E 01 - The Testimony of Scripture

1. The Testimony of Scripture. The assertion which the sacred writers make respecting man is that he is a sinful creature that sin is universally characteristic of our race, that all men, without exception, are sinners in the sight of God. Not only is this directly asserted in many passages, but the entire history of man as presented in the Bible, and all that the Bible proposes for man’s culture and benefit, presuppose this. This last con sideration renders it of importance that we should be thoroughly settled on this point, inasmuch as without a just and clear view of it we shall not be in circumstances to apprehend aright the remedial system to the development of which the Bible is chiefly devoted, and which constitutes the substance and supreme use of Christianity. Of the passages in which the universal sinfulness of our race is formally asserted, there is none more worthy of notice than that embracing the reasoning of the apostle 12 Chronicles 3:9-10; 2 Chronicles 3:11, etc. " We have before proved (irporjTcao-d/jieOa, previously accused or indicted) all, both Jews and Gentiles, to be under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that uriderstandeth: there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." These sentences are quoted by the apostle from Psalms 14:1-3. They strikingly depict the uni versal sinfulness of the race. The Psalmist represents Jehovah as looking down from heaven to see if there were any that understood, any that sought after God; as searching with His omniscient eye to discover if haply there were any that had not gone astray from Him and from goodness; and as finding the melancholy result that not one is to be seen who is not a sinner against Him. Destitute of a just sense of God or understanding of His claims, and without any desire of the heart towards Him, they have sunk into moral degeneracy and worthlessness. The great principle of morality being wanting or dormant within them, they speedily plunge into all prac tical vice and ungodliness; having turned aside from God, each goes in his own way, but all along a downward and darkening path. One character of evil attaches to them all; on all the same verdict must be pronounced. " All are under sin " under its dominion, under its curse; and He, who on man’s first creation proclaimed him " very good," now says as He looks on him, " There is none good, no, not one." In the following verses Paul, still quoting from the 0. T., and chiefly from the Psalms, goes on to set forth some of the manifestations of this depravity in man. He denounces men as pernicious, noxious, deceptive, and slanderous; as given to malediction and bitterness; as indulging in violence, and prone to sudden gusts of passion; ready ever to commit murder through their lust of revenge; and so mischievous and hurtful in their courses that destruction and misery be come prevailing characteristics of their ways or mode of life.

It is not the design of the apostle, of course, to charge each of these forms of evil upon all individually; what he in tends is, in the first instance, to overthrow the self-confidence of the Jews by showing from their own books the extent to which, in spite of their privileges, sin and corruption had prevailed in their nation, and thereby to contribute to the support of his general position that all men are sinful before God. This latter consideration tends to obviate an objection which has sometimes been urged against the conclusion we would draw from the apostle’s language here. These passages, it has been said, are all cited from the 0. T., and they occur there in a special application, so that they merely prove, what no one would deny, that there have been as there are bad men in the world; they do not prove that all men are sinful and evil. But even if we allow that, as originally used by the 0. T. writers from whom they are taken, they do not assert the depravity of any beyond those to whom they are applied by them, yet the use which the apostle makes of them here shows us that he meant them to bear on the proof of the universal depravity of man. The general position he lays down is that " All men are under sin; " and to this the passages he cites are applicable only on the supposition that they directly con tain or somehow involve the assertion of the universal de pravity of man. Now, allowing that they do not all directly assert this, how does it appear that they lend support to the npostle’s thesis? I reply, in two ways. In the first place, Paul employs them to assert forcibly and in language that would tell upon his readers the position he would maintain.

