The Imputation of Adam's Sin

by John Murray

Imputation of Adam's Sin

Genres: Theology, Christian, Nonfiction

95 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

John Murray was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and then left to help found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for many years.

Murray was born in the croft of Badbea, near Bonar Bridge, in Sutherland county, Scotland. Following service in the British Army in the First World War (during which he lost an eye, serving in the famous Black Watch regiment) he studied at the University of Glasgow. Following his acceptance as a theological student of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland he pursued further studies at Princeton Theological Seminary under J. Gresham Machen and Geerhardus Vos, but broke with the Free Presbyterian Church in 1930 over that Church's treatment of the Chesley, Ontario congregation. He taught at Princeton for a year and then lectured in systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary to generations of students from 1930 to 1966, and was an early trustee of the Banner of Truth Trust. Besides the material in the four-volume Collected Writings, his primary published works are a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (previously included in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series but now superseded by Douglas J. Moo's commentary), Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Principles of Conduct, The Imputation of Adam's Sin, Baptism, and Divorce.

Murray preached at Chesley and Lochalsh from time to time until his retirement from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1968. He married Valerie Knowlton 7 December 1967 and retired to Scotland where he was connected with the Free Church of Scotland. Writing after a communion season at Lochalsh, Murray said, “I think I feel most at home here and at Chesley of all the places I visit.” There had been some consideration that upon leaving the seminary, Murray might take a pastorate in the newly formed Presbyterian Reformed Church, but the infirmity of his aged sisters at the home place necessitated his return to Ross-shire, Scotland.

Reviews

[Felipe Sabino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poucas páginas de grande erudição e exegese cuidadosa. Um verdadeiro clássico da teologia reformada!

[Jose Ovalle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid exegesis. Praise God that Jesus is the better Adam

“The one ground upon which the imputation of the righteousness of Christ becomes ours is the union with Christ. In other words, the justified person is constituted righteous by the obedience of Christ because of the solidarity established between Christ
and the justified person. The solidarity constitutes the bond by which the righteousness of Christ becomes that of the believer. Once the solidarity is posited there is no other mediating factor that could be conceived of as necessary to the conjunction of the righteousness of Christ and the righteousness of the believer.”

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing to read an exegetical argument that doesn't seem to reach and stretch. Extremely clear, organized, logical, textual, convincing (even though the main question people have — that is, how in the world is representative headship just!? — isn't *exactly* addressed except by mystery and parallel to Christ. Those are pretty good answers after all). I appreciated the section on Edwards and New England theology, and I always appreciate Murray's focus on worship and wonder as the right response to theology.

[Scott Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor John Murray (Systematic Theology professor at Princeton, then Westminster Theological Seminary) is one of my favorite theologians. This is not because he is easy to read; he is not. Rather it is because Murray always provides insightful Biblical analysis while being succinct – no small feat. This small booklet on “The Imputation of Adam’s Sin” (original sin) is no exception to either Murray’s thoroughness or brevity. He carefully analyzes the Pelagian, Roman Catholic, Realistic, and Representative viewpoints on this doctrine. He is careful to dissect viewpoints between those points in which all can agree, and those which distinguish the various viewpoints. For example, when discussing Realism, Murray writes, “Hence the crux of the question is not whether the representative view discounts seminal union or natural headship . . . but simply and solely whether the necessary plus which both views posit is to be interpreted in terms of an entity which existed in its totality in Adam and is individualized in the members of the race or in terms of representation which was established by divine ordination.” However the major challenge for Murray (and all theologians) is how to reconcile the Romans 5 (and 1 Corinthians 15) passages regarding the imputation of Adam’s first sin, specifically regarding the concept of an alien guilt (peccatum alienum). How can Adam’s future progeny be held responsible for the sin of their first father (Ezekiel 18). Combining these issues (realism and alien guilt), Murray posits the following: “The members of posterity cannot be conceived of as existing when Adam trespassed . . . Yet all the members of the race were contemplated by God as destined to exist; they were foreordained to be and the certainty of their existence was thus guaranteed . . . thus contemplated by God they were contemplated no otherwise than as member of the race in solidaric union with Adam and therefore as having sinned in him.” This profound statement is typical of Professor Murray’s insightful analysis. I highly recommend this work!

