Nowhere in Scripture do we read of anyone being sent to
hell for another man’s sin, and neither do we discover anyone going to heaven
because of another man’s salvation.
The theological problem I have
with federal headship is that it makes everyone born into this world
responsible for the sin of another, namely Adam, as our representative head of
the human race. According to this view, everyone will be born a sinner because
of Adam, sharing in the repercussions of disobedience to God. Once the age of
accountability is reached, we are spiritually alienated from God and the enemies of
Christ. Should anyone die in such a spiritual state, everything is off the table at that point. He
or she will be placed in a holding cell in hell, awaiting the final judgment at the great white throne before being eternally consigned to the lake of fire. (Mt 10:28; 25:41, 46; Lk 16:23; 2 Thes 1:9; Rev 20:15).
If this comes across as rather strong,
consider that it took the suffering, bleeding, and dying on the cross of God’s
only begotten Son to provide a way of escape from the horrifying ordeal of
eternal death. Jesus was God’s substitute for sin (Rom 3:23-26). So, how do you
feel about being under condemnation and wrath-bound because of what Adam did in
the Garden of Eden? We got the whole
enchilada from his rebellion according to federal; we inherited his fallenness
and depravity through procreation (Psa 51:5), taking us places we really don’t
want to go! What’s depressing is that we can’t shake free of our sinful nature on this side of
eternity even after regeneration. It stays with us until rest or rapture (cf.
Rom 7).
Of course with seminal headship,
as well, all of the above is true, except we are not sinners because of Adam
but because we were in Adam participating, similarly as Levi was in Abraham
when he paid tithes through Abraham to Melchizedec (Heb 7:9-10). See Part 7.
Personally, neither of these
views cinches the knot for me in Romans or Hebrews, but I ain’t smart enough to
come up with any theological alternative, but I do prefer seminal over federal
because it provides a better explanation that holds me personally responsible
for something that I did in Adam as a descendant unborn rather than because of Adam.
This would be consistent with Scripture; a person does not go to hell for another
person’s sin or to heaven for another person’s salvation. The natural or seminal
headship position views the entire human race seminally in Adam.
Paul through the Holy Spirit didn’t
draw the Gordian knot tight anyway. As I mentioned in Part 7, I lean toward a
providential paradox here. You know; those kinds of truths
that do 180-degree turns in the same breath and cuts against the grain of
reason. It is one of those incongruities between what is expected and what actually
occurs. Yahweh is not bound by our logic, rationale, or lofty reasoning. He is
an I2P God, creating impossible to possible realities. Allow me to offer a few
quick examples of truths that appear counter-intuitive to the way we normally
think.
To go up we must go down
Before honor is humility
To live we must die
To get we must give it away
We were born sinners because we
chose death over life (Gn 2:17) while still in the loins of Adam, our seminal
head. Why did we do it? It has been a nagging question I wanted to ask Adam as
well. In Adam we are all born sinners (Psa 51:5); in Adam we are all going to
physically die one day (Rom 5:12), barring the rapture (1 Thes 4:17). And the
only remedy for our helpless spiritual predicament is in God’s provision for
redemption – faith in Jesus Christ His Son (Acts 4:12; Jn 14:6; 2 Cor 5:21). I
reiterate that because it is so extremely important (cf. Mk 8:36)! The only
alternative is to pay the debt of sin to God for all eternity in the lake of
fire! Who would do such a thing? Compare Jn 3:19-20.
For Adam and Eve, the lake of
fire would not be where they would be spending eternity. God’s first act of
grace is seen in providing the skins of an animal for a more durable covering than
fig leaves. Spiritually speaking, it was the shedding of blood and the covering
for sin (Gn 3:21) that foreshadowed Christ’s substitutionary work on the cross to
propitiate the penalty for man’s sin,
Titus 3:4 But when the
kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
Titus 3:5 not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
Titus 3:6 whom He poured
out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Titus 3:7 that having been
justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal
life.
The blood of Jesus didn’t cover
like all of the untold animal sacrifices for sin (cf. Heb 10:4); rather, the
blood of Jesus Christ propitiated or satisfied the just demands of the holiness
of God once and for all forever (Rom
3:25; Heb 10:12; 1Jn 2:2; 4:10). By His blood we are cleansed, not covered (Psa
51:7; Isa 1:18; Eph 1:7; Titus 3:5)! Biblical forgiveness comes through
repentance (Isa 1:19).
In the prologue of John’s Gospel
account, he indicated that the origin of the new birth is God’s sovereign gift
to man; I quote, “who (those who believe in Jesus’ name, Jn 1:12) were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”
(Jn 1:13). This passage is controversial to say the least, even among
evangelicals. Regardless of the various interpretations of its inner parts, the
thing to take note of is that the phrase “who were born … but of God” removes
man entirely from the picture or equation for the origin of the new birth no
matter how much we debate the negatives in verse 13; this is the takeaway here.
