Jews do not believe in "original sin" as taught by most Christian denominations. That is, they do not believe that we inherit sin nature by virtue of being the offspring of Adam and Eve. They would say that they do not believe in it at all, though of course the Ultra-Orthodox would agree that Adam committed the first or original human sin. It seems that they do not extrapolate that to mean anything about our spiritual condition today. They sort of dodge question of whether we have a sin nature and if so, what its origin might be, saying "Whether man is a sinner by nature or not is immaterial." because repentance provides a way out.
While I could take issue with how material it is, I was fascinated that they don't "believe in original sin". Again, when they say that, they mean that they don't think Adam's sin means anything for the rest of his offspring. His sins were his alone, not something for which we are accountable. If this is true, it resolves some theological questions regarding Adam being formed as a figure of Christ, a representative for an already-existing, though in innocence, humanity.
Could Christian theologians have been misinterpreting the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:12? I think they have been. Not in the sense of "there is no such thing as original sin" but the nature by which Adam's original sin effects the rest of us has been misconstrued. For more on why I think that, and what Romans 5:12 really means, see....
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.