Biblical Essays II

By James D. Quiggle

The greatest problem in today’s Christian church is a lack of biblical and doctrinal teaching. Yet, forty-plus years teaching in local churches has taught me most Christians just want to sit with someone, ask questions about the Bible, and get reasonable, accurate, and understandable answers. In today’s world of short attention spans, forgotten text messages, and blogs that are here today, lost in bytes and pieces tomorrow, the essay may seem an old fashioned way to communicate vital truths to the media generation. But it works.
As with the first volume of Biblical Essays, the ninety-seven essays in volume II are the end result of a year’s worth of posts on doctrinally conservative social media groups. They’ve provoked sharing, discussion, and occasionally controversy. The essays explain the Bible, Calvinism, Dispensationalism, sin, salvation, the Savior, other aspects of theology and doctrine, and especially the art and science of hermeneutics (interpretation). If you have wanted to sit and discuss the Bible with someone, sit and talk with me for a bit. Most of these essays are between 1,000 to 1,500 words, a lunch-time read. Here is bread, meat, and drink for those hungry and thirsty to understand the spiritual things of the Word of God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James D. Quiggle
• Release date: May 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463313374

James D. Quiggle

James D. Quiggle was born in 1952 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. In the early 1970s he joined the United States Air Force. At his first permanent assignment in Indian Springs, Nevada in a small Baptist church, the pastor introduced him to Jesus and soon after he was saved. Over the next ten years those he met in churches from the East Coast to the West Coast, mature Christian men, poured themselves into mentoring him. In the 1970s he was gifted with the Scofield Bible Course from Moody Bible Institute. As he completed his studies his spiritual gift of teaching became even more apparent. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Bible College during the 1980s while still in the Air Force. Between 2006–2008, after his career in the Air Force and with his children grown up, he decided to continue his education. He enrolled in Bethany Divinity College and Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies.As an extension of his spiritual gift of teaching, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin writing books. James Quiggle is now a Christian author with over fifty commentaries on Bible books and doctrines. He is an editor for the Evangelical Dispensational Quarterly Journal published by Scofield Biblical Institute and Theological Seminary.He continues to write and has a vibrant teaching ministry through social media.

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Introduction

I occasionally experience or participate in discussions, where one will reference some Christian work of the past or present, and then another will response with the very pious-sounding, Scripture is enough for me or something similar.

I appreciate the sentiment, because I feel that way myself. Where else shall we begin if we want to understand the mind of God, if not with his self-revelation? But the issue is, does the Holy Spirit speak only through his Word? If so, every pastor and teacher should immediately resign, and after a few songs and praises, the assembled church should retire to reading rooms stocked full of Bibles, and nothing else.

Consider this: the pious-sounding, Scripture is enough for me insults the Holy Spirit. For is not the Spirit the one who taught others in the past and present? Is not the Spirit the one who has preserved in books (or audio and video) those things which he taught to others, which he helped them write, and which he helped them publish, and which he has preserved lo these many years, centuries, and millennia? Which he preserved and still publishes for the purpose that we and yet-future generations may learn from them, just as they learned from the Holy Spirit? Many, many Christian books of past and present originated in the church pulpit and church classroom. Did the Holy Spirit not teach them understanding? Do his works through them lack value?

You whose creed is, Scripture is enough for me, is it impossible the Holy Spirit may teach you through others he has taught? No believer will learn everything on his own, by himself, what the Spirit has to teach us in the Word—else why did he gift some as pastors and teachers?

Please, don't insult the Spirit by rejecting the wisdom and understanding he gives to others, that he has chosen to preserve, and that he continues to publish, for our benefit and learning.

I don’t claim the impossible: that every word in every book or essay I write reflects a complete understanding of the Scriptures. But I do know the Spirit has given me the gift of teaching. Essays and books are ways in which the Holy Spirit uses his gift in me. This collection of essays, most written over the past year, intended to teach the Scriptures, are evidence of his work in me.

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These ninety-seven essays were written from May 2018 to May 2019. Each essay, in the order written, was a stand-alone lesson to the reader. Similar subjects, remarks, and information were repeated throughout the year: repetition reinforces the lesson for the student. In Biblical Essays II, the essays have been grouped by subject, not in the order written. Therefore, you will discover some repetition between essays that are next door to one another in this book, that were originally separated by days, weeks, and months.