Whether these 0. T. writers assert it or not, there is no doubt that he asserts it; and as he preferred using language borrowed from them for the purpose of conveying his assertion of it more forcibly, it is surely absurd to argue from this that his assertion is thereby rendered invalid. It must be borne in mind that it is not with the apostle as it is with us in this respect; when we would prove a theological truth, we must see to it that the passages we cite from Scripture actually assert that truth, or logically involve it in the sense in which we wish it to be received. But the apostle needed not this support. His own assertion is as valid as could be that of David or Isaiah; and if he saw meet to express his own position in language borrowed from them, his meaning is to be interpreted from his own con text, not from that in which the passages originally occur. The N". T. writers use the 0. T. for various purposes, and it would be a serious mistake to say that the passage as quoted by them has in every case exactly the same signification, neither more nor less, that it has as used by the writers from whom they quote. But, secondly, the apostle’s argument, as expressed in these words of the 0. T. writers, is an argument a fortiori, especially as addressed to Jews. These passages are from their own Scriptures, and primarily they relate, by the sup position, to the Jewish people. Their truth, as forming parts of the divine word, no Jew could question; and the inference, that if such things could be truly said of the Jewish people, much more could they be said of the heathen, is one which no Jew would feel the least inclination to question. Thus the apostle shuts up his readers to the admission of the universal sinfulness of mankind.

Even assuming, then, the passages quoted by Paul were not, as originally used, intended to enunciate this truth, they, as adduced by him, do most distinctly and forcibly announce it. Of one of them, however, it cannot be justly said that it does not, as uttered by the original writer, proclaim the sinfulness of the race as such. The language of the 14th Psalm, from which Paul largely quotes, is used, not of this class or that, nor of one nation rather than another. The language is as general as possible, and is evidently intended to apply to all men alike to man as man under whatever peculiarity of outward circumstances he may be found. " The Lord looked down upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God [i.e. any one individual who regulated his life wisely, and was piously affected towards God].

All have gone aside together [i.e. one and all, "^H.]; they are corrupt; there is none that doeth good, not so much as one "

(ver. 3). No language could be more general than this, and therefore there is hardly an interpreter who does not understand it as intended to apply to the whole race. Both by David, then, and by Paul is the universal sinfulness of the race asserted in the striking words which the former uttered by divine inspiration, and which the latter by the same inspiration quoted from him. In the words used by the Psalmist, and quoted by the apostle, there seems to be an allusion to an equally general assertion of the universal sinfulness of man uttered at an early period in the history of the race. In the days of Noah, God, we are told, " looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth "

(Genesis 6:12). This, of course, applies only to the men of that generation as respects its primary and immediate appli cation; but the allusion to it by the Psalmist would seem to imply that as it was then so it has continued; earth is still rilled with a guilty and sin-loving race.

There is another statement of the apostle bearing on this head which deserves notice. In Romans 5:12 he argues that " as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned [e (/> a> TraWe? ijfjLaprov]." Interpreters differ as to the proper render ing and force of the words e</> here; some making them mean " in whom," i.e. in the one man by whom sin entered; others rendering them " even so;" others " into which;" others, as in the common version, " for that; " and others, " provided that," " on the supposition that," " it being supposed that." But for our present purpose it matters not which of these renderings we prefer, though either of the last is better than any of the others. What concerns us is the apostle’s decided assertion that all have sinned. These words not only assert without qualification that all men are sinners, but it is essential to the apostle’s argument that they should be so understood. His reasoning is this: Death is a penal inflic tion, and under a just government a penalty is inflicted only on those who are guilty of the offence to which it is attached. But death, comes upon all men without exception; whence it follows that all have without exception incurred guilt, or become sinners. In the universality of the doom we see convincing evidence under the just government of God of a universal offence. To these passages we may add such general statements as the following: 1 Kings 8:46-47; 2 Chronicles 6:36; Ecclesiastes 7:20, Ecclesiastes 7:29; Job 14:4; Job 15:14; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:22; 1 John 1:8. Many such statements are found in the Bible, and indeed the doctrine of man’s sinfulness and guilt so pervades the entire book that, like the figure upon the ancient shield, it could only be by destroying the book that it could be obliterated.

