The

Spread of Sin
CW2 Session 18
Mark 6:30-44: Context
• Where does this passage fit?
Mark 6:30-44: Observation
• 6:30-34: Disciples return from mission & lack time to eat
• 6:35-38: The disciples are unable to provide bread for the people
• 6:39-44: Jesus feeds the 5,000
Mark 6:30-44: Meaning
Draw together the meaning of the passage
Mark 6:30-44: Application
• Why does this matter today?
Revision
• The origin of evil is a mystery:
• God is not the source of evil
• Satanic evil arose in God’s good creation
• After being tempted by the serpent, Adam and Eve disobeyed God on
behalf of humankind. God responded by cursing humans
• Humans retain the image of God, but every part of them is affected
by the fall (“total depravity”)
• God’s common grace restrains human evil
• Other worldviews explain evil differently (illusion; payback; invention)
A Quiz
Go to kahoot.it on your device…

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/fba822cb-5b2f-4e41-b24d-f9fb642144cd
Historical Views: How does sin spread from
Adam to the rest of us?
• Tertullian (155-240 AD): Adam’s sin is our sin because the whole
human race was within Adam (in potential) – so, sharing his nature,
his sin is also our sin
• Pelagius (360-418 AD): All people were born with pure souls; sin and
evil come into being only through imitation. On our own, without
grace, we can will and do the good.
• From the time of Bonaventure (1221-1274): some increasingly say we
inherit Adam’s pollution, but not his guilt:
• Guilt: We inherit the culpability for Adam’s original sin
• Pollution: We inherit the consequences of Adam’s original sin
Historical Views
• Reformers: Agreement with most prior interpreters that both
pollution and guilt are immediately imputed to all humanity;
emphasis on Adam as federal head
• Post-Reformation, according to Berkhof (part 2, 239): ‘Socinians and
Arminians both rejected the idea of the imputation of Adam’s sin to
his descendants…. In modern liberal theology the doctrine of the
transmission of sin from Adam to his posterity is entirely discredited.’
So who is right?
• Do we inherit Adam’s guilt, or do we just suffer its consequences?
• Are we born sinners, or do we learn it by imitation?
Scripture
• Genesis 3: Implications…
• Romans 5
• 1 Corinthians 15
Reformed Views
Bavinck (Vol 3, 77):
Adam’s disobedience is the originating sin; that is the clear teaching of
Scripture. [And we all receive Adam’s guilt and pollution.] How can that not be
seen as arbitrary? Only by recognizing the organic unity and solidarity of the
human race.... Reformed theology tries to explain this through the doctrine of
the covenant – the covenant of works with Adam and the covenant of grace in
Christ.
Reformed Views
Vos (Vol 2, 30):
By [original sin] we understand:
The sinful, guilty state into which we have come by Adam’s first sin.
The inherent corruption which, as the result of this state, we are born, is called
(a) hereditary guilt, (b) hereditary pollution.
Vos (Vol 2, 31):
The federal theory, which, by positing a covenant of works, has Adam
representing us in his probation, as a consequence of which his sin becomes
legally our sin. This is called immediate imputation.
Vos (Vol 2, 6):
God imputes to the soul the guilt of Adam’s first sin by virtue of the covenant.
Conclusion
Adam is the head of the human race.
We inherit both the guilt of his sin, and the pollution that arises from
that sin.
This is called “original sin.”