Advice to a Young Christian

I was asked, What advice can you give to me as a young Christian? This was my answer.

Do the basics. Seek Christ with all your soul until you are assured you have a saving relationship with him. Study to understand the scriptures so you may apply them correctly to your life in Christ. Worship Christ, maintain fellowship with Christ, practice obedience to Christ, and serve Christ. Worship with, maintain fellowship with, and serve with believers of like-minded faith.

Never turn away from the basics of the Christian faith, for they are the foundations of the path on which you will walk in Christ your entire life. Remember that the path of righteousness is built from the stones of obedience.

1 John 1:9!

Sin keeps you focused on the problem, not the solution. The solution is the same from the beginning of your Christian life to death or rapture: fellowship with Christ. Apply the Bible's moral values and godly principles to every aspect of your life and every decision in your life. Pray upon every appropriate occasion. Fill your mind with godly things, not sinful things. Grow in knowledge and understanding but diligently keep watch so that you do not allow yourself to stray from these basic things of the Christian life.

If you do these things, then you may listen to your conscience (now informed by Scripture).

Finally, when you make a mistake, commit a sin, do something unwise (or totally stupid), embarrass yourself or others, or otherwise live like an unsaved person, Turn to Christ! Admit your fault to those you have offended (Christ for sure, and others as may be necessary), ask for forgiveness, receive forgiveness, and return to righteous living.

Christian Character, Colossians 3:12

Clothe yourselves therefore, as God’s chosen, holy and loved by him, Colossians 3:12. God specifically selected You, the believer in Christ Jesus, to be holy in his presence and loved by him. He chose us in him . . . that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, Ephesians 1:4. The believer has been chosen to a godly destiny. Therefore his or her manner of life in the here and now should outwardly reflect the holiness and love given by God in Christ.

The eternity of the believer begins at the moment of salvation. He/she is obligated to live in the here and now according to the moral character God has both given and required. Give what you command, and command what you will [Schaff, NPNF, 1:153 (Augustine, Confessions, 10.29)]. God has given holiness and love to the believer; therefore he commands holiness of life and love in character, speech, and action.

In the Bible, clothing is often used to indicate character. One may be clothed with salvation, 2 Chronicles 6:41; righteousness, Job 29:14; vengeance, Isaiah 59:17; strength, Isaiah 51:9; filthy garments (here a symbol of sin), Zechariah 3:3; sheep’s clothing, Matthew 7:15; white as snow, Matthew 28:3; armor, Romans 3:12, Ephesians 6:11; eternal life, 2 Corinthians 5:4; tender mercies, Colossians 3:12; love, Colossians 3:14; humility, 1 Peter 5:5.

Therefore, Clothe yourselves, that is, possess and live out that moral character which characterized Christ, because you have become through salvation and regeneration the opposite of the person described in the previous verses. The old, sinful, lost person you were practiced sexual immorality, moral uncleanness, sensual craving, debased passion, the craving to have more (which is idolatry), chronic anger, angry outbursts, malicious spite, abusive language, obscene speech, and lies (Colossians 3:5, 9). But you, believer, you have been raised with Christ, you have died to sin with Christ. Therefore let the new person you are inwardly, be seen outwardly in your manner of living.

The regeneration of one’s soul is instantaneous, but working out the consequences of regeneration is not. Most believers spent years becoming a good citizen in the world before Christ saved them. The sinner grows into worldly values, which become accepted without question as absolute truth. Worldly habits are formed and practiced and become entrenched in one’s manner of living. The Holy Spirit works with the believer to work out your salvation to replace worldly values with biblical values, worldly habits with Christian habits. Over time the believer grows into the grace and knowledge of conforming to Christ. This, then, is the experience of practical sanctification—living like Christ in the world by submission to and dependence upon God, according to the moral character of Christ that the Holy Spirit develops in each believer.

Therefore, clothe yourself . . . with a compassionate heart. The heart is a term in Scripture that refers to the personality: the seat of moral reflection, choice of the will, and pattern of behavior. The term includes all the mental processes, feelings, affections, and emotions, along with the internal motivations, leading to one’s decisions and responses to life situations. A compassionate heart actively meets, as best as one is able, the suffering of others, whether emotional or physical support is rendered.

