Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother
conceive me (Ps. 51:5).
ARGUMENT:
“All gospel
preachers emphasize that we are all undeserving sinners who deserve to spend
eternity in hell. Yet it can be argued that we are not undeserving (Ps. 51:5).
I never chose to be shapen in iniquity, nor that my mother should conceive me
in sin. I never even chose to be born in the first place. Better not to be born
at all then to spend eternity in hell … We are not really to blame for our sins
because we were born sinners and had no choice in the matter. Therefore, we are
not ‘undeserving sinners.’”
(I)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
[Source:
Covenant Reformed News, vol. 10, nos. 14-15]
A brief history
of Psalm 51 would help us in our understanding of the text. The
heading of the psalm reads, “To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when
Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” The
history is recorded in II Samuel 11-12. This psalm was written after
David’s repentance for his sins of adultery and murder.
It is, of course, a
part of sacred Scripture, and is, therefore, infallibly inspired. In fact, it
is addressed to the “chief Musician,” because it was intended to be sung by the
temple choirs as a part of the worship of God in His sanctuary. It has found a
place in the liturgy of the church ever since David penned these words, for it
is a confession that arises out of the heart of every child of God.
We must understand
at the very outset that verse 5 of this psalm is not an attempt on the part of
David to put the blame for his sin elsewhere than on himself. This is clear
even from the opening three verses of the psalm. David can only appeal to God
for “mercy” (Ps. 51:1) and cleansing (v. 2), according to His “lovingkindness”
and “the multitude of [His] tender mercies” (v. 1), because of his terrible
sin, which is “ever before” him (v. 3) and which he freely confesses: “I
acknowledge my transgression” (v. 3).
David’s statement in
verse 4 is also important: “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done
this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and
be clear when thou judgest.” If verse 5 is an attempt on David’s part to excuse
himself for the crimes he committed, the question arises: Who is to blame? The
only answer can be: God is to blame, for God caused me to be born
and God caused me to be born sinful. But now David confesses his own sin
as his and his only, in order that God might be justified when He
condemned David through Nathan the prophet, so that God might be clear of all
blame when He judged David a sinner.
The correct
interpretation of Psalm 51:5 is this: What David says here about
being shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin is itself a confession of sin.
David is saying (as difficult as it may be for us to understand), “It is my
fault that I was born in sin.”
I do not mean to say that verse 5 is not an explanation which
David makes for his sin; indeed it is. He sinned because he was born a
sinner. But David is not trying to escape responsibility for his sin. By his
explanation, he is making a further confession of sin. David’s
confession is somewhat analogous to a man who explains the reason why he robbed
a bank by pointing to the fact that he was a member of a gang whose purpose it
was to acquire money through robbing banks. He is not excusing himself, but
explaining why he did what he did. That he joined such a gang is his activity,
his first big sin.
The question is: How
is it possible that David is responsible for the fact that he was shapen in iniquity
and conceived in sin? He did not even have anything to say about the fact that
he was born; much less that he was born a sinner.
In representing the whole human race, Adam’s act of obedience or
disobedience was the act of the whole human race. His obedience would be the
obedience of the human race; his disobedience would be the disobedience of the
human race. The guilt of his disobedience would be the guilt of the whole human
race. The punishment for his disobedience would be the punishment of the whole
human race.
As
the organic head of the human race, Adam brought forth (with Eve) the
entire human race. He is the father of all men. Because he was the
organic head of the human race, the punishment Adam received from God was
brought upon all men. Adam, as the punishment for his sin, was killed by God (“the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;” Gen. 2:17). He was killed
physically and spiritually. His physical death brought him (later) to the
grave. His spiritual death made him totally depraved, alienated from God, and
eventually would have brought him into hell—if God had not saved
him. Romans 5:14 tells us that Adam was the figure of Him
who was to come, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the legal and
organic head of His elect people. As their legal head, He represented His
people when He was born of a virgin, suffered and died on the cross, rose again
from the grave, and ascended into heaven. What Christ did for His elect people
(as Paul makes clear in Romans 5) is what His people actually did, in
Him. The apostle speaks, in Romans 6, of dying with Christ,
being buried with Christ, and being raised with Christ. All
Christ did is, in the sight of God, what we do.
As
our organic head, Christ, through the work of the Spirit, makes all His elect,
for whom He died, one body with him, united to Him by a living faith.
Thus, all that Christ did for us, as our legal head, is actually given us
because He is our organic head. “For since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall
all be made alive” (I Cor. 15:21-22).
David was conscious of the fact
that the explanation of his sins of adultery and murder was his participation
in and responsibility for Adam’s sin. So conscious was he of this that he
confessed this sin as his own. This confession of David, recorded
in Psalm 51, is a confession which every child of God must and does make. Heidelberg
Catechism A. 54 makes a point of this truth, when, in its discussion of the
article of the Apostle’s Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins,” it
states: “That God, for the sake of Christ’s satisfaction, will no more remember
my sins, neither my corrupt nature, against which I have to struggle all
my life long ...” The catechism teaches that our corrupt natures have to be
forgiven, and are forgiven, for the sake of Christ’s perfect sacrifice. If our
corrupt natures are not forgiven, we would go to hell because of them (even an
infant who dies at birth and does not commit any actual sin), because we are
responsible for them.
And so we must look at the whole
matter from God’s point of view. God causes conception in the womb of our
mothers. According to His eternal purpose, God gives to each man the gift of
life in the world and a place in His creation. This is a great gift for which
we ought to be thankful, for through the creation God Himself is to be known
and worshipped. But we corrupted ourselves, first by our sin in Adam and then
by our actual sins. We are, because of these sins, undeserving sinners.
But God is rich in mercy and
grace towards all them that fear Him and forsake their sins. He gave His own
Son who is our head and who accomplishes for us what we could never do. In Adam
we fell. But in Christ we, undeserving sinners, are saved. So let us confess
our original sin (Ps. 51:5), as well as our other sins, and receive forgiveness
according to God’s tender mercies.
--------------------------------------------------
(II)
More to come! (DV)
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