CHAPTER TWO

CONFLICTING THEORIES OF ORIGINAL SIN AND ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

SO much has been written upon the subject of Original Sin and Eternal Punishment that it is impossible to consider all the sub-divisions: but the main theories fall under five headings:

Predestinarian Theories.

Universalist Theories.

Born in Sin Theories.

Pelagian Theories.

The Dead Sin in the Flesh Theory.

       We will examine each theory briefly and see how it passes the two tests of The Love of God and the Free Will of Man.

Predestinarian Theories

       The root thought of such theories is that God, being by Nature absolute, has the right to do whatever He wills, and not only cannot, but should not, be withstood. He has no duties to anyone, while for their part His creatures have no rights and only duties towards Him. The world was created by Him for His glory and pleasure, and He has a perfect right to do what He will with His own. It is therefore open to Him to create some beings for Heaven and others for Hell just as He chooses, without any reference to their wishes or deserts but simply to please Himself. They base their theories chiefly upon the picture of the Potter having power over the clay. (Jer. 18,1-10.)¹

       All such theories are dashed to pieces upon the Rock of God's Benevolence, by which He does nothing to please Himself,

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"For even Christ pleased not Himself" (Rom. 15,3), but only considers the well-being of His creatures. Love seeketh not her own,² and God in His creating sought nothing for Himself, but rather, at His own expense, the happiness of those He loved.

       It is impossible, and a contradiction of Scripture, to state that it was the pleasure of God to create beings for Hell: for He is most careful to state that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked,³ and He makes it clear that His desire is universal salvation,⁴ for He is not willing that any should perish. It was impossible for God to create beings for eternal punishment, or to use His power to hurt a sparrow. Men can do many things which are impossible for God, who cannot deny Himself or do anything which is unloving, unwise, powerless or untrue.⁵

       The smallest examination of Jer. 18,1-10 which is the root of Rom. 9,21 makes it clear that, so far from teaching that God is responsible for the shape of the vessel, Jeremiah is reminding Israel that it all depends upon them! God will do the best He can for all, but Israel must repent if she wants Him to make her a vessel to honour. Pharaoh had so misbehaved himself that he left God no alternative but to make an example of him, to deter others from similar wickedness. It is the free will of the clay which decides the Great Potter what to do with it: and the Potter having made up His mind, will change it, if the clay will change his!

N.B. 1. The Predestination and Election of God are represented in Scripture as being dependent upon His Foreknowledge, and not vice versa. Men are not depicted as acting because God has forced their wills: but God is said to predestinate them to do what His Foreknowledge knows they will want to do, "whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate" (Rom. 8,29).⁶ Were it not so any moral judgement of the actions of a man who fulfils prophecy would be impossible: he could always successfully plead that he was the victim of force majeur. Yet although Judas did but fulfil a prophecy in his betrayal of Jesus he was not thereby justified, but was blamed as one who was doing his own, and not God's, will.

       In the same way the Election of God still needs the full concurrence of our wills, if it is to be effective. "Wherefore

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the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (2 Pet. 1,10).⁷

N.B. 2. There is a sense in which the will of God is always done. "Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Eph. 1,11). There is also a sense in which only One Man has done the will of God, His own Son. Neither sin nor its punishment were the will of God: yet sin will not be able in the long run to deter God from having His own way, though not the perfect realisation of the longing of His loving heart that all men should be saved.⁸ God is not able to govern the will of man, but only his actions. Will can be persuaded, but not forced. The Predestinarian is afraid of derogating from the Majesty of God if he gives to any creature the power of resisting His will; and he falls thereby into the mistake of attributing Hell to the will of God, and taking from man any responsibility for it, or indeed for anything. The truth is that by giving man will, God has enabled him to resist His Love for ever, but only to his own undoing, not God's. God continues with His everlasting plan of happiness, but is obliged to leave His enemies outside in misery. To defy God's will means to ruin oneself, not to discomfit the Lord. Although God cannot control our wills, He can and does prevent us putting our will into action: only that amount of action is allowed to the wicked as will fit in with God's loving plan. The evil deeds of men will turn out for good: all others He will restrain. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain" (Ps. 76,10).

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