Sect-5 Appendix C – Origin of Futility

(From Chapter 12 – Revelation to Paul)

In Chapter 12, I first address the presupposition that Paul holds regarding the futility to which God’s creation has been subjected. In Chapter 15, I expound on Paul’s discourse in Romans 5 about how the grace of God is greater-than the sin of mankind. I also acknowledged that there is clearly a condemnation and death that comes to humanity through Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Where the traditionalist viewpoint looks to the first death (mortality) and the loss of immortality as a judgment upon Adam and Eve for their disobedience, I instead insist, as scripture indicates, that as a result of exposure to the knowledge of good and evil, it is from the second death of judgment that Adam and all his progeny need to be redeemed. And it is only by Yeshua the Christ that God ever intended to lead us into that redemption. Yet the work of God in Christ goes beyond redemption to complete the image and likeness of Christ in all those willing to receive his gift of grace. This is precisely what we see occurring in the work of Christ.

 

But like Romans 5, Romans 8:20 introduces another facet of how God’s grace is greater-than the sin of man. The two are connected. This is why I state that the traditionalist and reformist views are incomplete; they fail to answer the insoluble problems relating to 1) the source of sin and evil as it relates to humanity, and 2) how the result of Adam’s disobedience is translated to his progeny. These are the specific problems this article seeks to address, though they are age-old problems.[1]

 

It has been my experience, and likely yours as well, that these issues are often muddied by the generalization and interchanging of terms like sin, corruption, death, evil, and chaos. Though they are all intertwined and interconnected, these terms are not interchangeable. It’s important to take some time to clarify them. In doing so, I’ll also indicate their relationship to the Genesis 2-3 narrative as well as our current state. I’ll also note how the work of God in Christ satisfactorily resolves each. From here, we can then consider the only possible source for each of these.

Sin

There are multiple terms Scripture uses that refer to sin, which include disobedience and trespass (or transgression). The apostle Paul likens all three of these to Adam’s breech of the divine command (Romans 5:12-21). It is for our trespasses that Christ was delivered up to death (Roman 4:24-25), and it is only through him that we have forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7). We all understand clearly our condition before encountering Christ.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

 

In Romans 5, Paul recognizes that sin entered our world by the act of one man, the first Adam, but doesn’t explain the specifics there. For him, it is clear that because Adam and Eve were the first of our kind to disobey, the reality of sin came through them. Elsewhere, Paul does clarify the particulars of where their disobedience and ours is derived:

• Sin is something that pervades our being, so that we must die in Christ in order to be freed from it. (Romans 6:2b,6-7,12,17-18,20-21)
• Sin and disobedience is within me. (Romans 7:11,13,17-20,23)
• It’s a part of me, just as it was a part of Adam and Eve, who were likewise made of the dust; flesh and blood. They too possessed free will and self-determination, by which they were able to pursue God-likeness, choosing to seek the knowledge of good and evil. It is this knowledge of good and evil that reveals sin for what it is – if it had not been for the law (or command), I would not have known sin. (Romans 7:7d)
• If God had not set both before them, how could they choose and how could they grow in the character of Christ? (Deuteronomy 30:15,19-20; Romans 8:1-11)
• Without the Spirit, all set their mind on the things of the flesh, which by its nature is hostile to God. (Romans 8:5a,7-8) Yet it is God who made us flesh and blood, of the dust. (Genesis 2:7; 3:19c)
• Christ himself came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but walked instead according to the Spirit of God. (Romans 8:3-4) Yet this Spirit was not revealed to the world at large until the advent of the Son of Man. (Romans 8:14)
• It is God who subjected his creation to futility, in that man was made incomplete, imperfect, and mortal. And his hope is in Christ, the source of our salvation. (Romans 8:20-21,37-39)
• It is God who consigned all to disobedience that he alone might extend mercy to all in Yeshua the Christ. (Romans 11:32)

 

Our disobedience, like Adam’s, is as much a result of what we are as it is what we do. It is God who willingly claims ownership of what we are – human; incomplete, imperfect, and mortal. In Christ alone do we find our completion as the children of God, moving from the natural to the spiritual and from the perishable to the imperishable.

