide behind false theologies, false and improper ideologies, and make excuses for not be faithful to their creator, God: “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves form the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (vs. 8). How often do men try to hide themselves in activities that are honoring God, or in activities that make them feel pious, only to be hiding from actually doing the will of God. This infidelity is the root of all evil, the rood of revolt, a revolt against God. This infidelity springs from ambition and pride, and ingratitude, all that man devises by his longing for more than what God has intended for man to have, an intention that will only bring good to man, and immortality. But Adam willfully sinned, no pretence here, Adam was first in creation of man, it was to Adam that God gave this command and it was Adam who willfully sinned against God knowing that God spoke of death and life and to sin was to become dead. This apostasy was not a simple apostasy, it was a foul insult to God, a rebellion against God, a just God, a justice that now had to be atoned for a perfect man now was a dead man and that death now reigned on this earth affecting the earth and man and man being totally depraved could no save himself for this eternal death. God to fulfill His purpose for creating man must be satisfied, but man could not satisfy this debt. It would take a perfect man, a man that faced with all that the serpent can throw at Him would not cause Him to sin and then since death now reigned upon man, it would take the death of a perfect man to atoned sin, to satisfy the justice of God.

            This will continue in the next blogs and we will come to a knowledge as all what this sin has done to this world, to society, and to the children of God.

In him also we have obtained

            An inheritance, being

Predestined according to the

            Purpose of Him who

Works all things according

            To the counsel of

His will.

                        Ephesians 1:11

God Worked His Power Through Christ

Richard L. Crumb

Seeking The Wisdom Of God

Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

and profitable to those who see the sun.

For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense,

but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom

gives life to those who have it.

Ecclesiastes 7:11–12

Wisdom is better than weapons of war;

but one sinner destroys much good.

Ecclesiastes 9:18

            Wisdom may come to a person through experience; in fact there is a wisdom that comes from experience but the experience may be painful and extols unprofitable results which a wise person learns not to do such and such again. Wisdom may come from study a knowledge learned and the best knowledge is the wisdom of God learned through study of His word for it is His wisdom that gives life; life eternal. Wisdom used by a sinner may cast forward atrocities for that wisdom comes by the means of his own thinking, his own self–centered presuppositions: i.e., Hitler, Pol Pot, Jim Jones, and others who have done much harm by leaning on themselves as the center of their universe; their own wisdom. Faith is necessary in life. There is a faith that has as its foundation some knowledge that enables a person to do a thing, or not to do a thing. When a person drives their car across the Golden Gate Bridge there is a measure of faith that is needed, but there is knowledge that it would be ok to cross as the foundation has knowledge of the many cars that cross it each and every day. But until a person crosses the bridge the faith is faith potential, not faith exercised. Faith must be tested. A wise person has some knowledge and foundation for their faith but faith is not faith until it is tested and proved. This is the case with the original pair, Adam and Eve. This original pair had their faith tested  and a way to exercise their faith: don’t eat of the tree of good and evil, the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve had their faith tested by exercising their willingness to be obedient, a willing submission to the will of God. Was this an impossible feat to keep, to be obedient too? No! Until they ate of the fruit they only experienced the good and this was their knowledge and as a wise person they would not eat of the tree of knowledge because God, their creator asked them not to do so and before them was eternal life, immortal life. By Adam and Eve eating of the fruit the disobeyed God and employed His wrath upon them, the world, and all that would come after them, children, and the world without the chaos that now entails the world as we know it. This was huge thing to disobey God, willfully disobey God. God being just and having the need for His justice to be met due to the giving of this command to not eat of this tree of knowledge, one that could easily be kept demanded that the sentence be placed upon the world and upon man: death, destruction. How could Adam and Eve be so easily tempted and seduced to listen to the Serpent? Now, don’t get caught up in the debate as to what this Serpent was or looked like, it was Satan disguised as an acceptable being that Adam and Eve would listen too and then speak against God, but more so, fueled the pride of man into being disobedient, willfully disobedient. Did they need to listen to the Serpent? No! But the did, and it was pride a self–centeredness that made them sin, to miss the mark, a mark they could have avoided even shooting at for all they needed was already supplied. The fall of man has its origin, not in just listening to the Serpent, but had its origin in disobedience: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). Thank God for His mercy and for the One obedient Man: Jesus Christ.

