George Warnock — Hamartology
b4 — The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall
Sin and Conscience: Psalm 51 as the Core Hamartological Text
Warnock treats Ps. 51 extensively as the most fundamental expression of sin-consciousness and guilt acknowledgment. The starting point is David’s prayer:
“Have mercy upon me, O God, According to thy loving-kindness: According unto the multitude of thy tender mercies Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.” — Ps. 51:1-2, cited in Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Warnock argues that forgiveness without cleansing leaves the conscience still defiled:
“Forgiveness without cleansing still leaves the conscience defiled, and God has made ample provision for the cleansing of the conscience just as He has for the taking away of the sin itself.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
“David was a man after God’s own heart. Not because he was sinless… but because his heart was set on God, and he was desirous of going God’s way.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Biblical ground: Ps. 51:7 — “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.”
Interpretation: Warnock uses Ps. 51 as a blueprint for the threefold movement: acknowledgment of guilt → forgiveness → cleansing of conscience. Hyssop symbolizes humility and contrition as the only avenue to this cleansing.
Original Sin: Adam’s Guilt as Personal Guilt
Warnock cites David’s original-sin confession (Ps. 51:5) and draws out its implications for personal responsibility:
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me.” — Ps. 51:5, cited in Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Warnock connects original sin directly to personal guilt — not as an excuse but as the ground for accountability:
“Now what purpose is there in trying to trace our ancestral problems back one, two, or three generations… when there is in reality an unbroken link of problems all the way back to Adam? God broke that link at the Cross.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
“True it was Adam’s fault. But now it’s my fault. I cannot blame Adam, or my forefathers, or my parents… it’s now my fault. The sooner we leave our excuses aside, and take the responsibility, the sooner will we know the joy of His salvation.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Biblical ground: 2Tim. 2:25-26.
Interpretation: Warnock combines an Augustinian view of original sin (unbroken chain back to Adam) with a strong emphasis on personal responsibility. Original sin is real but must not serve as an excuse.
Total Depravity and the Extent of Sin
Warnock states the universal extent of sin via Rom. 3:22-23:
“THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” — Rom. 3:22-23, cited in Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop1.html
On the natural helplessness of fallen humanity:
“man is inherently wrong at heart, and finds himself helpless to do anything about it.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
On the impossibility of achieving victory through willpower:
“it is not by the carnal mind that you can determine to find the victory of the Cross… but only as you take up that Cross and bear it. It takes a Divine operation.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
The Five Offerings (Lev. 1-5): Types of Cleansing from Sin
Warnock discusses the five Levitical offerings as types of Christ’s cleansing work, with particular attention to the Sin Offering and Trespass Offering:
“There were five particular offerings that God ordained for Israel in the Old Testament, all speaking of the work of the Cross, but each of some particular aspect of that work. (See Leviticus, Chapters 1 to 5.)” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
The five offerings as described by Warnock:
- Burnt Offering (Lev. 1) — Christ in total obedience, a sweet-smelling savor to the Father
- Meal Offering (Lev. 2) — Christ as the Bread of God; the church as one bread in Him
- Peace Offering (Lev. 3) — Christ as our Peace (Eph. 2)
- Sin Offering (Lev. 4) — deals with sin as an offense against God
- Trespass Offering (Lev. 5) — purges the guilty conscience
“Finally, we come to the Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering. These fully deal with our sin as an offence against God and man, and they fully cleanse and purge the guilty conscience as it relates to ourselves.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Cleansing of the Conscience (Heb. 9)
Warnock cites Heb. 9:13-14 as the key text for the cleansing of conscience:
“If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” — Heb. 9:13-14, cited in Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Warnock contends that the church has structurally underestimated the scope of this conscience-cleansing:
“There are areas of cleansing by the ‘Water of separation’ that as yet we know very little about. I believe we have greatly minimized and limited the cleansing work of the Spirit of God in our lives.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
“God has a cleansing for the mind that is so total and so complete that the very conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God, and there will remain ‘no more a conscience of sins.‘” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html
Biblical ground: Num. 19:9, 18 (ashes of the red heifer, sprinkled with hyssop).
Forgiveness of Sin: Three Dimensions of Redemption
Warnock distinguishes three Greek terms for redemption that together describe the full scope of the forgiveness of sin:
“The word ‘redemption’ in the New Testament carries with it a three-fold connotation. Its simple meaning is: we were ‘bought with a price.’ The Greek word is ‘agorazo’… ‘purchased at the market-place.’ A second word like it is prefaced with the preposition ‘ex’ (exagorazo) and means ‘purchased out of and away from the market-place’… And it is ‘lutroo,’ and it means, ‘to set free by paying a price.‘” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2.html
Warnock adds typologically a fourth step: voluntary submission as a bondservant forever (Ex. 21:2-6), as the pinnacle of redemption.
Biblical ground: Ex. 21:2-6; Heb. 9:22.
Interpretation: Warnock employs a progressive redemption structure: guilt paid, removed from the slave market, liberated — and ultimately voluntary binding to the Redeemer as the paradoxical fullness of freedom.
Hyssop as Humility: the Only Path to Cleansing
Warnock develops at length the type of the hyssop as the symbol of humility and contrition as the only way to appropriate the blood of Christ:
“God would have us to know that… if there be in the standards of men such distinctions that would make some to be superior to others, then if he would know the covering of the Blood he must apply the Blood by the same token as his lowly brother. He must use the ‘hyssop.‘” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2.html
“The blood of Christ avails for sinner and believer alike… the hyssop of repentance, of humility, of brokenness, and of a contrite heart. This is readily available to all of us: it is right there at our feet, if we would but stoop low and lay hold upon it.” — Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2.html
Biblical ground: Lev. 14:2-7 (cleansing of the leper); Num. 19:18; Ps. 51:7; Ex. 12:22.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” — Ps. 51:17, cited in Warnock, The Hyssop that Springeth Out of the Wall, hyssop2b.html