Corruption

Corruption appears distinguished from sin and disobedience in that it carries with it a progressive aspect and has multiple facets. For example, there is corruption that comes from outside, from external forces. The serpent’s deception, the incursion and influence of the Watchers, and the unseen forces of evil represent these external forces that influence and impact the sinfulness and level of disobedience expressed by mankind. Through such influences, corruption increased as did the violence that resulted from it. Even man’s way of living and being was corrupted (Genesis 6). This corruption from outside continues throughout the Biblical narrative even after Christ’s revelation to the world. There is a global sense of corruption by the great prostitute, Babylon (Revelation 19:2; 17:5), along with cosmic powers over this present darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). And of course, all this corruption is framed in the context of the work of the evil one to undermine the work of God in Christ (Matthew 13:18-19,37-39). His influences are global, and he is referred to as the ruler of this world (Fourth Gospel 12:31).

 

There is also corruption that comes from within. The enslavement to sin leads to greater corruption, stubborn rebelliousness, and fullness of slander (Jeremiah 6:27-28). It appears that as iniquity increases in scope and type, the result is deeper corruption (Psalm 53). The New Testament also speaks about this internal corruption; from deceitful and sinful desires (Ephesians 4:22; 2 Peter 1:4), or as one continues to oppose the truth before them (2 Timothy 3:8).

 

There is also corruption that is associated with death (Galatians 6:7-10). This deathly corruption is used to distinguish the Son of Man (Acts 2:22-28,31), since he was not left in the grave to see corruption and decay as his earthly forefathers were (Acts 13:32-37). The apostle Paul contrasts this corruption and decay with the freedom inherent in the glory of the new creation (Romans 8:21).

 

More importantly, there is corruption that exists in humanity as a whole and results from a lack of the knowledge of God. As humanity pursues self-interest and its own wisdom, it becomes all the more corrupt. Even God’s chosen people, Israel, exhibited this tendency whenever they followed the foolishness of the nations around them. For them, turning aside from God and pursuing idols and lesser gods was a form of corruption (Exodus 32; Psalm 14; Deuteronomy 4:15-19). As Israel lost their intimate knowledge of God, they became a sinful nation; laden with iniquity, their hands full of blood, an offspring of evildoers who’ve forsaken the Lord and despised the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 1). The only path to a remedy for them requires a faithful discipline (Isaiah 1:16-20,27):

• Wash yourselves clean
• Remove the evil of your deeds. Cease to do evil; learn to do good
• Seek justice, correct the oppression of the fatherless and the widow
• Let us reason together
• Become willing and obedient; redeemed by justice, and those who repent by righteousness
• Christ alone is the source of righteousness (Romans 5:17) for those who believe (Romans 10:1-4)

 

Much corruption comes from ignorance and a lack of Godly wisdom as well as a misuse of the free will and self-determination attributed to mankind at creation. Add to this the weakness inherent in the flesh combined with the knowledge of good and evil, and you have the basis for futility on a global scale. All Adam’s descendants are born with the same condition and the same challenge. It’s part of the futility all were subjected to in Godly hope (Romans 8:20; 11:32). So fear not, Yeshua the Christ, who is the author of the natural creation, is also the finisher of the spiritual creation.

Evil

Though evil can at times seem synonymous with corruption as it relates to even greater sinning against the Lord (Genesis 13:12-13; 18:20-21; 19:23-29), it is more often connected with forsaking the One, True God and choosing instead to follow lesser gods or to put our faith in idols (Deuteronomy 28:20b). One important impact that results from pursuing lesser gods or idols is that all parties are diminished, though they’re seeking to be honored. The One, True God is diminished in our eyes due to our ignorance. Yet we too are diminished because we assign our loyalty and trust to things and beings who are not God. Will lesser gods save us? Have they been given the keys to righteousness and eternal life? Will gods of wood and stone breath life into our dead corpses? The evil exists in the illusion and lie of it all. Thankfully, through Yeshua the Son of God comes truth, wisdom, and the knowledge of God so that men and women might worship him in Spirit and in truth, thereby replacing the lie with that which is truth.