            When the word of God is despised, all reverence for Him is gone! How is it possible to give to God the majesty due Him as God, as Creator, as Savior, and as Helper, if we do not obey His word? When we put ourselves, our presuppositions that are making God to be what we want Him to be, and to make God the giver of things as though He is a vending machine, that He must do what we desire are we not usurping the authority of God? Yes! Are you a man or woman of integrity? If so, why not do what His word says we should do? Why do we make excuses like Adam did: “Then the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave men of the tree, and I ate’” (Genesis 3:12). Adam put the blame the fault onto God and shunned his responsibility to follow God’s command. Are you doing the same? I ask myself the same question. When God say to keep the Sabbath, and for Christians that is the first day of the week, Sunday, holy, are we? Or, are we finding ways to disobey God? Are we pushing the ox into the ditch so that we cannot do what God has commanded. Is our desire so great that we will willingly disobey God? This is monstrous impiety! The greatest impiety, in a large sense, is that the Son of God, the Wisdom of God, God Himself would come to earth to pay the debt that no man can pay for himself and this was done by Jesus Christ upon the cross after living on this earth and not sinning. Oh, He was God you say, yes, He was God, but He was fully man and experienced all the sorrows of that man has to endure. He did not turn aside as man to do the will of man, rather He came and did the will of the Father who clothed His wisdom in flesh, to experience all that man experiences, to die in place of man who could by the inherited sin from Adam was not able to save himself. Oh, there are those who teach that man has just enough goodness in him that he can save himself. Really, man is not totally depraved? Huh! Show me a man who can save himself, who has enough goodness in him to make cause in him to not sin, to not be willingly disobedient. There are none: “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good no, not one”(Romans 3:10–12). Gain wisdom from this knowledge found in His word, that disobedience to God bring wrath, and obedience gives life, a wisdom that gives life.

Blessed are those whose

            Lawless deeds are forgiven,

And whose sins are covered;

            Blessed is the man to whom

The LORD shall not impute sin.

                        Romans 4:7–8; cf. Psalm 32:1–2

Love God, Live life!

Richard L. Crumb

Resting On and In His Commandments

The law of the LORD is perfect,

converting the soul;

the testimony of the LORD is sure,

making wise the simple;

the statutes of the LORD are right,

Rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the LORD is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

the fear of the LORD is clean,

enduring forever;

the judgments of the LORD are true

and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,

yes, than much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

moreover by them Your servant is warned,

and in keeping them there is great reward.

Psalm 19:7–11

            The misunderstanding of the doctrine of original sin has been the cause for many false theologies. Looking back on the blogs that I enumerated the various heresies and false teaching in regard to God and how man is to have a relationship with God we can find that they try to obliterate in the most and to lessen the impact in the least as to the doctrine of sin; especially original sin. It is not so different in the present age for man attempts to replace original sin from them because they cannot fathom sin, a sin from the original pair as to have any emphasis on their lives and then fill this lack of understanding and desire to desire what this world has to offer. Man, especially in this modern era, has fallen prey to an ideology that teaches that man is independent and has within himself all that he needs to be successful in this life. There is a replacement of Godly knowledge and desire to follow Him with such thins as; “finding oneself,” or to find things that would raise their spirits in such in such things as entertainment, playtime, drugs, illicit sex, pornography, or just to not even think of God: it is to humbling to think of oneself as a sinner with sin that he cannot remove. Men today are prideful, they have assimilated into their thinking of their goodness, or supposed goodness, and that they are somehow the center of their universe; but is this so, or is it just pride and is this harmful? The writer of Proverbs gives this warning: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). This was the problems with Adam and Eve, pride, a desire to have what they were commanded not to have, a desire to be like God, and many today act as if they are little gods. Remember the trial for Adam and Eve was a simple one considering they had no need to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge; it was a trial of obedience and a willing submission to the command of God. Many today pick and choose which commandments they wish to keep and those which they avoid. One such commandment that is so blatantly abused is the commandment found in the Ten Commandments; OH! Most will keep the commandment to not covet, to not murder, do not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, to not commit adultery (although it seems as if this commandments is also being abused by Christians), to not steal, to not bear false witness against your neighbor, and even though there is a strong movement to teach our children not to honor their father and mother, that they too are just an evolved creature who is not to have any moral teachings other than to pursue their way and to be prideful in all they do; but, there is this commandment that is not kept by most Christians: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8–11). Some Churches even abuse the commandment not to make for yourself any carved image and have icons of some saint or some supposed carving of an Apostle, others have pictures of Jesus as though they are the real Jesus and even give some form of homage to them; but then claim that they are just to aid in worship to God, as though they needed them. This is a problem that began with Adam and Eve, they in their pride and disobedience to the command of God thought that they could have what Satan offered them and forgot that God loved them and gave them simple commands, walked with them in the cool of the evening and by keeping His commands they would continue to be blessed by God and have immortality. How could they have immortality? They would keep eating the tree of life. Do we have a tree of life that would give to us immortality? Yes! Jesus Christ! It was God who came to earth, the Wisdom of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, to pay the debt that man could not pay and then to take the act upon the cross, His death, resurrection, and ascension bodily into heaven that He is the tree of life from which His children dine upon and this is everlasting life: “Jesus said to her, ‘ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25–26)? Do you believe this? Will you keep His simple commandments? Or, will you like Adam toss away your relationship with Him for that which Satan presents as something better? I hope that the faith that God has given to you, the enabling of you, and the drawing to Him will make cause for true worship of God and to be an Authentic Biblical Christian.

