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guilty and polluted in Adam. Semi-Pelagianism admitted the Adamic connection, but held that it
accounted only for the pollution of sin. During the Middle Ages the connection was generally
recognized. It was sometimes interpreted in an Augustinian, but more often in a Semi-Pelagian
manner. The Reformers shared the views of Augustine, and the Socinians those of Pelagius,
while the Arminians moved in the direction of Semi-Pelagianism. Under the influence of
Rationalism and evolutionary philosophy the doctrine of the fall of man and its fatal effects on
the human race was gradually discarded. The idea of sin was replaced by that of evil, and this
evil was explained in various ways. Kant regarded it as something belonging to the
supersensible sphere, which he could not explain. For Leibnitz it was due to the necessary
limitations of the universe. Schleiermacher found its origin in the sensuous nature of man, and
Ritschl, in human ignorance, while the evolutionist ascribes it to the opposition of the lower
propensities to a gradually developing moral consciousness. Barth speaks of the origin of sin as
the mystery of predestination. Sin originated in the fall, but the fall was not a historical event; it
belongs to superhistory (Urgeschichte). Adam was indeed the first sinner, but his disobedience
cannot be regarded as the cause of the sin of the world. The sin of man is in some manner
bound up with his creatureliness. The story of paradise simply conveys to man the cheering
information that he need not necessarily be a sinner.
B. SCRIPTURAL DATA RESPECTING THE ORIGIN OF SIN.
In Scripture the moral evil that is in the world stands out clearly as sin, that is, as trangression of
the law of God. Man ever appears in it as a transgressor by nature, and the question naturally
arises, How did he acquire that nature? What does the Bible reveal on that point?
1. GOD CANNOT BE REGARDED AS ITS AUTHOR.
God’s eternal decree certainly rendered the
entrance of sin into the world certain, but this may not be interpreted so as to make God the
cause of sin in the sense of being its responsible author. This idea is clearly excluded by
Scripture. “Far be it from God, that He should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that He
should commit iniquity,” Job 34:10. He is the holy God, Isa. 6:3, and there is absolutely no
unrighteousness in Him, Deut. 32:4; Ps. 92:16. He cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself
tempteth no man, Jas. 1:13. When He created man, He created Him good and in His image. He
positively hates sin, Deut. 25:16; Ps. 5:4; 11:5; Zech. 8:17; Luke 16:15, and made provision in
Christ for man’s deliverance from sin. In the light of all this it would be blasphemous to speak of
God as the author of sin. And for that reason all those deterministic views which represent sin
as a necessity inherent in the very nature of things should be rejected. They by implication
make God the author of sin, and are contrary, not only to Scripture, but also to the voice of
conscience, which testifies to the responsibility of man.