04 March, 2020

Psalm 51:5—“in sin did my mother conceive me”


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.


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(II)

More to come! (DV)






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