 

Often it is assumed that possessing the knowledge of evil is equivalent to producing evil. While this might be true for humanity due to our weakness, God himself declares on multiple occasions the awareness of good and evil throughout the spiritual realm (Genesis 1:26a; 3:22a; Isaiah 45:5-7). God does not possess the weakness of men. Nor is he lacking in righteous character or wisdom that he could be tempted to evil but instead seeks that which is good. And his goodness today is also goodness tomorrow. So, if it is character and wisdom that overcomes evil with good, would God not want his children to come to the same likeness and maturity which was manifest in Yeshua the Christ? This is precisely what God’s righteous judgment does. In Christ’s righteous judgment, his words of life, believers are led by the power of the Holy Spirit into the obedience of faith. And what are the fruits of that Spirit in our lives?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24)

 

According to God’s purpose, Adam and Eve entered into the knowledge of good and evil of their own free will. Though this choice was made for all their progeny, the more important choice of belief in Christ and a commitment to the obedience of faith they leave for each of us to make ourselves; one choice in disobedience leading to many choices in the obedience of faith (Romans 5:17-21).

Death

This single word has created more confusion perhaps than any other word. Not because the word itself carries with it some insurmountable fate, but because this word, more than any other, is intricately tied to more than one context. Misunderstand the context, and we end up with nothing but confusion. As I’ve addressed previously in regards to the Genesis 2-3 narrative and the conflicting death claims made by God and the serpent;[2] how can the serpent speak the truth and God made out to be a liar? This is unacceptable! Agreed. But the solution didn’t come about by contortions of theology contrived to suit our discomfort. Instead, the solution comes about by understanding the multiple distinctions the single word death carries with it and how they fit within the context of God’s work in Christ.

 

First, there is the death of mortality inherited by those made of the mist and the dust (Genesis 2:6-7). God himself declares humanity’s origin and destination as it relates to life within this natural realm – till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:19b-c). God was not stating a new reality as though it had come from their disobedience. He was clarifying for them the reality from which they were created and will now have to exercise their free will and self-determination. It’s this same first death of mortality that the serpent was referring to when he claimed – “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And as he claimed, they did not die a mortal death after eating from the tree. In fact, Adam lived a prolonged life before he succumbed to his mortality.

 

If we accept the presupposition that God does not lie, then another solution must exist for God’s claim about the tree of exception and death to be true. If we let Christ, our source of truth be our guide we’ll see that the salvation he offers goes beyond just a resurrection from the first death but to eternal life and security beyond the second death of judgment (Romans 8:1-2). It is in this second death of judgment that all who don’t believe find themselves facing condemnation – but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (Fourth Gospel 3:18b-c)

 

The default condemnation resulting from the trespass of Adam and Eve is a verdict of guilty whereby all come under the righteous judgment of God (Romans 3:22-26). All then come under that judgment and are accountable and responsible for our choices in the context of morality given to us through our first parents; we cannot not sin.[3] Yet for God’s purposes to be achieved it was necessary that we experience that knowledge in order to recognize God’s righteousness when revealed, especially the righteousness and grace revealed in Yeshua the Christ. According to God’s plan, established before the foundation of the world, it is the second death that we gain power over as a result of trust in God and faith in Christ (Revelation 20:6). That is the victory claimed by Christ and the same revealed to Paul; a victory over the second death from which there is no hope of resurrection (Fourth Gospel 11:25-26; 1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Revelation 20:14-15).

 

When viewed through Christ and applied to God’s command of restriction, the second death is speaking the truth in a larger context – in dying you shall surely die; a context that the Son of Man will bring to a close when he hands the kingdom over to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24-26). This is the resolution to the insoluble problem inherent in the mystery of God. These keys to the mystery are what he gives to his children who seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and they are ours to receive if we surrender ourselves fully to become the children of God, the new creation in Christ. As Christ repeated on many occasions, he who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Chaos

As Dr. Heiser observes, God’s curse upon the ground does not sufficiently address the scope of chaos inherent in the natural realm; natural disasters, lightning, fire, floods, extreme weather, earthquakes, and volcanoes. All these are unpredictable elements of the natural realm that God leaves to his own devices. Even something as simple and essential as the wind remains a mystery to man, but represents the unpredictable power of God.[4]

Christ and the New Creation

What we’re seeing in all of these is a necessary progression of the work of God in Christ to bring about mature children who choose life, trust in and know the Son of God, and remain faithful to him as they walk through the water and the fire. The world God created for mankind to dwell in is one of contrasts; light and darkness, chaos and order, good and evil, life and death, peace and calamity, righteousness and sin, dust and glory. The mystery of God unfolds as part of a process from the natural to the spiritual, originating amongst chaos and disobedience, surviving through death, and overcoming evil in the righteousness of Christ, to arrive at a resurrection of the perishable to imperishable, and the mortal to the immortal; a just reward for our faithful walk through the water and the fire.

