· Anthropology ·

Lecture Forty Six:  Personal Sin I

TH330 Systematic Theology I · Moody Bible Institute · Dr. Richard M. Weber

I. Introduction:  “All Have Sinned”

“All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.”  (Ps 14:3; cf. 143:2)

“…[T]here is no one who does not sin…”  (1 Ki 8:46)

“Who can say, ‘I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin’?”  (Prov 20:9)

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  … If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”  (1 John 1:8, 10; cf. James 3:2)

“…Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.  As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.’”  (Rom 3:9-10)

“…[A]ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)

II. Personal Sin and Punishment

If He did not punish sin, He would not be a righteous God.

“God present [Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished…”  (Rom 3:25)

“[God] did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”  (Rom 3:26)

“Therefore in the cross we have a clear demonstration of the reason God punishes sin:  if he did not punish sin he would not be a righteous God and there would be no ultimate justice in the universe.  But when sin is punished, God is showing himself to be a righteous judge over all, and justice is being done in his universe.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 510)

III. Personal Sin and Personal Responsibility

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…”  (Eph 2:1)

“[I]f our responsibility before God were limited by our ability, then extremely hardened sinners, who are in great bondage to sin, could be less guilty before God than mature Christians who were striving daily to obey him.  And Satan himself, who is eternally able to do only evil, would have no guilt at all – surely an incorrect conclusion.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 499; italics mine)

IV. Personal Sin and the “Age of Accountability”

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  (Ps 51:5)

“Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.”  (Ps 58:3)

“God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’”  (Rom 2:6, quoting Ps 62:12, Prov 24:12; cf. Rom 7-11)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”  (1 Tim 2:5)

“…Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”  (John 3:3)

“…[H]e will be great in the sigh of the Lord.  He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.”  (Luke 1:15; italics mine)

“From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”  (Ps 22:10)

“…[N]ow that he is dead, why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”  (2 Sam 12:23)

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”  (Ps 23:6)

“The Lord then said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.”  (Gen 7:1; italics mine; Cf. Heb 11:7)

“But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children…”  (Ps 103:17)

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.”  (Acts 16:31; cf. 11:14; 18:8)

“…[T]he unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.  Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”  (1 Cor 7:14)

“With regard to believers’ children who die very young, we have no reason to think that it would be otherwise.”  (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 500)