Stephen Jones — Hamartologie
b1 — Creation’s Jubilee
Erfzonde: toerekening vs. ingieting
Jones’ centrale hamartologische stelling betreft de aard van de erfzonde. Hij onderscheidt scherp tussen imputation (toerekening) en infusion/transfusion (ingieting):
“In this chapter we will attempt to prove from plain Scripture that […] no man is born with a ‘sinful soul’ or a ‘sin nature.’ In Romans 5:12 Paul explains this principle very clearly, though many church theologians have missed it […] Was it Adam’s SIN that was passed down into all men? NO. It was death, the liability for Adam’s sin. In other words, man did not inherit a sin nature from Adam. He merely inherited the liability for Adam’s sin.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
“The only thing passed down is MORTALITY, or Death. We are not mortal because we sin. We sin because we are mortal.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
Interpretatie: Jones keert de traditionele Augustijns-Rooms-Katholieke volgorde om: niet zondige natuur → sterfelijkheid, maar sterfelijkheid (als gevolg van toegerekende schuld) → individuele zonde.
Adams zonde en de twee doden
Jones onderscheidt twee zonden en twee doden die hij direct koppelt:
“There are two sins and two deaths spoken of in the Bible. The penalty for Adam’s sin is the first death; God’s judgment, lawful correction, and discipline for our own sins is the second death. No man will ever be cast into the lake of fire as judgment for Adam’s sin. Adam’s original (first) sin is judged by means of the first death; subsequently, our individual sins are judged by means of the second death.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
“It is Adam’s sin that brings death to all men—not our own individual sins. In the day Adam sinned, he died (became mortal), and so we inherit that mortality.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
Romans 5:12 en de mistranslatie van Jerome
Jones analyseert de Griekse uitdrukking eph’ ho (Rm. 5:12) als kern van de hamartologische dwaling:
“Jerome ‘Corrects’ Paul’s Theology. When Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate around 400 A.D., he rendered the last phrase of Rom. 5:12, ‘because all have sinned.’ He had looked at verses such as Romans 6:23 and 5:21, where sin is the cause of death, and concluded that Paul must have made a mistake by saying that death was the cause of sin.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
“The Greek phrase used is eph’ ho. […] The phrase ‘on which’ or ‘over which’ denotes a consequence or result to follow. […] So we can easily see that the first death is the cause, and our sins are the result.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
“To my knowledge, only The Concordant Version translates it correctly, ‘on which.‘” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
Gevolgen van de Augustijns-Rooms-Katholieke leer: schuld en straf
Jones beschrijft de praktische gevolgen van de ‘ingieting’-leer:
“Those Church leaders, like Augustine and Jerome, who did not understand Paul’s statement in Romans 5:12, concluded that man received a sinful soul from Adam, rather than mortality. The theological term used by the Roman Church is that Adam’s sin was ‘infused’ or ‘transfused’ into all mankind, giving us sinful souls.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
“Their lack of understanding brought them to conclude that man has a sinful soul, rather than a mortal soul that sins. This has given Christians a disproportionate sense of guilt that was often accompanied by a sense of hopelessness.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
Jones stelt daar tegenover:
“The truth is this: When Adam fell, his sin was imputed to us, NOT infused. To impute means, according to Romans 4:17, calling what is NOT as though it were. When Adam’s sin was imputed to us, God called us ALL sinners, as though we had all sinned. As a consequence, we all became liable for Adam’s sin. The penalty was death, or mortality.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
Toerekening en universele rechtvaardiging (Rm. 5:18)
“This would be a gross injustice; in fact, it would be a false accusation on God’s part, except for the fact that Jesus came to impute His righteousness to our accounts as well. In so doing, He reversed entirely the effects of this ‘temporary injustice’ (as I call it). And this is why it is so important that ‘all men’ who died in Adam be saved in Christ.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9
“{Romans 5:18} So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9 (geciteerde Bijbeltekst)
Zonde en wet: zonde als wetteloosheid
Jones citeert 1 Johannes 3:4 in verband met de verlossingslogica van het Jubeljaar:
“John says that ‘sin is lawlessness’ (1 John 3:4).” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 7
“{Romans 6:17,18} But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart […] and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 7 (geciteerde Bijbeltekst)
Jubeljaar als schuld-kwijtschelding en reikwijdte van zonde
Jones beargumenteert dat de Jubeljaar-wet de meest fundamentele wet van de schepping is, en dat ze de universele reikwijdte van zonde en herstel insluit:
“The law of Jubilee is the most fundamental law of all creation. The law of Jubilee is the basis of forgiveness and grace. It is the purpose and goal of the law itself. It compels a climax of earth history and a full end of the dominion of darkness and sin.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 7
“No man has the authority to sell himself permanently as a slave to sin. Even if he wanted to do so, he has no right to do this, because he does not create or own himself. For this reason, at the Creation Jubilee, all men whom God has created will return to the original Owner of all things.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 7
“No matter how far a man goes into debt, the Jubilee will set him free. Even if no kinsman redeems him, there is a day coming when he will be set free into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 7
Eeuwige straf vs. corrigerend oordeel
Jones betoogt dat bijbelse termen voor ‘eeuwig’ worden misverstaan:
“In this chapter we will attempt to prove from plain Scripture that God’s punishments are NOT endless. The English translations which use the term ‘eternal’ and ‘everlasting’ in relation to both divine punishment and life in the coming age are actually mistranslations of the original Hebrew and Greek.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 4
“The word olam means ‘to hide, keep secret, obscure.’ […] In actual usage, the word refers to an INDEFINITE period of time, but NOT eternal. It is simply AN AGE.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 4
“We can safely say that aion is meant to convey the same meaning as the Hebrew concept of olam. […] it does not really carry the idea of ‘obscurity,’ but like olam, means an age, or eon.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 4
“It is a place where men must pay the last farthing of debt to sin until the final Jubilee sets the creation free.” — Jones, Creation’s Jubilee, hfst. 9 (over het vuurmeer)
Interpretatie: Jones ziet het vuurmeer niet als eeuwige straf maar als corrigerend oordeel voor individuele zonden, dat eindigt bij het grote Jubeljaar.