 

But to see, perceive, and understand these contrasts, we must first leave innocence behind and dwell within the context of good and evil. This is the fruit of Adam and Eve’s choice. It was necessary that it come through God’s command, that all would be the recipients of his mercy and grace given in Yeshua the Christ (Romans 11:32).

 

But with the influx of divine knowledge and the corruption of mankind’s seed by those in the unseen realm, humanity was without constraint and led deeper into corruption. Even after the great cleansing of the earth, humanity would continue to ignore God’s will for them (Genesis 1:28) and choose instead to make themselves great (Genesis 11:1-9). A restrainer was needed to slow the progression into evil and allow humanity the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:10). The first restrainer would be a diversity of languages (Genesis 11:6) and the God-directed dispersion of the nations around the globe. This would begin to achieve his intended results (Genesis 1:28).

 

Another restrainer to aid in the disciplining of man’s free will comes in the form of the written law of God given to the descendents of Jacob (Israel) as a promise of blessing and cursing based on how they would choose (Deuteronomy 30:15-20). This chosen people will exemplify to the world another contrast; abundant life as a result of loyalty to the One, True God contrasted against the multiple nations serving lesser gods and lifeless idols. Throughout the history of God’s chosen people, whether through blessing or cursing, God shows himself faithful to his promises and the covenants he makes. It is in this context of faithfulness that God introduces the final restrainer to discipline his children; the Spirit of Christ.

 

With the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ, God’s children can now mature into the divine imagers he started to create when setting Adam in the garden. Then, Adam and Eve were constrained by innocence, which was not of their own free will but based on the lack of knowledge and understanding. When their progeny are eventually exposed to the Spirit of Christ, it will be with a more intimate knowledge of who God is and the surety of his promises. They will choose, of their own free will, to enter into the obedience of faith fully assured of the promises of God to reward their faithful walk through the water and the fire. That reward is God’s will for them; eternal life (Fourth Gospel 12:49-50; 17:1-3). But this eternal life comes as a new creation. It doesn’t come in the incomplete, imperfect, and mortal form or likeness of the first Adam, but in the fullness, likeness, character, and maturity of the Son of Man and the Son of God, the last Adam.

All Things through Christ

The author of these contrasts is the same author of the firstfruits of the new creation. It was he who hopefully subjected the physical creation to futility (Romans 8:20-22), that he might lead it out of corruption and into the new creation built by Christ our Lord (Galatians 6:7-9; 2 Peter 1:3-11; 1 Corinthians 15:22-26). This new creation is an everlasting kingdom handed over to the Father. A kingdom where life is eternal, light reigns over darkness, order reigns over chaos, good reigns over evil, and sin and death are no more; for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4).

 

In this kingdom we see the freedom sought by the creation (Romans 8:21) is not a freedom with no constraints (as our modern world views freedom) but a freedom likened to the glory of the children of God. This freedom is glorious in that it is framed within the righteousness of Christ, an obedience grounded in trust, and arrived at by walking through the water and the fire. It’s a freedom that bears the fruits of the Spirit in every believer in the growing context of a unity of trust and a unity of wills (Fourth Gospel 17).

The Roots of “Original Sin”

What I have presented thus far reflects the roots of sin for both humanity and the elohim in the unseen realm as a byproduct of what they are and how this is evidenced by the work of God in Christ. There are, however, other ideas about the origin of sin that have been developed over time and have influenced our modern thinking. The first doctrine of “original sin,” is considered to have been formulated by Augustine, yet shows its roots in the earlier writings of Irenaeus[5] and Second-Temple Period literature. Many influences and much speculation arose during the second temple period (approx. 200 BC to 100 AD) about the possible origin of sin and corrupted humanity. According to Schultz, the rise in speculation at this time appears to correspond with the natural progression in the awareness of sin and its consequences amongst the children of Israel.[6]

 

Although these ideas were conceived in what could be called a natural progression to “instill in the Jewish people a spiritual and ethical sense of sin,”[7] they lacked the context of God’s work in Christ, the last Adam, which was to complete what was started in the first Adam. Schultz observes that neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament contain a doctrine or systematic explanation of the origin of sin.[8] He also cites Davies, who acknowledges that “the idea of a fall played little, if any, part in the Old Testament teaching.”[9] Instead, the Old Testament proposes a causal relationship between sin and suffering.[10] This relationship was deeply rooted in the thinking of the children of Israel throughout their journey. One initial example is the impact on the generations that followed as a result of those who refused to cross over into the promised land for fear of its occupants. Similar experiences eventually led the entire nation to a conclusion and way of thinking that was completely contrary to what God was doing (Ezekiel 18).

