On Original Sin in Vol I of the Works - Edwards - VII - Chapter 3 of Part II

Required reading
The great Christian doctrine of original sin defended in Volume I of the Works by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 3 of Part II.

My summary.

Today Edwards focuses on three New Testament texts to prove the doctrine of original sin.

The texts are:

(i)  6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (Jn. 3:6);

(ii) 9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;  10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:  11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.  13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:  14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:  15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:  16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:  17 And the way of peace have they not known:  18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.  19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.  20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.  21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;  22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Rom. 3:9-24);

(iii) 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Rom. 5:6-10).

Dr. T's arguments are that flesh in John 3:6 refers to man in his natural state while the Romans passages are not universally applicable to all mankind.  Thus Edwards spends his time counteracting these arguments.

What grabbed me

I found today's reading a little laborious and nothing particularly grabbed me - probably because the Romans passages always appear fairly straight forward to me.

I also disagreed with Edwards that 'flesh' in John 3:6 clearly refers to the sinful nature.  As Carson says in his commentary on John: 'The word flesh does not here bear the most frequent freight Paul assigns it, 'sinful nature' or the like. As in 1:14, 'flesh' refers to human nature. The point is that natural, human birth produces people who belong to the earthly family of humankind, but not to the children of God.'

Next week's reading

Read Chapter 4 of Part II.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.