Clothe yourself with . . . kindness. This is the grace which pervades the whole nature, mellowing all which would be harsh and austere [Zodhiates, s. v. 5544"]. The kind man pities and lends, Psalm 112:5.

Clothe yourself with . . . humility. Humility means valuing myself as God values me, and valuing others as equal or better than myself. Humility means knowing my relationship with God: created in his image, chosen to salvation, rescued from sin by the Savior. Humility means knowing my importance to others arises out what God has given me to be used for the material and spiritual benefit of others. Humility recognizes that my worth to others is because of my relationship with Christ

Clothe yourself with . . . gentleness. This is the Greek word praΰtēs [Zodhiates, s. v. 4240]. In Greek use praΰtēs was the middle ground between getting angry without reason and not getting angry at all, describing the person who became angry at the right time, in the right measure, and for the right reason, and never angry at the wrong time [Barclay, 120]. The word refers to outward actions resulting from an inward disposition of gentleness exercised in power. Gentleness, praΰtēs, is strength and gentleness perfectly combined. Praΰtēs instructs or assists without undue force: receiving those weak in the faith without judgment (Romans 14:1); instructing those who are ill-disposed to be affected by God’s word 2 Timothy 2:25; thinking evil of none and acting appropriately toward all, Titus 3:2.

Clothe yourself with . . . longsuffering. The Greek word is makrothumía [Zodhiates, s. v. 3115]. The person who is makrothumía does not have a short temper but is long-tempered, which is to say, it takes a long time for anger to rise within him. Makrothumía expresses the attitude to people which never loses patience with them, however unreasonable they may be, and which never loses hope for them, however unlovely and unteachable they may be [Barclay, 91].

These are some of the characteristics that identify the Christian as other than of this world.

A Pastor

A pastor is Christ’s representative to the Lord’s congregation. Christ loves his congregation by loving each individual person. The pastor is to have the same attitude of love and exercise the same care for Christ’s people which characterized Christ. A pastor is a man who leads the congregation of the Lord as the faithful servant who pays attention to, cares for, feeds, defends, and disciplines his Master’s people to promote their physical and spiritual well-being.

A pastor is one spiritually gifted believer among a congregation of spiritually gifted believers. The pastor’s spiritual gift is to be a steward managing Christ’s household. The pastor-as-steward is to use his Master’s goods to ensure everyone is spiritually fed, clothed with righteous works, active in the congregation, able to protect themselves against spiritual evil, and growing and prospering in the Lord, to the end that everyone in the church can use his or her spiritual gifts to accomplish all the necessary work of his Master’s household and business, in the church and in the world.

Christian leadership is not supposed to imitate the world. The pastor is an equal among equals. In the local church he is the servant of Christ, and practices ministry as a shared duty and privilege. His greater honor does not come from being the leader, but from the burden of a greater responsibility.

A pastor’s duties:

Help the individual Christian discover, develop, and use his or her spiritual gifts in harmony with other Christians in the church.

Mentor, train, spiritually feed, and discipline the Christian for his or her individual good.

Lead Christians to work together to accomplish the ministries of the church.

Oversee the functioning of the church as a living organism.

Oversee the functioning of the church as a living organization.

Recognize each Christian in the church he leads is important, exciting the pastor to spiritually feed, tend, and discipline a Christian for the good of that individual.

A pastor experiences grief over the injury, wanderings, or loss of any Christian in the church he leads.

A pastor experiences joy over the growth, development, and ministry of even one Christian in the church he leads, knowing that the good of the individual tends to the good of all.

The pastor is part of the church. He leads the church to serve their common Lord and Savior. His professional training is used to mentor some and guide others into effective ministry. He shepherds individual Christians for the good of the whole flock.

Foreordination and Sin

Foreordination is a difficult subject. This essay does not pretend to address every issue or answer every question. The fall of man into sin will be used as an illustration of God’s work of foreordination.

Foreordination is the decree of God occurring between his decision to create and his act of creation as to which agents, events, and outcomes, out of all possible agents, events, and outcomes potential in the decision to create, would pass from possible to actual, in which the liberty or contingency of secondary causes is established, in which God is not the author of sin, and in which no violence is done to the free will of his creatures."

