Man is Mortal Because of Sin
This is a true statement, but it has been suggested that Roberts Roberts use of this phrase supports the idea that “we die because we sin”. Let him answer for himself:
“..men are mortal because of sin, quite independently of their own transgressions.” (RR The Law of Moses page 173)
Robert Roberts completely rules out the possibility that he is using this phrase to teach that we die because we sin. He makes this abundantly clear by his use of the same phrase when talking about the Lord Jesus.
“….he possessed our mortal nature, which is an heir of death because of sin….” (RR The Law of Moses page 259)
“He was the offerer, the priest, the sacrifice, the altar, the veil, the mercy seat, the tabernacle and much else besides…. the seed of David according to the flesh, of which Jesus partook, which is a mortal and unclean thing because of sin, and had, in the wisdom of God, to be purified by death and resurrection,” (RR 1876 page 376)
“It was a spiritual necessity that he should partake of our nature. It is expressly said that he did, and John says that any man who denies it, as many did in his day and many have done since, denies the truth and is indeed anti-Christ. He is strong in maintaining that Jesus came in the flesh, that is, the flesh of the children, the flesh of David—flesh mortal because of sin … Christ could not righteously die if death had no dominion over him, and it could not have this dominion except through Adam, through Abraham, David, and his mother, for he had no sin of his own” (RR The Blood of Christ page 16)
Jesus was a mortal man like the rest of us because like us we are all descendants of Adam, in no way could it be said of Jesus that he died because he sinned!
“The question is—the mortality of Adam’s race; how did it come? Was the race created subject to death? or did death come as a specific divine super-addition for a reason that came into play after Adam was made? …. Did it commence mortal, or was it brought down to a mortal state after it appeared? … “by one man (Adam) sin entered into the (human) world and death by sin” is a settlement of the question. …. Mortality has been a fundamental law of human nature from that day to this. … Death is written in our present nature. It was written in Eden. It is the writing of God; …
…He sent forth His son in the death-written nature that in him it might be cleansed, redeemed, and perfected. “Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:21). How the resurrection came by man is told in the life and death of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. It came by his obedience (Rom. 5:19), but obedience requiring death as the declaration of Jehovah’s righteousness (Rom. 3:25), and the condemnation of sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3). Jesus died unto sin once (Rom. 6:10). It touched him through Adam: but though a sufferer from its effects, he was without sin himself (Heb. 4:15). Having died once, death has no more dominion over him (Rom. 6:9). “Through death, he destroyed that having the power of death, that is, the devil”—otherwise sin in the flesh (Heb. 2:14). (RR. The Visible Hand of God page 30–34)
Robert Roberts did not teach as the Old Paths does today that
“There are 2 reasons for our state, namely that 1) we are physically mortal and 2) that we die because we sin”
The truth that Robert Roberts taught is that there is only ONE reason why we grow old and die not two, only ONE reason we are in this “mortal state”, because we inherit a physical law, the law of sin and death is written in our nature.
“…So Adam before and after transgression was the same nature, but in two different states—the second state being expressed by the word mortal or subject to death, which is not affirmable of the first. The sentence of death became a physical law of his being; hence it has passed on us who are derived from him. Its passing on us would be incomprehensible on any other principle.” (RR 1874 page 86–87)
RR uses some phrases here which he also uses in the BASF, regarding the “sentence of death” becoming a “physical law of his being”. He makes it clear that he saw this as the same as Adam becoming mortal or subject to death when sentenced. So there can be no doubt of his meaning in the BASF. Just because RR does not use the phrase “mortal” or “mortality “all the time in the BASF this does not mean he is not referring to it. By way of illustration we have highlighted where he is clearly referring to mortality.
Clause III That the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth on the earth was necessitated by the by the position and state into which the human race had been brought by the circumstances connected with the first man
Clause V That Adam broke this law, and was adjudged unworthy of immortality, and sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken—a sentence which defiled and became a physical law of his being, and was transmitted to all his posterity.
Clause VI.—That God, in His kindness, conceived a plan of restoration which, without setting aside His just and necessary law of sin and death, should ultimately rescue the race from destruction, and people the earth with sinless immortals.
Clause VIII.—That these promises had reference to Jesus Christ, who was to be raised up in the condemned line of Abraham and David, and who, though wearing their condemned nature, was to obtain a title to resurrection by perfect obedience, and, by dying, abrogate the law of condemnation for himself and all who should believe and obey him.
Clause IX.—That it was this mission that necessitated the miraculous begettal of Christ of a human mother, enabling him to bear our condemnation, and, at the same time, to be a sinless bearer thereof, and, therefore one who could rise after suffering the death required by the righteousness of God.
Clause X.—That being so begotten of God, and inhabited and used by God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh—yet was, during his natural life, of like nature with mortal man, being made of a woman, of the house and lineage of David, and therefore a sufferer, in the days of his flesh, from all the effects that came by Adam’s transgression, including the death that passed upon all men, which he shared by partaking of their physical nature
Anyone who calls themselves a Christadelphian should be able to see what the BASF is teaching about why we grow old and die and that it definitely does not teach that “we die because we sin”. Some understanding what is written in the BASF correctly still seek to justify those who believe and teach that we die because we sin, but in so doing they are supporting clean flesh logic.
Whilst it is true that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), the context here is to do with rejection or acceptance at the judgment seat, and not the natural process of growing old and dying: “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life though Jesus Christ our Lord” – both the wages and the gift will be given when Christ comes again.
In Lesson 23 “Sin and its Consequences”; one of the online Christadelphian Bible Mission courses the connection is made between a wrong understanding regarding the sacrifice of Christ and the idea that we die because we sin as follows:
“Through the sinless life and death of Jesus, we can have the hope of life after death: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16,17).
We die because we sin. But our sins can be forgiven through Jesus, who was described as “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And if our sins are completely forgiven, then like Jesus we will not stay dead but will be raised from the dead and given immortal life just as he was.”
The teaching that it was the “sinless life and death of Jesus” that was the sacrifice for sin supports clean flesh. To say “we die because we sin” is also clean flesh logic, it nullifies that we grow old and die because we have physical sin in the flesh; it is just not possible to have it both ways it is a contradiction.
This is how the errorists end up with Christ having a sinless nature, he did not sin therefore he had no sin (they reason). The true understanding of the nature and sacrifice of Christ is then lost. Compare the teaching of the Christadelphian Bible Mission and the BASF
XII.—That for delivering this message, he was put to death by the Jews and Romans, who were, however, but instruments in the hands of God, for the doing of that which He had determined before to be done, viz., the condemnation of sin the flesh, through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all, as a propitiation to declare the righteousness of God, as a basis for the remission of sins. All who approach God through this crucified, but risen, representative of Adam’s disobedient race, are forgiven. Therefore, by a figure, his blood cleanseth from sin.—
What the Old Paths seem to be doing is trying to bridge the gap between pure clean flesh logic by trying to have it both ways as one Old Paths member has stated it.
“There are 2 reasons for our state, namely that 1) we are physically mortal and 2) that we die because we sin”
Maybe another problem is that they are confusing the fact that all men deserve to die as a result of their transgressions with why they grow old and die. They certainly misapply a lot of scriptures that refer to judicial punishment on account of transgressions with the reason why we grow old and die. We will look at those in our next study.
We have shown clearly here that Robert Roberts did not believe or teach that we die because we sin. We do not grow old and die because of “our crimes” we grow old and die simply because from birth we inherit the “death-written nature” which is our “misfortune not our crime”. Yes as RR puts it men are mortal because of sin, quite independently of their own transgressions.
Les Fern
