hamartiology
+ NewAdam and Christ: The Two Heads of Humanity — Romans 5:12-21
Paul's clearest statement of the two representative heads is Rom 5:12-21: "as one trespass led to condemnation for all, so one act of righteousness leads to justification." Death reigned "from Adam," so that all are bound up with him. Augustine built the Western doctrine of original sin on this passage, reading the Latin in quo omnes peccaverunt as "in whom all sinned"; Trent received this, teaching that Adam's sin is transmitted to all and remedied only in Christ. Irenaeus had earlier framed Christ as the new Adam who recapitulates and heals humanity — the Eastern accent on restoration. The two heads structure the whole of redemptive history. The Adam-Christ parallel reaches back to the fall of Gen 3:17-19 and forward to the resurrection harvest of 1Cor 15:22: "as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." Bavinck treats this organic solidarity as the hinge of covenant theology.
Grace and the Healing of the Will — Romans 8:5-8
Paul states the plight of fallen humanity bluntly in Rom 8:5-8: the mind set on the flesh "is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot." Apart from grace the will cannot turn to God. This was the common confession of the ancient church against Pelagius: Augustine taught that grace heals and frees the will rather than bypassing it, and the Council of Orange made the priority of grace binding teaching for the whole church. The Reformation pressed the point further — Luther's reply to Erasmus on the will's bondage — while Trent affirmed both that grace must precede and that the freed will truly cooperates. Edwards later defended grace's priority without denying real human volition. The inability of 8:7 explains why salvation must begin in the new birth of John 3:5-8 and why Paul grounds hope in the unbreakable purpose of Rom 8:29-30. Grace precedes and enables faith.
The Image of God — Genesis 1:26-27
Gen 1:26-27: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... male and female he created them." The imago Dei grounds human dignity, dominion, and relationality. Augustine located the image especially in the soul's rational powers, mirroring the Trinity, while Irenaeus distinguished image and likeness, the latter restored by the Spirit. Bavinck argued the whole person, not merely the intellect, bears the image. The plural "let us" has long been read in trinitarian light alongside John 1:26. The image marred at the fall of Gen 3:6-7 is renewed in Christ, the true image of Col 1:15.
The Fall and Original Sin — Genesis 3 and Romans 5
Gen 3:1-7 narrates the first disobedience: the serpent's question, the forbidden fruit, and the eyes that are opened to shame. The harmony of creation fractures in a single act. Augustine's reading of original sin became the West's standard: Adam's guilt and corruption pass to all his offspring. He found its warrant in Rom 5:12, "sin came into the world through one man." Aquinas refined it as the loss of original righteousness. The curse of 3:15-19 sets up the whole drama of redemption, and the Adam of this chapter is the representative head whose trespass Rom 5:18 contrasts with Christ's obedience. The fall is answered by the second Adam.