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NASB | Psalm 51:5 ¶ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Psalm 51:5 ¶ I was brought forth in [a state of] wickedness; In sin my mother conceived me [and from my beginning I, too, was sinful]. [John 3:6; Rom 5:12; Eph 2:3] |
Subject: inherit the sin of Adam |
Bible Note: Hi, Brother Mark... If I can get these here commas figured out, I'll try to answer.,,, Kind of cute, you know, whatever they are for! :-) Matthew 15 describes an encounter with Christ and the Pharisees (verse 1). They do this ad hominem thing (where I have seen that, before?) trying to show that the disciples were unrighteous by ignoring the oral traditions of the Mishnah (verse 2). Christ responds by exposing their own unrighteous behavior by finding a loophole around the written Law (verses 3 through 6). (Christ always responded with the written law, rather than oral tradition. This is one of the reasons we believe in the authority of Scripture.) He calls them exactly what they are, hypocrites, again citing Scripture (verses 7 through 9). Note how the words of Isaiah point to a fault of the heart. The deeds were righteous, but the heart was corrupt. Then Christ, focusing back on the topic of washing and eating, calls to the crowd to tell them that it isn't what goes into a man that defiles, but what comes out of him (verse 10 and 11). Then the disciples come up to Christ to let Him know that He wasn't being very diplomatic (verse 12). He assures them not to worry about it, adding a bit more commentary about the Pharisees (verse 14). Any teaching that doesn't originate with God will eventually be eliminated by God (verse 13). Peter asks for a better explanation of what he construed as a parable (verse 15). Christ explains a bit more explictly (verses 16 through 18). All sin ultimately originates out of the heart (verses 19 through 20). People don't sin as much as they could, but not for want of trying! The fact of the matter is that a lot of desires to sin originate in the heart, but are never explicitly acted out. Yet such things are a violation of the law (see Matthew 5:22 and 27). You wrote, "I still do not see clearly in scripture where it is that God condemns us for that which we did not do." Well, there is the examples above from Matthew 5. Of course, one might argue that hatred and lust are "things we do." I frequently try to get the dandelions from my yard before they "bear fruit." I know their nature. It is their nature that causes me to destroy them, not the fruit that they bear. I condemn them before they have a chance to bear fruit. Maybe that's a dumb example, but I think it fits when you consider all the passages that Christ uses when discussing trees that bear corrupt fruit or that don't bear fruit at all. Romans 5:14 states, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come." (NASB) Now, is this verse speaking of physical death? Every commentator I checked states that Paul is speaking of spiritual death. Romans 5:18 even uses the word "condemnation" in an interchangeable fashion the previous use of death. Indeed, if we say that it only means physical death, much of our other doctrine based in Romans would have to change. What Paul is trying to get us to understand in Romans 5:12-21 is this: just as Adam's sin is imputed to us because we were in him, so Christ's righteousness is imputed to us because we are in Him. These are crucial concepts in our understanding of justification. You see, brother Mark, this is why it was so crucial that Christ be born of a virgin. He was not of the seed of Adam. If He had been of the seed of Adam, even without committing any sin, He could only have died for Himself. Yet Christ was perfectly righteous, in deed, in heart, and in nature. In Him, Doc |