THESES FOR THE RE-FORMATION #7
Thesis #7 of 95: Adam is mankind’s federal head and the type of those Paul describes as “dead” (in trespasses and sins) due to the malign influence of the procreated vessel inhabited by the soul whose moral instincts oppose that of the God-given spirit. Cain is effectively the type of the twice dead in whom both flesh and spirit have died to God so as to be united in evil
BIBLICAL REFERENCE
“These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about[a] by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots” (Jude1:12)
COMMENTS
A key motif running through The Little Book of Providence and therefore apparent within these 95 theses is affirming trichotomy against duality (3 not 2). That starts with the Godhead as most Christians would agree, but equally applies to soteriology/spirituality (see below), anthropology (body, soul and spirit) and the ongoing witness to God’s saving work on earth (Spirit, water and blood – 1Jn5:8). In Romans7, Paul speaks of an inner tension between the moral impulses of the flesh (“the body of this death”) and the spirit or inner man. Only those who come to know Christ as Saviour, being empowered by the Spirit are able to overcome this so as to experience spiritual Life even whilst in mortal flesh (Rom7:25; Jn6:53). However (and as ever), there is a third category: the twice dead. Such, like Cain, have given in to evil and the Evil One. Their flesh like everyone else’s is dead (in the Pauline sense) but their spirit (encompassing conscience) is also dead or non-functional such that the material and spiritual components of the person are no longer in tension. Dead (flesh) versus dead (spirit) results in a chilling serenity in which the soul is unhindered in its response to the instincts of the flesh.
Such a soul may satisfy its worldly, carnal appetite by any means. Unlike all who are to be liberated as the children of God (Rom8:19-23), these desolate ones have no Pauline “inner struggle” for what is dead cannot struggle. They therefore may be cool, calm and at peace with themselves as they pursue evil. This is death of the soul; this is total depravity, and these are the children of hell (Mt23:15). They are the wicked and godless who must be despatched at the renaissance, for they were not planted by God but by His enemy (Mt13:25 & 15:13). This pertains to the mystery of providential evil, considered more fully in chapters six and seven of The Little Book.
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