That is a long definition with several moving parts. More simply, before God created the universe, God decided what would happen in that universe from its beginning to its end (Genesis 1:1; Revelation 21:1). How did God do that?

When God decided to create the universe, he understood, through his omniscience, every possible agent, event, and outcome that might occur, that could happen. We could say (an illustration) God omnisciently calculated that the consequence of possible event A was outcome B, which would lead to event C, giving outcome D, and so on, making a calculation for every agent, event, and outcome from A to Z. For every possible agent and event that might result from his decision to create the universe, God omnisciently calculated all possible outcomes. He then omnipotently chose which agents, events, and outcomes to change from possible to actual, thus creating the universe you and I live in. God did this in order to fulfill his purpose in creating the universe.

Let us look at this again. We might imagine a series of possible agents, events, and outcomes and name them agents A-B-C, events 1-2-3, and outcomes X-Y-Z. To create the plans and processes that would fulfill his purpose, God might have chosen agents A and B to cause events 2 and 3 to create outcomes X and Z. Our reality, then, our universe, would be composed of the agents, events, and outcomes A-B-2-3-X-Z. God could have chosen any agents, any events, and any outcomes, but he chose some out of all that were possible in order to create a specific universe that would fulfill his purpose in creating.

The choices living beings make—the choices you and I make—are the choices God caused to pass from possible to actual. They are real, genuine free choices. In illustration, God omnisciently calculated that if possible events 1, or 2, or 3 happened, I would make possible choices X, or Y, or Z. Then God chose—he foreordained—that out of possible events 1, 2, 3 he would change event 2 from possible to actual, and out of possible choices X, or Y, or Z he would change choice Z from possible to actual. Thus, when I met event 2 in my life, I would freely choose, as the natural response of my human nature, to do action Z. God, then, did not foreordain a choice I would not make, but foreordained my freely made choice, by effectuating that choice from possible to actual.

So through his foreordaining decree of creation, God made our free choices certain, but not coerced or necessary. He commanded that certain choices (out of all possible choices) that we might make would be the choices that we would make, thereby making those choices certain. But, those choices are not coerced or necessary—they are not fate, they are not caused by God—because those choices are the freely made response of our nature as human beings.

Freely made choices include wrong choices (sinful choices). Foreordination does not make God the culpable author of sin. God permissively allows his sentient creatures to exercise both their sentience and the moral authority he created in humanity—to make a choice—and sovereignly makes their choices, whether a right or wrong choice, to accomplish his plans and fulfill his purpose.

Sinful persons, whether unsaved human or fallen angel, respond to life’s circumstances as influenced by the principle of evil (sin) which is part of their nature, just as holy angels and saved persons respond to life’s circumstances as influenced by the principle of holiness which is part of their nature. God’s sovereignty causes all freely made choices to work out to accomplish his processes, plans, and purpose. Sinful choices are permitted (foreordination), known (foreknowledge), and sovereignly controlled and overruled (providence) to be part of the processes that accomplish God’s plans to fulfill his purpose.

How can a good God allow his creatures to make sinful choices? One, freely made choices are a necessary part of sentience, and two, human beings are fully responsible for their choices. (For the purposes of this discussion, sentience is defined as that quality of self-perception/self-awareness that only God, humankind, and angels possess.)

Did God foreordain the fall of humankind into sin? Adam was not compelled to sin. His act of sin was the result of his free will making a choice in response to circumstances. Instead of preventing the free choice of his sentient creature, God respected the sentience and moral authority he had created. He permitted Adam’s choice and effectuated the agents, events, and outcomes leading to and resulting from that choice. Thus, Adam’s choice to sin was certain, because foreordained, but not necessary, because it was Adam’s freely made choice.

One other issue must be addressed. If, as is the case, God omnisciently calculated all possible realities (all possible agents, events, outcomes) that could result from his decision to create, was there a reality in which Adam did not choose to sin? And, if such a reality was possible, why didn’t God choose to effectuate that reality?

