Response to IEAC Creation Statement/7

by brother Mike Pearson
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7: Adam’s Nature and Mortality

FROM THE IEAC CREATION STATEMENT:

BASF Clause 5 in conjunction with the Cooper-Carter Addendum teaches that the sentence passed upon Adam due to his disobedience ‘became a physical law of his being’ so that ‘he fell from his very good state’. We reaffirm that Adam’s transgression brought about both a sentence of death (resulting in a change in the condition of his nature to become a dying creature) and a proneness to sin.

The Addendum states ‘As his descendants, we partake of that mortality that came by sin and inherit a nature prone to sin’. This statement signifies that the whole human race is physically descended from Adam. This mortality and the proneness to sin came to the human race because of Adam’s sin (Genesis 2:17; 3:19; 5:3).

Paul also teaches:
‘For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive’ (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)

‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 6:23)

‘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’ (Romans 5:12).

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Observations:

The previous chapter considered the issue of “falling form a very good state” so we shan’t dwell on it any further here.

With regards the matter of death passing to all men because of sin: Paul’s messages above are clear: because we are all sinners, we will all die as death is the wage of sin. He does NOT say we are all sinners simply because we are Adam’s descendants. We are sinners because (as humans) we have a nature prone to sin. The clause specifically does not say our nature came as a consequence of Adam’s sin.

The way the IEAC Creation Statement has interpreted these verses above it has come precariously close to the Catholic doctrine of Original Sin:

By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all humans. Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called "original sin". As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence”).

The scriptures (and therefore the BASF) describe how after sinning, Adam was “adjudged unworthy of immortality, and sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken.” The rest of this statement about Adam “falling from a very good state and then passing that changed nature onto us” is open to interpretation.

Firstly, it is telling that no scriptural references are quoted to support the position that Adam had a nature any different to ours, or to those beings that were part of pre-Adamic creations. By contrast, Bro Robert Roberts (although he changed his mind later) and later Bro H A Whittaker both referenced 1Cor15v44-45 as proving Adam was mortal. Mortality was very much part of those creations, and therefore there is no reason to assume that Adam was any different. Bro Roberts was very clear on this matter:

“Our friend imagines there was a change in the nature of Adam when he became disobedient. There is no evidence of this whatever, and the presumption and evidence are entirely the contrary way. There was a change in Adam’s relation to his maker, but not in the nature of his organization.”

Bro L G Sargent in 1969 repeated his earlier 1941 statement that Adam was mortal in line with the teaching of Bro Thomas (although not subject to death due to the unique circumstances existing in the garden - specifically the law given by God).

That some in our community may choose to believe differently as a result of their particular views or interpretations is fine, but we would all do well to heed Bro Robert’s exhortation when he wrote the following in an article entitled “True Principles and Uncertain Details; or the Danger of Going too far in our Demands on Fellow Believers”:

Man’s State After Creation
General Principle.—He was a living soul or natural body of life, maintained in being by the action of the air through the lungs like us, but unlike us, a “very good” form of that mode of being, and unsubjected to death.

Uncertain Detail.—Would he have died if left alone, unchanged, in that state if he had not sinned? Who can tell? The testimony is that death came by sin: but the fact also is that, not being a spiritual body, he was presumably not immortal. Are we going to insist upon an opinion on a point like this, which no man can be certain about? We shall act unwarrantably if we do so. It is sufficient if a man believe that Adam after creation was a very good form of flesh and blood, untainted by curse. The uncertain points must be left to private judgment.

To summarise and conclude this point:

We have already discussed Peter’s comments that Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world. So, because death and mortality was already very much part of God’s previous creations; and because Jesus’ was a fore-ordained part of God’s plan to redeem mankind from eternal death; these concepts would support the notion that human nature was prone to mortality from the start. This is why we inherit a nature prone to mortality, and are therefore susceptible to sin.

Conclusion →

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