Quote Originally Posted by Rhyfelwyr View Post
Regarding who is responsible for our sin, Calvin argues that Adam is not only the actual ancestor of mankind today, but also the 'federal head', in that he is representative of all of humanity, eg:

"Why feel any anxiety about the transmission of the soul, when we know that the qualities which Adam lost he received for us not less than for himself, that they were not gifts to a single man, but attributes of the whole human race? There is nothing absurd, therefore, in the view, that when he was divested, his nature was left naked and destitute that he having been defiled by sin, the pollution extends to all his seed."

This is particularly significant if you look at Genesis allegorically. Certianly though, there is no doubt that Calvin argues that original sin is passed to us through Adam.
Calvin's formulation here has it's roots in the legal granting of and divesting of rights and titles. He is applying he lgal knowledge to Man's relationship with God. The concept is entirely medieval and conventional. Adam is the purjured (oath-breaking) vassal, Christ is the betrayed King who nonetheless forgives his people.

The concept is Post-Patristic, not Scriptural.

Further, Adam is not said to lose any qualities, save his imortality. An alegorical reading of Genesis supports the belief in Free Will, in fact. When Adam eats the fruit he comes to understand the nature of right and wrong (becoming like God), although he knows he has done wrong he nonetheless tries to hide his Sin from God (who sees all). In order to Sin one requires both the guilty act and thought. Prior to eating the fruit Adam was not capable of a guilty thought.

ergo, he was incapable of Sin.

When we turn to the Gospels what we find is a message that despite transgressions God still wishes to be reunited with ALL his children, regardless of race or nationality. What Christ offers is the chance to turn back to God without the requirement to be perfectly obedient. This allows hummanity to reverse Adam's Original Sin, his choice to turn from God. Christ is therefore the enabler, he offers his hand to any who will take it, and leads his people through the Door that is himself and thence to Salvation.

Christ alone, therefore, is the only guide who can lead the way back to God and the only gatekeeper who can unbar the door.

Also, according to Calvin, to be in any way impure is to be sinful. Anything short of perfect righteousness is sin. There's no middle ground as many see it today, and I think this is where our confusion over total depravity/partial corruptness is coming from. Say for example, some person, who is not a Christian, gives money to charity. Pelagius or the Pope would say, "yeah, that was a good, righteous work of this man". Calvin would point out how he did not do it to honour God, and so it was sinful, and worthy of condemnation.
No, you are confused. You assume that the "middle ground" is neutrality, it is not. If pure water is Righteousness and Sin is oil, then man is Water tainted with oil. He is still distinctly water, but the water is tainted. However, the water is not as totally rupegnant as pure oil, either.

Man is not a simple creature, he has a compound nature.

In the same way, the Pope is not Pelegius, because the Pope does not argue that good deeds get you into heaven, they just get you out of purgatory.

So when he argues how we are tainted, that doesn't just mean a sort of neutral agent burdened by sin - our imperfection is what makes us sin. Also, the fact that Jesus is said to be "made sin for us" on the cross is significant (a point Calvin makes a major deal about). It shows that the wrath of God is not against individual acts of sin, but against the sinful nature that produces them. Hence when Jesus comments on the law, he says how to think lustfully is adultery, to hate someone is murder etc. All this is designed to point us to the fact that sin is not just an act, but an inherent part of our nature.
This point hinges on Paul, whose authority hinges on Augustine (whom Calvin accepted), who declared the scripture flawed (Confessions).