Cardinal Doctrine, man.
The "reason" man NEEDS a SAVIOR.
Romans 5:12; "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"
#Ro 5:19. "For as by one man's disobedience man were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous".
Adam, the common parent of all mankind,
and who is expressed by name,
#Ro 5:14 where this offence and disobedience is called
"the transgression of Adam";
and so in #1Co 15:22. "In Adam all die", being all in him,
and having sinned in him, death comes upon them for it;
but then this is to be understood of Adam not to the exclusion of Eve,
who was also in the transgression, and first in it,
and was the mother of all living.
They both have the same name, the same appellative name, "man";
the same proper name, Adam, #Ge 5:1-2 were of the same nature;
nay, Eve was formed out of a rib of Adam;
was flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone;
a part of himself; and by their marriage relation became one flesh,
#Ge 2:21-24 they had the same law given them,
which forbid the eating of the fruit of a certain tree;
the same covenant was made with them,
and they were both guilty of the same act of disobedience;
and had a sentence of punishment pronounced on them both;
and which did not rest on their own persons only,
but is common to all their posterity, and still continues;
which shows that their posterity had a concern
in their act of disobedience,
in the guilt of it, since they share in their punishment,
as all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve do;
Chapter 7: Of the Law given to Adam, and Covenant with him
Chapter 8: Of the Sin and Fall of our First Parents
Chapter 9: Of the Nature, Aggravations, and sad Effects of the
Sin of Man
Chapter 10: Of the Imputation of Adam's Sin to all his Posterity
Chapter 11: Of the Corruption of Human Nature
Chapter 12: Of Actual Sins and Transgressions
Chapter 13: Of the Punishment of Sin
from;
the Corruption of Human Nature
There is such a depravity and corruption of mankind.
1a. The heathens themselves have acknowledged and lamented it;
they assert, that no man is born without sin {1};
that every man is naturally vicious {2};
that there is an evil disposition, or vicious affection,
that is implanted and grows up in men {3};
and that there is a fatal portion of evil in all when born,
from whence are the depravity of the soul, diseases, &c. {4}
and that the cause of viciosity is rather from our parents,
and from first principles, than from ourselves {5}:
and Cicero
{6} particularly laments that men should be brought into life by nature
as a stepmother, with a naked, frail, and infirm body,
and with a mind or soul prone to lusts.
1b. Revelation asserts it; the Scriptures abound
with testimonies of the depravity of the soul,
affirming that no man can be born pure and clean;
that whatever is born of the flesh,
or comes into the world by ordinary generation,
is flesh, carnal and corrupt;
that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are under sin,
under the guilt, pollution and dominion of sin;
that the imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil,
and that continually;
that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked;
and that out of it proceeds all that is vile and sinful,
#Job 14:4 Joh 3:6 Ro 3:9 Ge 6:5 Jer 17:9 #Mt 15:19.
1c. Reason confirms it, that so it must be;
that if a tree is corrupt, it can bring forth no other than corrupt fruit;
that if the root of mankind is unholy, the branches must be so too;
if the fountain is impure, the streams must be so likewise;
if immediate parents are unclean, their posterity must be unclean,
since a clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean;
and if God has made of one man's blood all nations
that are upon the face of the earth,
and that blood is tainted with sin,
all that proceed from him by ordinary generation
must have the same taint.
1d. All experience testifies the truth of this;
no man was ever born into the world without sin;
no one has ever been exempt from this contagion
and defilement of nature,
"there is none that doeth good, no not one",
#Ro 3:10
that does good naturally and of himself;
the reason is, because there is none by nature good;
of all the millions of men that have proceeded from Adam
by ordinary generation, not one has been found without sin;
there is but one individual of human nature
that can be mentioned as an exception to this,
and that is the human nature of Christ;
and that is excepted because of its wonderful production,
and did not descend from Adam by ordinary generation.
1e.
The necessity of redemption by Christ,
and of regeneration by the Spirit of Christ,
shows that men must be in a corrupt state,
or there would have been no need of these.
The redemption of men from sin, and from a vain conversation,
supposes them to be under the power of sin,
and the influence of it, to lead a vain sinful life;
and if men were free from the pollution of sin,
the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin
would have been unnecessary;
His being made wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption to them, implies that they were foolish and unwise,
that they were unrighteous and unholy, and slaves to sin and Satan: regeneration and sanctification
are absolutely necessary to a man's enjoyment of eternal happiness;
"except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God";
and
"without holiness no man shall see the Lord",
#Joh 3:3 Heb 12:14
but what occasion would there have been
for man's being born again,
or having a new or supernatural birth,
if he was not defiled by his first and natural birth;
or of being sanctified, if he was not unholy and unclean?
see #1Co 6:9-11.
"Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate,
nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed,
but ye are Sanctified, but ye are Justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of our God."
...
Sometimes it goes by the name of the "old man",
because it is the effect of the poison of the old serpent;
it is near as old as the first man;
and is as old as every man in whom it is;
it exists as early as man himself does,
#Ro 6:6 Eph 4:22.
Very often it is called flesh,
because it is propagated by the flesh,
and is carnal and corrupt,
and is opposed to the spirit or principle of grace,
which is from the Spirit of God;
and in which no good thing,
nothing that is spiritual, dwells,
#Joh 3:6 Ga 5:17 #Ro 7:18,25.
Once more, it is named, "lust" or "concupiscence";
which is sin itself, and the mother of all sin;
it consists of various branches, called fleshly lusts,
and worldly lusts, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
#Ro 7:7 #Jas 1:15 1Jo 2:15.
The Jews commonly call it, the evil figment, or imagination.