The biblical answer to that question is, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this? (Romans 9:20; Isaiah 29:16.) The sovereign God chose to create man as a sentient being, to respect man’s moral authority to choose, and to effectuate the choices made by man that would fulfill the purpose God had in creating man and the universe. What might have been is unknown and unknowable (perhaps in every possible reality Adam chose to sin?); only what God has created is real and knowable. A perfect, holy, and righteous God has a perfect, holy, and righteous plan to fulfill his purpose. We, the creatures in that plan, must have faith in, submit to, and worship our Creator. Those choices will lead to salvation and eternal life.

The bottom line is that God is fully sovereign in the way he created the universe, and man is fully responsible for his choices.

There are many theology books that discuss foreordination. If I may, I suggest the book from which the above was drawn: "God’s Choices, The Doctrines of Foreordination, Election, and Predestination," by James D. Quiggle.

What is Free Will?

Free will is not a license to think or do anything I want. We all know this intuitively, though the impulse is to deny any restriction to what we want to think of as liberty. There are things neither I, nor you, nor anyone else can do physically or morally or ethically because there are physical, and moral, and ethical boundaries in our lives. Physical boundaries are easy to observe. I’ve always wanted to fly, but no matter how much I choose to flap my arms up and down, that’s just not going to happen. Just as there are physical limitations to choice, so also there are limits to moral and ethical choices. 

Free will is the capability to make decisions within the boundaries of the attributes and characteristics of human nature. The boundaries of human nature are its attributes as created by God, corrupted by sin, and in the case of the saved, regenerated by salvation. The will is not neutrally suspended between good and evil, but is inclined toward one or the other by the several principles of life which compose the sentient nature. In the case of unsaved human beings, the will is inclined toward sin because of the principle of evil (the sin attribute) that became part of human nature following Adam’s sin and procreation. Free choice or freely made choices means choices made within the context of the will as circumscribed (fenced in, limited) by human nature. 

The inclination of the sin attribute is to rebel against God and disobey his commandments, thereby effectively persuading unsaved human beings to choose their path in life apart from God. This is known as the dominion of sin in the unsaved. Sin has authority (dominion, rule) over the sinner, not as some invincible overlord, but as an innate part of human nature constructively working with all the other attributes of human nature to persuasively incline the will to choose an act of sinning. The evil attribute sin influences every other attribute with the inclination to sin, and in that sense sin can be said to dominate the will. The sinner freely chooses sinning—he/she sins as a habit of life—because his will is of itself always inclined to choose sinning, and as being rebellious and disobedient toward God never desires to change its inclination to choose sinning to rebel against God, disobey God’s commandments, and seek a path in life apart from God. 

Romans 6:14 states sin no longer has dominion over the believer. The saved person freely chooses righteousness because the saved person’s will is of itself always inclined to choose righteousness, and as being in salvific relationship with God, doesn’t desire to change its inclination to choose righteousness. The choice to live righteously is freely made, because the person’s disposition is inclined to holiness and righteousness toward God. 

A temptation is neither more nor less than an offer, influence, or persuasion to commit an act of sin. In both saved and unsaved sin never stops tempting. The unsaved habitually choose to respond to the temptation because the sin attribute positively influences the person to commit an act of sinning. Occasionally the saved person chooses to act on temptation, because the sin attribute remains as part of saved human nature. The sin attribute never stops tempting, and sometimes the believer chooses to agree with the temptation and commit an act of sinning. The saved person will habitually act righteously, sinning occasionally and confessing their sins when committed, out of love for Christ and a desire to please him. (Hence the many biblical exhortations to live righteously: a choice.) 

God gives the believer the gift of grace, and through personal effort the believer chooses to use the means of grace to apply grace so as to overcome the temptation of sin, in order to conform his manner of living (thoughts and actions) to be more like Christ. The believer’s preferred state is to live his or her life in such a manner so as to conform one’s lifestyle to be godly and Christ-like. The believer makes a conscious effort—a choice—to bring his state in the world to the same level of godliness, holiness, and righteousness as his standing.

To put it all together, a parable I wrote. 

Imagine all the life-principles sitting together at a conference table. In the unsaved person, the evil life-principle sin sits as chairman of the board. Sin has made the life-principle strong desire its friend, so that strong desire usually supports sin. When a decision must be made, sin uses every means at its disposal to persuade all the other life-principles to agree to an act of sin. Because sin is the most dominant and insistent voice, it almost always succeeds. 