Jesus answered them, “I told you,

            And you do not believe.

The works that I do in My Father’s

            Name, they bear witness of Me.

But you do not believe, because you are

            Not of My sheep, as I said to you.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them,

            And they follow Me.

And I give them eternal life, and

they shall never perish; neither shall

anyone snatch them out of My hand.

                                    John 11:25–28

Prepare Now for the Sabbath and Then Rest On His Day

Richard L. Crumb

           

By The Free Gift Of Faith You Have Been Saved

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have

Heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten

From the tree of which I commanded you,

Saying ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake;

In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,

And you shall eat the herb of the field.

In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread

Till you return to the ground, for out of it

You were taken; for dust you are,

And to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:17–19

            Prior to this pronouncement by God, this curse upon the ground, and upon Adam and Eve that they would no longer be permitted to live in the Garden of Eden where they lived a wonderful and full life, even so to walk with God and talk with God. Before Adam and Eve was an immortal life, one prepared for man when they were created and all God asked of them was not to eat of a certain tree, a tree in the middle of many trees, of trees that bore fruit, shade, and comfort, a life we all surely dream of having, but now as for Adam and Eve, it is only a dream, for some a hope, and for others it is a sure hope due to their believing and having faith in the Son of God which was promised when God cursed the ground and man, a curse upon Satan, the Serpent, the deceiver: “So the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on our belly yo9u shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel’” (Genesis 3:14–16; cf. Romans 16:20: Revelations 12:9). This action taken by God, this severe punishment must have been more due to something greater than some trivial crime, even some heinous crime to provoke God to set down such a curse: man was to die and return from which he was taken, and the ground itself was cursed due to Adam’s sin. We must take time to attend to this curse, this act of God as there are those who will not take this account as actually happening, as this is only a story devised to account for thorns, thistles, for earthquakes, for death. Think of this, all Adam did was to eat a fruit from a particular tree. There were other trees with fruit, delicacies to enjoy but God demanded that from a certain tree, the tree of good and bad was to be avoided. Why? This prohibition to refrain from the tree of good and bad, this tree of knowledge held a knowledge that prior to their eating of its fruit they did not have, they knew only good and had an idea of bad due to God’s command to refrain from eating of the tree of knowledge. Man was free, had free will, absolutely free will, many will say we too have free will, and in a sense we do, but we actually have a the will of free choice. I can choose the manner in which I might travel; let’ say to Los Angeles; I can walk, ride a bike, take a car, train, or fly, and I can even choose the day and hour of my departure. That is free choice. To choose salvation takes another will but our souls are contaminated with sin, and completely immersed in sin and has no desire to do Godly things even though we may desire to do good things. But motives of doing good are more often than not only a way to receive personal feeling of good, or of some piety. For the soul to do good and choose God it takes a will that has been immersed in faith. This is what this trial of prohibition to Adam and Eve was, a trial of obedience, and by Adam and Even observing this would by his faith in God show his willingness to be obedient to the command of God. By faith we come to be submitted to God, it takes faith to please God, for we are made in His image, free to choose Him, free to live in the least a virtuous life, (many don’t): “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to god must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Adam had this promise of eternal life but God in making Adam in His image also gave Him this free will and to have free will there must be a demand that would validate Adam’s faith; that would be done by simply following a simple command of God: don’t eat of the tree of knowledge. We too have a simple command: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Saved for what? Eternal life. How can I believe when my soul is far removed from desiring things of God. Saving faith must come into the life a man by God, for only God can give this type of faith: “Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either” (Romans ll:20). The precept that we can glean from this account of Adam and Eve is that Adam and Eve should be content with their lot. Is this not true of Authentic Biblical Christians? We should be content with our lot for we are legally now in heaven for Jesus Christ took to heaven His sacrifice that paid the debt of sin that man could not pay and it is there eternally in heaven making intercession for all those that God had given to His Son. We have the same hope as did Adam and Eve: eternal life. Until Jesus Christ returns to destroy Satan, that is to bruise Satan in the head, once and for all time, we faithfully wait with a sure hope of His promise and His promises are never not fulfilled. Praise God for it is He who gives the faith needed to be saved, the faith that makes cause for our souls to cry out in belief that Jesus Christ is our savior: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the sprit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2). But God who is rich in mercy and power and by His grace: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

