Doctrine 5: We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience, they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall, all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
…and/but…
Doctrine 6: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His
suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that
whosoever will, may be saved.
Doctrine 5 has been referred to as the doctrine of
Original Sin (or more precisely ‘originating sin’) and that concept goes back
at least to Irenaeus and Augustine. Doctrines 5 & 6 are how TSA explains corporate
(as opposed to individual) Salvation; Corporate Salvation is like getting back
to the Garden of Eden – what life was like before the Fall.
This is the garden. Reading from Genesis 2:15-18:
15 The Lord God
took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of
it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the
man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but
you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when
you eat from it you will certainly die.”
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good
for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
Then this is what happened there, Genesis 3:1-6:
3 Now the serpent was
more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He
said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the
garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat
fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did
say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden,
and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said
to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat
from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree
was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining
wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was
with her, and he ate it
And as a result of this first/original sin, Genesis
3:21-24:
21 The Lord God
made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And
the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of
us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand
and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live
forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him
from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been
taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on
the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a
flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the
tree of life.
Salvation can be understood then like humanity getting
back to the Garden. Salvation is about people and even all of creation
returning to our original full and proper relationship with God. In Revelation
Chapter 22 it speaks about us being restored to be in the very presence of the
Tree of Life (which was in the garden!) and of God Himself.
Some people have asked why do we need to be restored?
Why do we need to get back? Why were we kicked out, punished for what Adam and
Eve did anyway? I never ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge; how come I
have to suffer their consequences? I look at the consequences of the original sin
like this: Our lives are affected by the choices of Adam and Eve, our original
parents, in much the same way that our lives are affected by the choices of our
biological or custodial parents and their parents before them. Adam and Eve
were evicted and moved from the Garden of Eden; therefore, their children - Cain,
Abel, and Seth - weren’t born in the Garden of Eden.
I was born and Susan and I were raised on Vancouver
Island here – like Adam and Eve were created and raised in Eden. However,
Heather was born and our eldest two daughters were mostly raised in
Saskatchewan and then Toronto. We left the Island before Sarah-Grace was one
year old for our work with The Salvation Army. It wasn’t sin that caused us to
move away – like it was with Adam and Eve – but our children had no more say
over the fact that they were raised and away from the Island than Cain, Abel,
and Seth did that they were raised away from Eden. As our children live with
the results of our actions –both good and bad: a life of serving the Lord but
also growing up without family nearby – so we all live with the results of our
ancestors’ actions – not just moving from one place to another – but the
results of all kinds of choices they made over the years: our parents, our
grandparents, and their parents, all the way back to our original parents. That
is why and how we are suffering the consequences of originating sin. Does that
make sense?
Walter Bruggemann, one of the foremost OT scholars,
has noted that Adam and Eve’s perfect fear here cast out love (Genesis 3:10)
and notes that as Jesus sets everything right, perfect love casts out fear (1
John 4:18-20).[1]
This is the Adamic Covenant. The Bible also speaks
about the way in which we can return to perfect love, to the Garden, to Eden. In
Genesis 15, through the ceremony of the smoking firepot and the Abrahamic
Covenant, we are shown that God (Jesus Christ) will give up His life in
consequence of humankind transgressing that agreement with Him; and then Jesus’
death will lead to our Salvation insofar as Jesus receives the consequences for
those actions (that of humanity at the time of Abraham, and at the time of Adam,
and more) [2] –
thus making it possible for us to return to what life was like in the garden.
Doctrine 6 of The Salvation Army reads: We believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for
the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.
Good Friday and Easter is all about this and In the
New Testament we are told a little bit about this. A few people today have some
scriptures to read for us:
· Galatians 3:13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on
a pole.”
· 1 Peter 2:24: “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the
cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds
you have been healed.”
· Romans 5:6: You see, at just the right time, when we were
still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
· Romans 5:17-18: For if, by the trespass of the one man, death
reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s
abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life
through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted
in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in
justification and life for all people.
· 1 John 2:2: He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and
not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Again:
· Galatians 3:13 says Jesus became a curse by dying on the cross
· 1 Peter 2:24 says that He bore our sins and we are healed
· Romans 5:6 says that He who was righteous died for we who were
unrighteous
· Romans 5:17-18 says that Jesus’ death and resurrection reconciles us
all, undoing Adam’s death and banishment.
· 1 John 2:2 says that this atonement was for the whole world, all
of creation.[3]
And let me read from near the end of the concluding
book in this more than a Devine anthology, the Bible. Revelation 22:1-5 speaks
about at the end of our age when God will come down with Heaven in the New Jerusalem
and there once again will be the Tree of Life (from Eden), freely available to
all of us:
Then the angel
showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the
throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the
city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of
fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the
healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God
and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve him. 4 They
will see his face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no
more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for
the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Even though sin and death entered into the world
through Adam and Eve and we have been living life outside of the
garden, Jesus is the light, and because of Good Friday and Easter morning and
more He is returning and bringing back with Him when He does at the eschaton,
the Tree of Life from Eden.
This is what Easter is about. Last time I spoke we
chatted about the Mosaic Covenant and the Law. Jesus died on the cross so that
we can return to a time before we even had the Law. Jesus died so that we could
return to a time before there was even sin; the Law was trying to mitigate sin’s
consequences for us. Jesus’ death completes the Mosaic Law. Jesus’ death fulfills
the covenant with Abraham. Jesus’ resurrection removes the cherubim and flaming
sword from the Garden of Eden. As Jesus has entered new life for eternity so
can we; we can re-enter the garden. We can be welcomed back into the garden and
see and experience the Tree of Life and reign with Jesus forever. This was made
possible through the resurrection and is what we celebrate at Easter.
Would you like to reign with God forever? Do you want
to be in the eternal city, with the Tree from the Garden of Eden, where there
is no more sin, no more hate, no more death, no more deceit; no more decay, no
more sorrow, where everyone is honest, and everyone is loving, and serving our
Lord? Do you want to? You can. Jesus provided for our Salvation between the
Cross and the empty tomb on Good Friday and Easter morning and we can start
experiencing the beginning of that very Salvation even today which lasts
forever in the eternal Garden of Eden.
Today, as we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and
leader, we can in essence make our way back to the Garden. If we would like to
live forever in this place, where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no
more sin, no more hate, no more death, no more deceit; where we are honest and
loving and serving our Lord, we can. All we need to do is ask - Jesus has already
done the rest.
Let us pray.
https://www.facebook.com/Salvogesis/
[1] Walter Bruggemann, Genesis (Interpretation: Westminster
John Knox Press, 1982), p 53
[2] Captain Michael Ramsay, Praise The Lord For Covenants: Old
Testament wisdom for our world today, (Vancouver, BC: Credo Press, 2010.
(c) The Salvation Army). Available on-line:
http://www.sheepspeak.com./ptl4covenants.htm
[3] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, (NIB I:
Abingdon Press: Nashville, 1994), 369.
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