Among the proof passages commonly adduced on this head is 2 Corinthians 5:14: "For we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead," i.e. in sins. If this statement of the apostle relates to mankind, the passage is undoubtedly valid for the purpose for which it is adduced; for if all mankind are dead in sins, undoubtedly all mankind are sinners; the two propositions are almost identical. But it may be doubted whether the passage is to be thus understood; and I refer to it particularly because of the opportunity I am thereb}^ afforded of bringing before you another, and, as I think, a much better exegesis of it. I regard the apostle as referring here not to a state common to all men, but to a peculiarity in the condition of Christ’s people, His elect Church, viz. that they have had fellowship with Him in His death, that they died in His death, and thereby have become dead with Him. This is a view of the believer’s connection with Christ which Paul gives elsewhere. Thus, in Romans 6:2-11 he speaks of believers being dead to sin, being baptized for Christ’s death, as being planted together in the likeness of His death, as having had their old man crucified with Him, as having died with Him, and as consequently to be reckoned as dead unto sin. Of the mean ing of such language we shall fall very far short if we under stand by it merely that through Christ’s death in some way we are delivered from sin; the apostle plainly intends to teach that believers are one with Christ partakers of Christ persons having fellowship with Christ in His pro pitiatory work, so that in His death they died and are thereby freed from sin. In like manner in writing to the Galatians (Galatians 2:20), Paul says of himself, " I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ that liveth in me; " where the same idea of the believer’s participation with Christ in death and subsequent life is set forth. To the same head are to be referred such statements as in Colossians 3:3, " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God; "

1 Timothy 2:11, "It is a faithful saying, For if we died with Him (a-vvaTreddvofiev) we shall also live with Him," etc. I regard all these statements as resting upon one basis as flowing out of one fontal thought, viz. that salvation, includ ing justification and sanctification, comes to a man in virtue of his faith in Christ uniting him to Christ so as to become one with Him, and thereby bringing him to a participation of all that was secured by Christ’s obedience unto death and resurrection from the dead. But, be this as it may, the passages I have cited plainly show that in some sense it is true of Christians that they are dead that this is a peculiarity of their spiritual condition; and it is to this, I take it, that the apostle refers in the passage we are now considering. That this is the meaning of the passage appears from the following considerations: 1. The proper rendering of the passage is, " We judge thus, that if one died for all, then the all (ol Travres, for whom he died) died (aireOavov, the aorist here describes an event contemporaneous with that described by the previous aorist, atreOavev)" Whatever it be, then, that is affirmed by the words ol irdvres direOavov, it must be something which took place when the el? airkQavev, not something which was true of the race apart from Him.

2. The assertion apa ol Travres direOavov is adduced by the apostle as logically involved in the previous assertion el? vTrep irdvrwv aTredavev. This is the force of the apa here follow ing the el of the preceding clause, " if," " then." But the fact that all men are sinners, and dead in their sins, is in nowise logically involved in the fact that Christ died for all.

Take this latter statement in what sense you please, it cannot be held as logically included in the fact that the whole race of men are dead. This is a fact which stands quite independent of Christ’s death, and. indeed, so far from flowing out of the latter, is presupposed by it. As it is a fact which would have remained such whether Christ had died for us or not, so, on the other hand, it was because this was a fact that Christ died. We cannot suppose the apostle to reason so illogically as to make the truth of a fact flow out of an act which itself flowed out of the fact.

3. In the 15th verse Paul describes a class of persons as ol fwfTe?, " they that live." Now, these are certainly identical with the Trdvres VTrep tov et? direOave, and this would lead to the conclusion that the word iravrts is used here, as it often is, for a limited totality, i.e. not for all men, but for all of a particular class, viz. those who, united to Christ by a living faith, are held to have died in His death and to live in His life.