Now imagine the sinner becomes saved. In salvation God adds holiness and its friend righteousness to human nature. Holiness walks into the meeting room and takes over the chairman’s seat. Righteousness joins the others at the table. Sin is forced away from the table to sit in a chair along the side of the room. Holiness greets and supports its many friends, such as love, justice, mercy, etc. Holiness and righteousness make strong desire their friend. When a decision must be made holiness is the most dominant and insistent voice at the table. Righteousness strongly supports his friend holiness. Holiness and righteousness usually carry the day.

However, sin never stops tempting, always whining and murmuring from his chair at the side of the room. Occasionally strong desire listens to sin and reminds the other life-principles of their former immoral pleasures. The life-principles decide to ignore their chairman and his friend (holiness and righteousness), and commit an act of sin. Holiness and righteousness strongly protest, until human nature remembers it is saved, acknowledges its guilt in confession and repentance, and asks for forgiveness. Such is life in the here-and-now of mortal existence.

Total Depravity

Some disbelieve the doctrine of the total depravity of human nature on the ground that if human depravity were total, then human beings should know themselves to be depraved. But human beings do not believe themselves to be totally depraved, partly because they believe their experiences show they have goodness in their human nature.

These beliefs demonstrate a misunderstanding of the doctrine of total depravity.

The doctrine of total depravity does not state every or any human being is as bad as he or she may possible be.

The doctrine of total depravity teaches that every part of human nature is negatively affected by the sin attribute, to the extent the human nature of every unsaved person may be said to be under the dominion of sin.

Sin has authority (dominion, rule) over the sinner, not as some invincible overlord, but as an innate part of human nature constructively working with all the other attributes of human nature to persuasively incline the will to choose an act of sinning. The evil attribute sin influences every other attribute with the inclination to sin, and in that sense sin can be said to dominate the will.

The sinner freely chooses sinning because his will is of itself always inclined to choose sinning, and as being rebellious and disobedient toward God never desires to change its inclination to choose sinning to rebel against God, disobey his commandments, and seek a path in life apart from God.

The focus of sin is the self-interest of the sinner: what is good for I, I, I, Me, Me, Me. When the sinner chooses not to commit some particular act of sinning, it is not because of some innate goodness in the sinner, but because some item of self-interest has higher priority than the act of sinning contemplated. When the sinner chooses to do some act the world defines as good, it is not because of some innate goodness in the sinner, but because some item of self-interest, such as pride, or avarice, or approbation, or fear of getting caught, or some other motive of self-interest is satisfied by doing what the world considers a good act.

But the good acts of worship, service, obedience, and fellowship toward God are rejected. Believing on Christ as Savior is rejected. Seeking the holiness and righteousness of God is denied as good by the sinner.

The unsaved don’t know they are under the influence of the sin attribute because all their sinful actions, internally and externally, seem normal to a human nature completely under the influence of the sin attribute. The sinner is the center of his universe, and nothing otherwise is allowed to intrude into his or her conscience.

Because of the total depravity of human nature, only the Holy Spirit is able to give the sinner the spiritual perception that gives him or her an understanding of their sin and condemnation before a holy and righteous God. Only God Father, Son, Spirit can bring the sinner to confession, repentance, and saving faith.

Every human being is not as bad as he or she might be, not because of some innate goodness in human nature, but because God extends grace in mercy to create some good in the world. Moreover, Christ’s saved people are zealous for good works, which God has given them to do in the world, positively influencing the world to not be quite as bad as it might be.

The Effects of Sin

Does sin affect all persons both physically and spiritually? Or is the flesh only infected; or which parts of the human being are infected by sin? Is there a difference, regarding this matter, between a believer and an unbeliever?

To answer these questions, I must discuss the origin of sin, the nature of sin, and the effect of sin on human beings. First, its origin. Humankind was created sinless. Adam and the Woman were not innocent (which implies morally neutral) but were created positively holy and righteous. God gave Adam and the Woman the moral authority to choose (free will) and the moral power—righteousness—to choose holiness. This raises the question, if Adam and the Woman were sinless, how were they able to sin? Because God created them mutable. Mutability is the capacity to change. God made them mutable so they could grow spiritually in their fellowship with God. But, when faced with the temptation to be more like God, their mutability and free will allowed them to act contrary to their sinless nature, and choose to disobey God. When Adam and the Woman disobeyed God, they self-originated sin in their perfect human nature. They did not become more like God, as the serpent had promised. God knows sin by observation, but not by experience. Adam and the Woman now knew sin by experience.