John reveals to us that we are
utterly helpless to do anything whatsoever to bring about the new birth.
Another way of saying it is this; there is nothing you and I can do to get to
heaven, and there is nothing we can do to keep from going to hell! We are
H-E-L-P-L-E-S-S to achieve glory, and we are H-E-L-P-L-E-S-S to avoid hell! If that
isn’t a picture of being helpless, I do not know what is! The helpless
situation is that man cannot save himself apart from God (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1
Cor 3:11; 1 Tim 2:5; 1 Jn 5:11-12) or escape the flames of hell without God’s
help (Heb 2:3; Rev 20:15), and yet, the world is still “hell-bent” on achieving
or earning salvation their own way rather than the way revealed by grace
through faith (Eph 2:8-9; Jn 1:12; 3:3, 18). It is pitiful.
There are three negatives given
by John that reveal our helplessness to save ourselves; have you ever heard
the expression, “We don’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell?” The spiritual
situation for man is grim without Divine intervention. The new birth is not passed
through the bloodstream, “not of blood (Gk, bloods). In other words, it is not
through natural descent. The Jews were certain that being descendants of
Abraham guaranteed salvation…. (Jn 8:33, 39; contrast Gal 3:29).
The new birth is not by “the
will of the flesh” (Gk, sarx, cf. Jn 1:14). Note John did not say “the lust”
but the will. Man is powerless and unable to produce a new birth through any
means whatsoever. In other words, in spite of living a good and moral life or
doing good works of any kind are as useless as fig leaves and dodging God to deal
with disobedience. Adam and Eve were so frightened they didn’t know which end
was up. The new birth is not a decision, an intention, a purpose, an objective,
a goal, or an achievement. Salvation cannot be of God if a man has anything to do
with it, right?! Grace and works are mutually exclusive when it comes to the new
birth (cf. Rom 11:5-6; Jn 3:6-8; Titus 3:5).
The new birth cannot be
conferred; it is not of “the will of man.” Man does not take the initiative for
becoming a child of God; if God hadn’t provided Adam and Eve a covering for
sin, their goose would have been cooked (cf. Gn 3:21). So why didn’t God just
kill Adam and Eve, and start over with another couple? Two answers come to the
forefront. (1) God is a God of grace, and (2) if there was a Divine reset the
“whosoever” is removed (Jn 3:16). I know; Jn 1:13 appears to set aside choice
if it is all of God! All I can say is that this is what the Bible teaches.
Thank God for His grace and for allowing us to believe.
Let’s look at it on the flip
side. I had a professor who once told me that sometimes in order to see or
understand a truth we have to look at what it is not or at different angles to
understand it better. God did not prevent Adam from choosing evil. Now keep in
mind God is holy and never tempts us to do evil (Jas 1:13). What I find
interesting is that we debate over to what degree choice is in play in
salvation, but no one stirs up a fuss over God allowing people to choose evil.
In Adam, we were all together in this madness of making a terrible choice,
individually and collectively as our seminal head. So balancing choice in
salvation with verses like John 1:13 and John 6:44, you have to take it up with
God. All I know is John 3:16 is still in the Book! Yeah, you know what I am
going to say; it is paradoxical….
With federal headship, you feel as if a
victim of someone else’s stupidity This is my visceral response, but what if we
were in the loins of Adam reaching out and taking the forbidden fruit from
Eve’s hand? In other words instead of Adam representing us, we were
participating in Adam with Adam, making that same idiotic mistake as
descendants unborn? The blame for sin lies squarely on everyone’s shoulders then, not
just Adam.
Since the results are the same,
what does it matter whether if it is federal or seminal? Isn’t that the
question you have been waiting for me to address? I can only answer that
question for myself. It matters to me because if I wound up in the lake of
fire, separated from God for an eternity, I would think it would be unfair and
unjust for God to send me to the lake of fire for what Adam did and not for
something I had done.
Since I am saved and on my way
to heaven it is a moot point, but this is my gut feeling on the matter,
speaking as a man. Seminal puts the blame squarely on you and me. You and I
were there in Adam on that day in the Garden, “so to speak.” Anyone who goes to
hell is there because he or she elected to pay the penalty for his or her own
sin rather than accepting Jesus. Ultimate helplessness is refusing Jesus as an
unbeliever and stepping out into eternity without Him!
For a believer, helpless is
going outside the fruitful sphere of the eternal (Jn 15:5; 1 Jn 2:17b) for the
unfruitful things of the temporal (1 Jn 2:16-17a). This is precisely what Adam and his posterity in Adam set their sights upon, and boy was it costly to Adam, Eve, and mankind. The cost of our redemption is too incomprehensible for our brains to process. We will not fully appreciate what Jesus Christ did for us until we see Him face to face. All the helpless things of the world are
to be found outside the will of God whether an unbeliever or a believer. Have
we not learned from the ripple effect of the Garden fiasco it does not pay to rebel against Yahweh? Helpless is as helpless does. <><
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| End of Series |
