The Noetic Effect of the Fall
Introduction
The command was clear. The LORD said to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil shall not eat[1].” With this command came the promise of both physical and spiritual death. In rebellion, Adam disobeyed God’s command and sinned not only for him but as the federal representative of mankind[2]. This was a defining event in history. Adam’s sin would affect all of his posterity, both physically and spiritually. The physical affect of his sin is clearly seen in the disease and death that universally plagues mankind. Among evangelicals, this fact is not often debated. On the contrary, it is the spiritual affect of Adam’s sin that has been both hotly debated and divided over since the days of the early Christian church. What affect, if any, did Adam’s sin have on the spiritual state of mankind? The goal of this essay is to summarize the historical discussions surrounding this question and to show from the Scripture that man’s will is not free to act contrary to its nature, but rather it is dependent upon God to impart life to man’s will if there is any hopes for salvation.
Historical Discussions
As early as the fourth century, disputations regarding Adam’s sin and its affect on the will of man were already present in the church. A British author by the name of Pelagius promoted the freedom of man's will to do whatever God commanded[3]. This belief was based off on his conviction that Adam’s sin did not affect man’s will to achieve righteousness and that “God never commands what is impossible for man to perform[4].” For Pelagius, God’s ability to command was limited by man’s ability to perform. This conviction was “roused” by reading a prayer written by his future opponent Augustine. Augustine’s prayer stated, “Grant what thou commandest, and command what thou dost desire[5].” For Pelagius, the idea that God would command anything that man was unable to perform was ridiculous. Pelagius reasoned that man’s responsibility would be destroyed if the ability to make the choice to obey was not naturally present in man. He believed that any God-dependent ability would make man a puppet, not a human. But Augustine of Hippo understood things
The Sufficiency of Scripture in the Christian Life
A great Christian philosopher once asked, “How should we then live?” This earnest question cuts to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. It supposes that if God reveals himself to a person, then they will respond to that revelation with a life that is consistent with God’s revealed nature. The debate surrounding this question is not so much about God’s nature as it is about the source through which that nature is made known. The subject of God’s life-changing revelation must not be thought of as a peripheral issue. Rather, it is of utmost importance to the life of the Christian in the context of the church. If God’s divine revelation is essential to the health of the Christian life, then a sure and sufficient source must be identified, trusted, and obeyed for the sake of the glory of God. It is the position of this paper that the only sufficient and trustworthy guide for the Christian is Scripture alone.
In seeking to prove the thesis, it would be vain to look outside of the Scriptures to substantiate the claims of this paper. In our journey to understand the sufficiency of Scripture, we must remember that tradition and history are but servants of the word of God. We are free to embrace tradition and history as
Is the Doctrine of the Trinity coherent, logical, and demanded by Scripture?
Issue
Over the many years of Christian history, there has been much discussion surrounding the doctrine of the Trinity. A summary of the doctrine of the Trinity states “that there is only one true God who expresses Himself in three equally, eternal, and simultaneously existing Persons of the Godhead[1]”. This affirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity has led to questions like, “Is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity coherent, logical, and demanded by Scripture?” The aim of this paper is to summarize the leading positions taken on this issue, provide support for the position of this paper, and address at least two of the leading objections that have been raised against the doctrine of the Trinity. This is a very pertinent issue because of it’s implications on Christian doctrine. If the doctrine of the Trinity, as defined above, is found to be incoherent, illogical, and unbiblical, then the very foundation of Christianity will be disestablished.
Positions
In an effort to address the most widely known positions on the issue of the Trinity, this section will be limited to the discussion of Trinitarianism, Modalism, and Arianism. Though Modalism and Arianism were condemned by the early church as being heretical, the theological constructs of these systems can still be seen in other mainstream religions. These three positions are best illustrated in the theological systems of Evangelical Christianity that affirms Trinitarianism, United Pentecostalism that affirms Modalism[2], and Jehovah Witnesses that affirm Arianism[3]. Though United Pentecostalism and Jehovah Witnesses would not claim historical ties to the theological systems that were associated with them; the logical inference from their dogma leads one to affirm their relative positions in comparison to definitions of Modalism and Arianism.
The first position to be address will be Trinitarianism as affirmed by Evangelical Christianity. Trinitarianism is both biblically and historically Monotheistic. This means that at the heart of Trinitarianism is the foundational belief that there is only one true God. Trinitarianism should not to be confused with tritheism that believes in three different gods[4]; rather Trinitarianism affirms a monotheistic position regarding the being of God while understanding the Triadic[5] passages in Scriptures to explain the plurality of Persons in the one God.
Trinitarianism teaches that there is only one true God, and that He expresses Himself in a plurality of Persons. Those three persons are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though these three Persons are
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