Their disobedience changed their human nature. When God created human beings, he gave them a certain group of attributes that work together to create human nature and form human personality. The attributes of human nature are principles that regulate how one lives his/her life. Things such as love and mercy, the will to survive, fear, courage, righteousness, etc. When Adam disobeyed God, he added to his human nature an attribute, a principle of evil, which the Bible calls sin. The attribute sin is the desire to rebel against God that leads to disobedience of God’s commandments, and to seek a path in life apart from God’s will. The attribute sin affected—we might say infected—all the other attributes by repurposing them away from worship and obedience to God and toward satisfying self-interest.

The attribute sin takes two forms in human nature. The first is the moral sin: human beings are no longer in the image that God created in them. Humankind was created in the spiritual, moral, and intellectual image of God. Adam’s disobedience disarranged and corrupted the attributes. The second form sin takes in human nature is the legal sin: active disobedience toward God and his commandments. Thus, human beings are sinners by nature and sinners by action. People choose to commit acts of sinning because their human nature is infected with the principle or attribute of evil known as sin. A sinner has the same attributes of human nature sinless Adam had, but they are jumbled, like an anagram, each out of place, each serving man’s self-interest instead of serving God.

Why are human beings today sinners? God says, Genesis 5:3–4, (I am going to paraphrase the verses a little), that Adam fathered sons and daughters in his own image and likeness. This is a comparison with Genesis 1:26. God created Adam in his sinless image and likeness. But Adam disobeyed God, and by that act Adam added the principle of rebellion against God—sin—to his human nature. Adam the sinner fathered children in his sinful image and likeness. His sinful human nature was transmitted to his children through his procreation, and their sinful human nature to their children, and so on to you and me. The result is, In Adam all die, 1 Corinthians 15:22, because sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, and through Adam’s procreation a sinful human nature was given to all human beings, and thereby death (the wages of sin is death) came upon all human beings, Romans 5:12–13.

With this background I may now answer the questions. Does sin affect all persons spiritually? Adam’s sin was transmitted to his children, and to their children, and so on throughout all generations. Sin changed Adam’s human nature, which (nature) is part of the spiritual component of human beings. So, Yes, Adam’s sin, then and continuing down to today and into the yet-future, affected and continues to affect human beings spiritually: all have sinned, Romans 3:23. Does sin affect all persons physically? Yes, but indirectly, as a consequence of wrong choices. Adam post-sin was the same physically as Adam pre-sin. But some choices affect a person physically. Some well-known examples: smoking tobacco can cause lung cancer; hitting a wall in anger can break fingers; substance addiction changes a person physically. Sin’s direct affects are spiritual and its indirect effects can be physical.

Is the flesh only infected or which parts of the human being are infected by sin? The physical flesh is not directly affected by sin, because sin is an attribute of evil affecting human nature. Literally flesh is the physical body. For example, Genesis 2:21; 9:17; Mark 13:20; Romans 1:3; Philippians 1:24. Figuratively, flesh is used as a metaphor to indicate sinful human nature: Romans 7:18, 25. Very infrequently flesh is used to indicate saved human nature: 2 Corinthians 3:3 (the heart is a metaphor for the person). Finally, flesh is used figuratively (as a metaphor) to indicate sinful choices acting out through the mind and body: Galatians 5:19; 6:8; Ephesians 2:3; 1 Peter 2:10.

Is there a difference, regarding this matter, between a believer and an unbeliever? Definitely Yes. The unbeliever is said to be under the dominion of sin. Sin has authority (dominion, rule) over the sinner, not as some invincible overlord, but as an innate part of human nature constructively working with all the other attributes of human nature to persuasively incline the will to choose an act of sinning. The evil attribute sin influences every other attribute with the inclination to sin, and in that sense sin can be said to dominate the will. The sinner freely chooses sinning because his will is of itself always inclined to choose sinning, and as being rebellious and