ORIGINAL SIN: REVISITING A BIBLICAL VIEW
ORIGINAL
SIN: REVISITING A BIBLICAL VIEW
--R. K. SINGH
Is
it according to the Bible that each person is conceived in Sin just as each one
carries the burden of the sin of the first man and woman? Wasn’t the taste of
the forbidden fruit in Eden the awareness of physical attraction in man and woman?
Wasn’t the Tree of knowledge actually the knowledge of the process of creation,
of Love, of sex?
I
won’t like to reflect on how sex knowledge degenerated into sin. But, I am
convinced the Bible does not decry sex. Nor is sex something bad (or equated
with sin): “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage” (Luke
20:34) and “whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtained favour of
the Lord” (Pro.18:22). Thus, marriage is not only physical union but also
God-ordained, divine institution: husband and wife are conceived as one flesh
(Mk.10:6-8; Eph. 5:28-31) and are expected to stay together, love each other as
their own flesh (Eve is created out of Adam’s flesh, his rib.)
Because
God created human beings as male and female (Adam and Eve). He created Sex and
ordained the institution of marriage (or sexual union in any socially
acceptable form) to bind man and woman together as husband and wife, not
necessarily to procreate (there is plenty of procreation without marriage!) but
to lead a family life through love and sex (Matthew 19:4-5).
It
is God’s design that we enjoy life, be happy, be one flesh in coitus, and thus
glorify Him in body. As I understand, reading through the Bible, sex is the
source of happiness in equality, in oneness of man and woman.
To
my mind, in Biblical Christianity, it is sin not to believe, not to have trust,
not to have hope and love. Christianity stands on the basic tripod of Hope,
Faith and Love. If one reads the quotations I have copied from my Bible, one
will get the idea of what sin essentially means: Sin is progressive, personally
committed (not inherited), and both forgiven and unforgiven.
Maybe,
one is right the original sin relates to violation of the divine commandment,
not trusting God (but Serpent/Satan/ Lucifer, who was out to destroy sense of
righteousness God had originally imbued Adam and Eve with and to pass on the
same values to their children. They faltered and thus, sinned, and were
consequently banished from Eden; they were the first Man and Woman who failed
to keep their trust in the commandment of their creator and so, committed the
archetypal sin (or original sin). They lost their freedom to live in the
kingdom of God; they fell from Glory, lost their (good) image in the eyes of
God. They broke the covenant and so, they were deprived of the good fruits of
their labour or acts in Eden. (Various sects of Christianity tend to offer
their own versions of the original sin, which may be contradictory to Biblical
meaning.)
Now,
to me all these have symbolic meanings, too.
Adam
signifies the heavenly spirit of Adam, and Eve His human soul. The tree of good
and evil (or knowledge) signifies the human world; for the spiritual and divine
world is purely good and absolutely luminous, but in the human world is light
and darkness, good and evil, exist as opposite conditions.
The
meaning of the serpent is attachment to the human world. This attachment of the
spirit to the human world led the soul and spirit of Adam from the world of
freedom to the world of bondage and caused him to turn from the kingdom of God
to the human world. When the soul and spirit of Adam entered the human world, he
came out from the paradise of freedom and fell into the world of bondage. From
the height of purity, glory and goodness, he entered into the world of good and
evil; he descended from unity to differences, to sin. The story is a symbolic
presentation of spirit’s attachment to the physical bondage; attachment to the
earthly world, in relation to attachment to the spiritual world, is considered
as a sin.
It
is sin to get away from the Essence of Oneness, from perfection of Eden to
imperfections of the earthly existence, going farther from exaltation to
humiliation.
Let’s
also remember Adam had no father or mother, he was created by God in His own
image, with absolute perfection; he was a living soul; he came into existence
from the Spirit of life.
I
Corinthians 15-22 states; “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all
be made alive.” If I try to understand its meaning, it seems Adam is the
physical nature while Christ is the spiritual nature; that is, the physical
nature is born of Adam, but the spiritual nature is born from the bounty of the
Holy Spirit. This spiritual nature of all perfections, appears through the
breath of the Holy Spirit, which is light, spirituality, exaltation, love,
grace, glory, kindness to all, the essence of life. Christ is the central point
of the Holy Spirit; He is born of the Holy Spirit (i.e His Reality does not
descend from Adam). Adam is the cause of physical life of mankind; he is the
father of human beings, but he cannot provide spiritual life. Christ is the
cause of spiritual life of man; his is the spiritual fatherhood.
Perhaps,
we can also say sin is the consequence of the power of the physical world (as
exemplified by Lucifer, who was its
captive, evincing anger, jealousy, hatred, pride, avarice, cruelty, ignorance
etc.) and its demands, imperfections, sufferings and death. The Reality of
Christ, the “quickening spirit”, is a promise of eternal life, happiness,
heaven.
I
doubt it is reasonable to believe that by eating the forbidden fruit, Adam became
the cause of the death of humanity. If Adam was a sinner, what is the sin of
Abraham? What is the fault of Isaac, or of Joseph?
In
fact, through Christ, the believing souls attain absolute perfection.
Quotations on SIN, it’s
nature, and salvation from sin from the BIBLE:
1. “Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of
law.” (I John 3:4)
2. “All
unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.” (I John 5:17)
3. “And
he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for
whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)
4. “But
of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ye
shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” (Genesis 3:6)
5. “But
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then,
when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth for the death.” (James 1: 14-15)
6.
Sin is the ways of the ungodly (Psalm 1)
(Reading
the Psalm 1 and the quotations 4 and 5, it appears sin is progressive.)
7. “But
your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid
his face from you, that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)
8. “The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the
father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the
wicked shall be upon him.” (Ezekiel 18:20)
9. “But
when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, suffer the
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the
kingdom of God.” (Mark 10:14; Also, Luke 18:16)
(Quotations
7, 8, 9 indicate that sin is personally committed, and is not inherited.)
10. “Wherefore
I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” (Matthew
12:31)
cf: “But
they rebelled, and vexed his holy spirit: therefore he was turned to be their
enemy, and he fought against them.” (Isaiah 63:10) “And grieve not the holy Spirit
of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”(Ephesians 4:30)
11. “But
he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is
in danger of eternal damnation.” (Mark 3:29).
12. “And
whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him:
but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.”
(Luke 12:10)
13. “For
it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the
heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the
good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away,
to renew them again unto repentence; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame, … But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto
cursing; whose end is to be burned.” (Hebrews 6:4-8).
14. “For
if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, …. of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden foot the Son of God,
and hath counted the blood of the convenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an
unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews
10:26-30) etc.
(Quotations
10 to 14 indicate that certain sins are unforgiven.)
15. “He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned.” (Mark 16:16)
16. “
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19);
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:38)
(The
quotations indicate that sins can be forgiven by repentence, which is
the return from disobedience to obedience, from deprivation from God to unity
with Him, partaking of His knowledge and Love and Sprit.)
17. Jesus
will save people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21; Mark 16:16; Act 2:38; 22:16
etc)
“But
God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from
sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17-18)
(Salvation
from sin through belief, hope, faith and love in Christ, through righteousness
in Spirit).
(The paper was written in April 1997)
-Dr
Ram Krishna Singh, Professor (HAG), Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad 826004,
India
posted by Ram Krishna Singh at 3:14 AM
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