Blogging The Institutes Day 41 2.1.5 - 2.1.8

In continuation of the analysis of Adam's Fall we take a step deeper to look at "original sin" and its effects on those following Adam. There have been arguments made that man should not have to suffer for and are not responsible for the fall of one man. I'm sorry but that is just not the case. For Adam held the responsibility of being the perfect human. It was his job to glorify God through righteousness. He failed to do that. And in that failure tainted his original state. "It should be enough for us to know that Adam was made the depository of the endowments which God was pleased to bestow on human nature, and that, therefore, when he lost what he had received, he lost not only for himself but for us all." An example would be "from a corrupt root corrupt branches proceeding, transmit their corruption to the saplings which spring from them."

"Surely there is no ambiguity in David's confession, 'I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me'. His object in the passage is not to throw blame on his parents; but the better to commend the goodness of God toward him, he properly reiterates the confession of impurity from his very birth. Ad it is clear, that there was no peculiarity in David's case, it follows that it is only an instance of the common lot of the whole human race. All of us, therefore descending from an impure seed, come into the world tainted with the contagion of sin. No, before we behold the light of the sun we are in God's sight defiled and polluted. 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one,' says the book of Job."

But this knowledge is not meant for defeat, but for growing an attitude of humility toward Jesus. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:19-21)

It is this depth of knowledge that helps foster humility and an understand of true Grace. The Grace that Jesus showed on the Cross. The deeper the understanding of Grace the closer we come to our Father, and the closer we come to our Father, the more we are satisfied and He is ultimately most Glorified.

Amen

Blogging The Institutes: Day 40 2.1.1 - 2.1.4

Understanding Adam's fall and the impact it has on the rest of mankind following him is an absolute necessity in understanding ourselves and what we can do to re-attain our original state. We first must look for the cause of Adam's sin, "infidelity opened the door to ambition, and ambition was the parent of rebellion, man casting off the fear of God, and giving free vent to his lust." In short, Adam's ambition to attain more, his pride, resulted in his casting off the fear of God, and once the consequence was blinded, the action prevailed. So "the strongest curb to keep all his affections under due restraint, would have been the belief that nothing was better than to cultivate righteousness by obeying the commands of God, and that the highest possible felicity was to be loved by him." Easy enough right? Just realize that when all the options are on the table, the best one is to realize that by cultivating righteousness we experience the highest emotion, the love of God.

Wouldn't it be great if that were it. Seems simple. Do Good, Experience Love. But that scenario only factors in our actions, and since the moment of Adam's fall, we became incapable of cultivating righteousness on our own.

Enter Jesus. Enter the Cross. Enter Grace. For God knows we are not able to cultivate righteousness so He made a way for us to still experience His love by sending His Son to die, to cover our inabilities with Grace.

So without understanding our inability to cultivate righteousness, without understanding the root cause of Adam's fall, we subject ourselves to the exact same trap, the trap of pride. And where pride lives, Grace can not.

So how do we re-attain our original state? We can't. Only by humbling ourselves and allowing the blood of Christ to cover our sin do we experience "the highest possible felicity" to be loved by Him.

Blogging the Institutes - Day 40

Philosophers come in all shapes and sizes these days but their message hasn't changed.

"For they, when exhorting man to know himself, state the motive to be, that he may not be ignorant of his own excellence and dignity. They wish him to see nothing in himself but what will fill him with vain confidence, and inflate him with pride."

Even men behind the pulpit exhibit this charge to their people. Blindly they lead the blind. I look forward to reading Calvin's rebuttal to the most man-centered, absolutely common, attribute of sinful men; Namely, the desire to make much of themselves.

I have been a believer for going on 8 years. By God's grace, through great influences, I was made aware of the condition of man after the fall. That we are totally depraved and void of any good. That being said, it has only been in the last two years that this truth has rightly humbled me, giving me a more correct knowledge of Grace. We have to know ourselves as utterly hopeless. Then, and only then, is grace truly grace! An undeserved favor, for if you think there is an ounce of good in you, your mind, being so wicked, will attribute God's favor on you, to your goodness. Paul warns us in his letter to Timothy that men will be lovers of themselves!

In addition Calvin says it so beautifully concerning the result of a right knowledge of self…

"It is impossible for us to think of our first original, or the end for which we were created, without being urged to meditate on immortality, and to seek the kingdom of God."

I love how Calvin teaches! He divides the knowledge man ought to have for himself into two questions.

1) What end was man created, what qualities were given to reach that divine worship and future life?

2) How is man to accomplish this?

The first question teaches what our duty is; the second makes us aware of how unable we are to perform it.

To begin to answer we must look at what exactly happened with Adam that caused such a "fearful vengeance on the whole human race". It wasn't the desire for pleasure from fruit. There were endless quantities and varieties to eat. It was Adam's pride that lead him to go beyond what God had permitted and eat of the forbidden tree. God gave this command to exercise and prove Adam's faith, and he did whatever he wanted…. Pride. But there is more to this because it was the woman who by the subtlety of the devil abandoned the command of God. So clearly her fall had it's origin in disobedience. At the same time Adam no only was ensnared by the devil, but despised the word of God and turned to the lies of satan.

"Assuredly, when the word of God is despised, all reverence for him is gone. His majesty cannot be duly honored among us, nor his worship maintained in its integrity, unless we hang as it were upon his lips."

So Infidelity, or the breaking of the rules of a relationship, is the source of the fall.

"From Infidelity sprang ambition and pride, together with ingratitude; because Adam, by longing for more than was allotted him, manifested contempt for the great liberality which God had given him."

"The strongest curb to keep all his (Adam's/Man's) affections under due restraint, would have been to belief that nothing was better than to cultivate righteousness by obeying the commands of God, and that the highest possible happiness was to be loved by Him."

So there is the clear explanation of what happened to plague the whole human race with vengeance. In response the honest man will admit it was a heinous crime for man to think he needed more that all God had given him. And now, in 2009, our revolt is no different. We see this curse clearly that every person born does this exact thing by nature. We reject the perfect truth of God for our own conjured truth. Thereby stealing His Glory and rejecting his truth, we tell Him, "You are no God, I am".