4. Paul draws in the 16th verse an inference from what he has asserted in the 14th verse: "Wherefore," says he, " hence forth know we no man after the flesh." Here the apostle asserts that Christians from the time forward of the event previously referred to (diro rov vvv) know no man after the flesh, i.e. do not esteem men according to a carnal selfish manner, and therefore are not moved by men’s opinions or judgments in the discharge of duty. Now, what is it that the apostle says produces this effect upon the believer? It is the fact of his being dead. But this cannot mean being dead in sins, for that would have the contrary effect, the effect of shutting up to a carnal earthly way of regarding men; it must mean being dead to sin, the having undergone that death to which he refers in the 6th chapter of the Epistle to the Eomans as realized by the believer through connection with Christ, and for which with a view to which he was baptized. When men thus die they pass out of the state in which they form carnal selfish judgments; they become new creatures, with whom old things, including such methods of judging, have passed away; they are alive through the Spirit, and so, being spiritually -minded, they judge according to the spiritual judgment and with a just spiritual discernment. On these grounds I would take this passage out of the class of those in which the universal sinfulness of man is asserted, and rank it with those that set forth the great spiritual truth that believers have died in the Saviour’s death, and are alive again through His life. We have no need to press into the service of our thesis passages of doubtful applicability; as already intimated, Scripture is full of state ments on this head of the clearest and strongest kind. " In truth," as Dwight observes, " no doctrine of the Scriptures is expressed in more numerous or more various forms, or in terms more direct or less capable of misapprehension." l

Besides those express statements to which we have referred, the fact of man’s sinfulness is involved in many of the most characteristic revelations of the Bible. It is involved in the provision of a sacrifice for the sins of the world; it is involved in the declaration that Christ came to seek and to save the lost; it is involved in the assertion that if a man die without an interest in Christ he dies in his sins and must perish; for, as Chalmers pointedly puts it, " If it be through the blood of Christ, the blood of expiation, that all who get to heaven are saved, then does it follow univer sally of them who get to heaven as of them who are kept out of heaven, inclusive of the whole human race, that one and all of them have sinned; " 2 it is involved in the sentence that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified, which means, of course, that no man has ever kept the law so as to be held righteous by it; it is involved in the necessity 1 Theology, Sermon 29. 2 Institutes of Theology, 1. p. 385. of regeneration before any man can see the kingdom of God, fur, as Dr. Pye Smith observes, " the Scriptures represent holiness of character in any of mankind as the exception, and as owing to grace which makes men new creatures and all things new; whereas the wickedness of extremely depraved men is put as affording fair specimens of human nature, because it is the spontaneous unchecked growth of our nature; " l and it is involved in the announcement that our bodies are to be changed so as to be delivered from a cor rupting and polluting virus before they can appear in the heavenly glory. The peculiar character of the Christian dispensation as a dispensation of repentance involves the assumption of the universal sinfulness of the race. The gospel is a call to the race as such to repent and return unto God. " God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). But what need of universal repent ance, except on the supposition of universal sinfulness? The whole need not a physician, but they that are sick; the Lord carne to call sinners, not righteous persons, to repent ance; and when, consequently, we hear Him addressing this call to " all men everywhere," we cannot doubt that in the view of heaven all men are sinners, and further, that unless this be admitted and realized, there is no just apprehension of the true nature and design of Christianity obtained.

It thus appears that the testimony of Scripture is decisive in respect of the fact that all men are sinners. " They that have read the sacred volume," says Howe, " cannot be ignorant that all flesh have corrupted their way; that the great God, looking down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God, hath only the unpleasing prospect before His eyes even of a universal depravation and defection; that every one of them is gone back, they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; that this world lieth in wickedness; and that this was not the first state of man, but that he is degenerated into it from a former and better state; that God made man upright, but that he became otherwise by his own many inventions; that by trying conclusions to better 1 First Lines of Theology, p. 383. a state already truly good, he brought himself into this awful plight; and by aiming at somewhat above, sunk so far beneath himself into that gulf of impurity and misery that is now become to him as his own element and natural state." l