Re: [asa] Saving Darwin -- On the "Fall"

On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Keith Miller <kbmill@ksu.edu> wrote:

>
> I am somewhat uncertain by what is properly meant by Adam as a federal
> representative of humanity. My perhaps poorly thought out view is below.
> Is this what others mean by federal headship, and why is this not an
> acceptable theological view?
>
> Paul's comparison of Christ (the second Adam) with the first Adam
> is, I believe quite helpful in sorting through the issues. Sin and
> spiritual death "entered the world" through Adam, but life and
> righteousness through Jesus Christ. It seems that both Adam and Christ are
> being presented as respresentative heads of the human race. We bear the
> image of Christ in the same way that we formerly bore the image of Adam.
> We are dealing here, I believe, not with physical realities but with with
> spiritual realities. Adam thus need not be the physical ancestor of all
> humans, anymore than Jesus is the physical ancestor of all those who
> believe in Him.

Some hint that the "federal headship " view may be valid is found in Isaiah
53:10:

      Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
       and though the LORD makes
[c<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Is%2053&version=31#fen-NIV-18722c>
] his life a guilt offering,
       he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
       and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

Since Jesus did not biologically father children, "offspring" means
Christian believers. One of the sources of the view that Adam was the first
human comes from Gen 3:20:

     Adam [c<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen%203;&version=31;#fen-NIV-76c>
] named his wife Eve,
[d<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen%203;&version=31;#fen-NIV-76d>
] because she would become the mother of all the living.

Again, "all the living" could mean all believers, not necessarily
biologically descended from Eve. It's a nice parallel relationship: Adam as
the first of all worshippers of God, Jesus as the head of all Christian
believers.

>
>
> How was God's "image" imparted to humanity? I think that there are a
> couple of options here. One common position is that God selected a
> particular individual into whom God imparted a spiritually conscious soul.
> A more monist (as opposed to dualist) view might be that God revealed
> himself to Adam thus bringing Adam into personal fellowship in a state of
> moral innocence. I am sure there are other approaches to this.
>
> If Adam is not the genealogical ancestor of all humanity, then how can we
> understand the "image" to have been communicated to all humanity? Firstly,
> this is essentially the problem of the "pre-Adamites" which is hardly a
> consequence of an evolutionary view of human origins. A straightforward
> reading of the Biblical text itself seems to imply that Adam and his
> immediate
> descendants lived in an already populated world (Gen, 4:13-26). Thus,
> these
> questions have to be answered regardless of whether an evolutionary origin
> is accepted.
>
> I think that scripture allows us to view the "Image of God" as an act of
> grace poured out on God's chosen creatures when those creatures had in
> effect "come of age." Here the evolutionary origin of humanity provides
> some helpful metaphors. Here's one way to think about it : God
> providentially directed the evolutionary development of humans to the point
> at which they possessed the mental and emmotional capacity for conscious
> fellowship with Him. At that point, God revealed Himself and established a
> covenant relationship, making them divine representatives to the rest of
> creation.
>
> I believe that Adam could have been selected out from the rest of humanity
> for a special covenant relationship. This would be entirely consistent
> with the pattern of God's interaction with the human race revealed
> throughout scripture. God selects a particular individual through whom to
> accomplish His redemptive will. There is first Adam, then Noah, Abram,
> Joseph, Moses, and Jesus. God seems to repeatedly focus the entire future
> of His will for His chosen on the obedience of a single individual.
>
> How is the sin condition (original sin) passed on? This question is
> related to the question: How is Christ's righteousness imputed to us? - By
> grace through faith.
> There is some act of the will on my part involved. I must willingly accept
> that offer of grace. What if we make a parallel with the transmission of
> sin? When I am born I am innocent (I do not mean righteous). However, at
> the first opportunity I choose to be disobedient - I sin and come under the
> curse of Adam which is spiritual death. Thus, Adam's curse is imputed to
> me by my sharing in his sin, just as Christ's righteousness is imputed to
> me by faith. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,
> and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all
> sinned" (Rom 5:12). My reading is that there are none who are without sin
> except Christ, thus there are none who are morally righteous yet still
> condemned by Adam's sin. We are condemned because we sin. Therefore I do
> not understand that sin itself is something that is passed on thru direct
> descent.
>
> Keith
>
>
>
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-- 
William E (Bill) Hamilton Jr.
Rochester, MI/Austin, TX
248 821 8156
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