A God Entranced Vision of All Things by John Piper & Justin Taylor

Author:John Piper & Justin Taylor
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2004-08-29T22:00:00+00:00

Whether or not this argument of Edwards in fact succeeded in rebutting Taylor’s charge about the divine authorship of sin, it leaves him with a major problem. It is hard to see how he could have been satisfied with this theory or have been confident that it would convince opponents such as Taylor that God is not the author of sin. For either mankind sinned while still in possession of these supernatural principles, with all the virtuous influence they afforded, in which case it is hard to make the occurrence of the Fall plausible, or alternatively, if the Fall could occur while Adam had such principles and was under their influence, then they were hardly “supernatural” in the sense that Edwards intends, for they did not succeed in preserving him. In any case, Edwards is stuck with his earlier claim that the first sin was “transient.” How, if it was transient, did it arise in the mind and heart of a person endowed with supernatural virtue so as to turn him from the path of obedience? John Gerstner avers that since in Edwards’s view this supernatural addition was none other than the Holy Spirit himself—the presence of whom must keep man from falling, and whose influence could not be overpowered by a mere human decision, since Adam in fact fell—“this divine super-added ‘gift’ must have been a mere offer.”23 But this is pure surmise. Edwards does not say it is an offer, and the powerful language he uses regarding the actual presence of the Spirit strongly suggests otherwise.

If at this point Edwards were to stress the transience of the first sin (which he does not) and also to stress that Adam was created in such a condition as to turn his back on these supernatural principles, so making the Fall certain, then it is hard to see how this arrangement safeguards God from being the author of sin. Either way, Edwards has done little by this innovation to cast light on the mystery of the entrance of sin into a world made good by God.24

Whether or not Edwards’s theory could account for the Fall, or at least be seen to be consistent with it, it does have one advantage. It offers 23 John H. Gerstner, The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, 3 vols. (Powhatan, Va.: Berean/Orlando, Fla.: Ligonier, 1992), 2:273.

24 As Clyde Holbrook notes, Edwards’s account leaves him “mired in difficulty” (51), and John Gerstner refers to his inability to extricate himself “from the pit he has dug” ( The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, 2:314).

The Great Christian Doctrine (Original Sin)

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an account of how it is that fallen, humankind possesses a settled disposition to do evil. That disposition immediately arises from the dominant effects of the “lower” nature that asserts itself in wicked ways once the supernatural virtues have departed.

2. The One-ness of the Race in Adam25

We need now to give more detailed attention to the account that Edwards provided of the oneness of the race in Adam.

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