            Is this not good news? God, Himself took upon Himself to save some and this by giving them the faith to believe. Do you believe? Are you who have stated that you believe faithfully following His commands?

Therefore He says:

            Awake, you

Who sleep, arise from

            The dead, and

Christ will give you light.

                        Ephesians 5:14

Pray to God in worship today

Richard L. Crumb

Inclining Our Ears To The Words Of God

Teach me O LORD, the way of Your statutes,

And I shall keep it to the end.

Give me understanding, and I shall keep You law;

Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Make me walk in the path of your commandments,

For I delight in it. Incline my ear to Your testimonies,

And not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from

Looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your ways.

Psalm 110:33–37

            King David cried out to the LORD for he knew that he was a sinner and had sinned grievously against God and cried to God for help so that he would not be turned away from Him again. Is this your cry? Is this your acknowledgment as to your sinfulness? “Before I was afflicted I went astray. But now I keep Your word” (Psalm 119:67). Is God the highest priority of your life who has the highest of devotion and worship? Or, are you still seeing your own goodness and rely on your wisdom, in your own powers, and extolling your own excellence even if done is some form of humility? Is self–knowledge having the highest place in your life and a desire to find and have such good qualities that God will accept you? The general truth revealed to man in Scripture does concur with a person having self–knowledge: it is a good thing if used properly. Yet, there is a difference in this wisdom between having a form of self–knowledge and the knowledge of self as God sees you. The difference between the two forms is in the way by which this knowledge is acquired. A man as to his flesh sees self–knowledge complete when he as acquired an overwhelming confidence in his won intelligence and integrity as this will aid him to acquire courage, and does spur him on to do virtuous deeds, a form of philanthropy. Men even fight, against vice, and makes laws which have a foundation in morality. But, when man tries himself by the standard of Divine Justice and this pattern of Justice is revealed to man in God’s word, he finds in himself nothing that would inspire him to such confidence and with more self–examination he often falls deep into despondency. If a man abandons his own confidence a feeling of being incapable of regulating his conduct. God’s will is not such as that man should forget his primeval dignity, that which was given to the first pair, Adam and Eve as this dignity does inspire a man to pursue goodness and justice. When a person things upon the first pair, Adam and Eve, they are drawn to the aspect of immortality as this was the end for which man was created in the first place, a man, and a woman, who would meditate upon God, give God the first of all they have, to give God their worship, and by this means our spirits are raised and our doubts are cast down: we become humble. This was the original. Yet this is what man has fallen from, sin entered into man through the first pair and by such sin we have inherited sin and our souls became corrupted so that our souls do not desire Godly things. What should be the end for man because of the fall? Man has strayed far from the original purpose for creation and have become a miserable lot, and groans for dignity: or we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (2Corinthians 5:4). What is being said is this: when man cannot see a way to raise himself up, his spirits, and does often devise a way outside of Scripture to attempt to do so, it is meant that man does not have anything that he can proudly aspire to himself. Therefore for us to examine this subject of original sin and to get understanding on this mater let us divide this subject into two elements: 1) let us consider the end for which man was created, the qualities, not contemptible qualities, those qualities that he was first imbued which would urge man to meditate on Divine things, to give worship to God, and the desire for future life; immortality. 2) We must consider  man’s faculties or lack of faculties, which when perceived will annihilate all confidence in himself and will cover man with confusion. Scary to think that this should happen when all this world attempts to promote among man is his own self–confidence and does not consider original sin. We must then by the first account to teach man what his duty is and for the second account to make man aware how far is from being able to perform it.

            Allow the words of Jesus to spur you on in this discussion on original sin and our distance form Him due much to our antinomy, and desire to be autonomous and believe that our self–confidence is the most extolled way for man to live, to live by their own power: this is not the way of Jesus for he leaves us with this example:

Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself,

            My honor is nothing. It is

My Father who honors Me, of

            Whom you say that

He is not your God.”

                        John 8:54

Read God’s word daily

Richard L. Crumb