Paul’s Testimony to the Doctrine of Sin 61 know is the mortal man descended from Adam who sinned. Therefore they cannot logically assert that man would have died had Adam not sinned. Nor need we say that Paul’s cosmic view of sin, namely, that the entrance of the sin principle into human life by Adam vitiated the whole cosmos, that because of sin “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now” (Rom. 7 :22), is unscientific. He here merely asserted the great fact that all cosmic life, plant, animal, and human, has been made to suffer because of the presence of sin in man. Who can doubt it ? See Rom. 5:12-14, 21; 6:21; 7:10; 8 :19-25; Eph. 2:1, etc. THE UNIVERSALITY OF SIN J£*aul regards every man as a guilty sinner, however great may be his natural or cultural advantages, j He felt that he had the greatest advantages “in the flesh” to attain righteous- ness (Phil, 3:3-9), but he had miserably failed (Rom. 7:24). Therefore all men have failed (Rom. 1:18-2:29). But he is not satisfied with a mere experiential demonstration of the universality of sin. He likewise bases it on the dictum of Scripture (Rom. 3:9-20). More than that he studied the facts of human life, both Jewish and Gentile, and so by the inductive method is led by the Spirit to declare “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Rom. 3:20); “All have sinned and are coming short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3;23). THE PERSISTENCE OF THE SIN PRINCIPLE In Gal. 5:17, 18, Paul tells the Galatian Christians that “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other, that ye may not do the things that ye would”. Lightfoot says: “It is an appeal to their own consciousness: Have you not evidence of these two opposing principles in your own hearts?”* The Galatian Christians are exhorted to “walk * “Com. on Gal.” in loco.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker