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safeguards the sinlessness of Jesus, for He was not a human person and therefore not in the
covenant of works.
c. The theory of mediate imputation.
This theory denies that the guilt of Adam’s sin is directly
imputed to his descendants, and represents the matter as follows: Adam’s descendants derive
their innate corruption from him by a process of natural generation, and only on the basis of
that inherent depravity which they share with him are they also considered guilty of his
apostasy. They are not born corrupt because they are guilty in Adam, but they are considered
guilty because they are corrupt. Their condition is not based on their legal status, but their legal
status on their condition. This theory, first advocated by Placeus, was adopted by the younger
Vitringa and Venema, by several New England theologians, and by some of the New School
theologians in the Presbyterian Church. This theory is objectionable for several reasons: (1) A
thing cannot be mediated by its own consequences. The inherent depravity with which the
descendants of Adam are born is already the result of Adam’s sin, and therefore cannot be
considered as the basis on which they are guilty of the sin of Adam. (2) It offers no objective
ground whatsoever for the transmission of Adam’s guilt and depravity to all his descendants.
Yet there must be some objective legal ground for this. (3) If this theory were consistent, it
ought to teach the mediate imputation of the sins of all previous generations to those
following, for their joint corruption is passed on by generation. (4) It also proceeds on the
assumption that there can be moral corruption that is not at the same time guilt, a corruption
that does not in itself make one liable to punishment. (5) And finally, if the inherent corruption
which is present in the descendants of Adam can be regarded as the legal ground for the
explanation of something else, there is no more need of any mediate imputation.
IV. Sin in the Life of the Human Race
A. ORIGINAL SIN.
The sinful state and condition in which men are born is designated in theology by the name
peccatum originale, which is literally translated in the English “original sin.” This term is better
than the Holland name “erfzonde,” since the latter, strictly speaking, does not cover all that
belongs to original sin. It is not a proper designation of original guilt, for this is not inherited but
imputed to us. This sin is called “original sin,” (1) because it is derived from the original root of
the human race; (2) because it is present in the life of every individual from the time of his
birth, and therefore cannot be regarded as the result of imitation; and (3) because it is the
inward root of all the actual sins that defile the life of man. We should guard against the
mistake of thinking that the term in any way implies that the sin designated by it belongs to the
original constitution of human nature, which would imply that God created man as a sinner.