 

Yet in Israel’s exilic and post-exilic periods the principle of solidarity was questioned by Ezekiel, who asserted that the individual suffered for his own sins along with the author of Job who denied that suffering was necessarily caused by sin. Once sin was seen as universal, it became difficult for the Israelite to accept the whole of human nature rooted in sin as a creation of God;[11] a difficulty still prevalent among God-fearing people today. This universality of sin could be seen as denying the goodness of creation and the possibility of complete peace and harmony in the future.[12]

 

The causal relationship they were now recognizing as a result of sin and its effect on their relationships with one another and with God was simply the reality (and morality) to which they and their first parents were exposed to by Adam and Eve’s emergence into a more God-like state; knowing good and evil. By applying God’s assertion about goodness (Genesis 1:31) to the object, his creation, they further complicated the problem. If instead one sees the goodness in relation to God’s intended goal to be achieved through the natural creation, though it’s imperfect, incomplete, and mortal, the congruency of God’s work in Christ becomes clearer and unified.

 

We must recognize that the reason this was seen as perplexing and impossible for future peace is because they were looking at it from the context of the letter of the law and the nature of man. They were ignorant of the mystery of God in Christ and could have no real concept of how this situation could possibly lead to peace for humanity or reconciliation with God. Though they learned of God’s compassion, God had a greater expression of mercy and grace waiting to be revealed to them in the person and Spirit of Yeshua, the Christ.

In seeking to answer their observation of the universal presence of sin, the second-temple period writers assumed that a “fall” of some type occurred back in the pages of history. As a result, God was exonerated of having created sin, and it was possible to see sin as something that would one day be eliminated.[13] Unfortunately in their minds that result would come more by their efforts than by God’s righteousness (Romans 10:1-4). Here, their thinking begins to diverge from that of their fore-fathers. Though both they and their fore-fathers were ignorant of the mystery of God in Christ, their fore-fathers were content to defer to God’s wisdom, power, and hope that a resolution could be made available. This is what the fore-fathers would have concluded from the evidence of God’s repeated intervention in their lives since his covenant with Abraham, from the Exodus out of Egypt to the plains of Mirraba. Once that deferment ends, all manner of speculation arises as thinkers and commentators attempt to resolve a mystery whose existence and scope they are completely unaware of. Add to this, even after Christ has completed the initial phase of his salvific work, the revelation of the mystery in Christ was only developed by a few of his disciples. From the traditional perspective, little has been written about that mystery, nor has it been the basis for a revisit to Genesis 2-3 based on Paul’s connection of the first Adam and the last Adam until now.[14]

However, if we continue to follow the character of God established in Ezekiel 18 when he corrects Israel’s idea of “the sins of the father passing to the children” for multiple generations, then we can be assured the Spirit of Christ will be consistent with that character; the soul that sins shall die. In contrast, we can see the confusion for authors of this time period was multi-faceted:

• their misunderstanding of God’s application of “very good” in Genesis 1:31
• the conflict existing between the reference to death by God and the serpent
• the hidden and unspoken lie of the serpent
• their ignorance of the mystery of God in Christ yet to be revealed

 

All of these things which authors of this time lacked would have resulted in an incomplete, if not erroneous conclusion regarding “original sin” if such a thing even existed. The same challenge exists if one is trying to understand the origin of sin without an awareness of the new creation in Christ, which was established before the world began. In addition, Paul was led to deeper understanding by a key source not necessarily applied by the authors of the second-tempe period – the Spirit of Christ.

 

What must be understood is that if the first cause of mankind’s condition within the natural realm is misunderstood, so will its resolution be misunderstood and under-valued. When we look at what Christ eradicates, we see a glimpse of the source of it also, though humanity and the unseen realm play a participative role in the process since this creative work is a test for both parties. The “recapitulation” of Christ, as theorized by Irenaeus and others,[15] isn’t just to restore what is presumed to be lost but to make whole and complete that which God first made incomplete, imperfect, and mortal. Yet the incompleteness sown into the world was for man’s maturing into the image and likeness of Christ, who is the first evidence of the new creation; the finished work of God in mankind.