GILSTRAP@iubacs.bitnet (05/05/91)
The transgression of Adam is sometimes called "original sin" a term apparently derived from the distortions of Augustine which implies an inherited guilt for Adam's disobediance. Rather than this view, Orthodoxy believes that the race of man inherited death, the wage of sin, by enslavement to the devil. Sin is the consequence of that enslavement, thru the passions. Moreover nature itself is subject to the same curse (Man is the Macrocosm, the rest of creation the microcosm.) Not only the Paradise of Eden, but all of the earth would have been become paradisical, if they had remained faithful to God. St Athanasios of Alexandria writes: that having turned "from things eternal to things corruptible, by the counsel of the devil, they became the cause of their own corruption and death." St Gregory Palamas says: they were expelled from Paradise "because they would have contaminated that divine place' were they allowed to remain. "But since he produced children after falling into this state, we, his descendants, are corruptible as the issue of a corrupti- ble source. Thus it is that we are the heirs to Adam's curse. Not that we are punished for having disobeyed God's commandment along with him, but that he became mortal and the curse of mortality was transmitted to his seed after him, offspring born mortal of a mortal source... So corruption and death are the universal inheri- tance of Adam's transgression..." St Cyril of Alexandria. "By disobedience [Adam] gained his expulsion.. Not as if any evil existed in the tree of knowledge, but from the fact of his disobedience did man draw, as from a fountain, labor, grief, and, at last, fell prey to death." St Theophilus of Antioch These few (of a multitude) quotations from some Fathers of the Christian faith show that the great consequence of the Fall is the bondage of man to death and corruption, forces controlled by the devil. Our first parents committed the first sin - the "original sin" - the wages of which is death, but on account of death's "contagion" all men "have sinned and fallen short of God" A big difference exists in interpretation amoung the diverse community of people who call themselves christian (DCOPWCTC). The Apostolic doctrine that man becomes a sinner because he is yoked to the power of the devil through death and its conse- quences is believed by the Orthodox. Augustine and those who were influenced by him, teach that man dies because he is guilty of the original sin of Adam. [the Orthodox do not consider Augustine to be a saint, nor his theology to be the equal of the sainted "Theologians"] The offspring of Adam are not being punished, but the human race sins on account of their mortality. St John Chrysostom says: the consequence of Adam's sin is death, a death which became a heritage of all his children. In the same way one person brought condemnation to creation, so did one man Jesus save all. The Orthodox Church has never endorsed the opinion of Anselm that Adam's sin was an offense to the majesty of God, an offense which must be erased with reparation for His sullied honor. Christ's voluntary passion was not a payment in our place for the debt of honor owed to His angry Father. The theory of satisfaction of the debt of honor is taken from Roman Law, from the feudal laws of knighthood (Anselm - 11th century). The traditional understanding is that there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood (Heb 9:22 and Mosaic Passover) The shedding of Christ's blood is a ransom paid to the grave (Hosea 13:14); the establishment of a new covenant with Christ acting as both priest and victim. God did not become incarnate to die vicariously for the sins of each man, nor to satisfy the offended majesty of an imperious God the Father. His purpose was the return of man to Eden and the fulfillment of His promises to the creature" (Fr Michael Azkoul) He entered history to overthrow the devil, to recover and heal his creature, to eliminate sin, death's sting; indeed to destroy death itself, "the last enemy"ICor 15:26 by his death ..and Resurrection. Christ acted from mercy and condescension not legal obligation. He took on mortal flesh to engage the devil in mortal combat. He was not punished in our place as neither were sacrificial animals of the Old Testamnet who were types of Christ's sacrifice. Christ's blood cleanses body and soul as the sprinkled blood of the OT rite of purification did the tabernacle and vessels. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and when He died they existed no more. 'All creation was renewed", when he rose from the grave. "When the devil saw Christ hanging on the Cross, laden with our iniquities, he thought Him another sinner for his prison of Hades. He did not know that hidden in the body of the crucified was His Divinity. (St Ignatius of Antioch). Satan snatched him up and was snared by the "hook of Divinity" (St Gregory of Nyssa) "For he who first deceived man by the bait of pleasure is him- self deceived by the camouflage of human nature... The devil practiced deceit to ruin our nature, but God, being good, just and wise, used a clever device to save the creature who had been despoiled. Acting as He did, God benefitted not only the one who had perished but also his posterity. For when death came into contact with life, darkness with light, corruption with incorruption, the worse of these things disappeared into a state of nothing to the profit of him who was freed from these evils". It seems just that he who used deceit to snare the first Adam was himself baited and caught by the "second Adam".