[Ethan Moehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful exposition on a pretty weighty topic.
Murray is nothing if not a brilliant technical writer. While short, this book is dense. I found it worth the work.

My main critique is how abruptly the book ends. I think there could have been more connection to pastoral implications. Additionally, he uses a ton of Latin without defining terms. It didn't affect the reading but it was annoying to look words up.

[Ethan Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Typical Murray. Very solid but hard reading.

[Jaden A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murray is dense and thorough. I read this book over the course of three days, but despite its brevity, this volume is not for the faint of heart. As the case may be, I gathered what I could and read through the book’s entirety. There’s no doubt in my mind, however, that one could spend a long time mining all of the various details of Murray’s arguments.

The chief argument of Murray’s book is that the contextual considerations of Rom. 5:12-21 should lead us to read the clause from verse 12, 'because all sinned—' in light of the five repeated occasions where Paul contrasts the 'oneness' of Adam to the 'oneness' of Christ (v. 15, 16, 17, 18). It is amidst the parallelism of the 'one trespass' and the 'one man’s disobedience' that we read verse 12. Hence, the same sin is meant throughout the passage. Additionally, the parallelism in Rom. 5 indicates that particular conditions that exist in our union with Christ must extend to our union with Adam, whereby Adam acts as our representative.

Murray is careful to note that this representative view does not negate the propagation of a corrupt nature from Adam to his posterity. This is what Murray classifies as the ‘realist’ view. Murray argues, however, that this realist paradigm cannot adequately explain why we are held guilty for only Adam’s ‘one trespass’ and not his other sins. In other words, more is required beyond natural headship to explain the sameness of union between Adam and his posterity.

Murray argues that ‘We must insist on the involvement of posterity in Adam’s sin in a way that will place this involvement of posterity in Adam’s sin in a way that will place this involvement in the category of sin and yet maintain that it was Adam’s trespass in a manner that is not ours’ (p. 86). How can this be? Murray argues that Adam’s guilt is imputed to us. It is in our solidarity with Adam that we are found guilty.

As a side note, I suggest purchasing this book new. Since I purchased this book used, I received the first edition which has some footnotes that may have proved helpful were it not for the fact that they are in Latin.

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
WHAT'S THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S SIN ABOUT?
In four short chapters, John Murray examines the doctrine of the Imputation of Adam's Sin—sketching out a few competing visions of the doctrine as well as laying out the particulars of it—the sin involved, the union between Adam and his posterity in it (from two different viewpoints), as well as the nature of the Imputation itself.

He does this by examinings and exegeting Romans 5:12-19. More than 90 pages on those verses might seem overkill, but I can't help but think that Murray was not getting as detailed as he wanted. It's rather impressive to see him work all the areas I mentioned into this exegesis and interpretation.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE IMPUTATION OF ADAM'S SIN?
This was footnoted a couple of times in a book I read recently (probably Why Did Jesus Have to Live a Perfect Life? by Brandon D. Crowe), and I realized that despite seeing I don't know how many references to it over the years, I've never gotten around to reading it. So, now I've fixed it. And I'm glad that I did. I learned a good deal more than I expected, and assume I'll be coming back more than once to chew on this book.

This book is typical Murray—crisp, clear, concise, and convincing. Sure, there's the drawback that his prose is dry and empty of all personality. The book doesn't need them (and I'd think it strange to read Murray with it). I wouldn't have minded a greater scope—like if there'd been another couple of passages to get this treatment other than Romans 5:12-19.

This is a great introduction to the idea of Imputation of Adam's Sin and I strongly recommend it.

[Alex]

A solid read on the doctrine of original sin. This is my first reading in depth on this doctrine so some distinctions I may need to return to and think more carefully on along with his counter points on why the imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity is a bit distinct in comparing imputation of our sin to Christ.

[Tyler Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Murray until now. There may have been some insight into Romans 5:12-21 in this book, but if they existed, they were hidden in an incredibly poorly written way. Thankful it was only 95 pages.

[Michael Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like John Owen, this little book by Professor Murray is dense but worth the struggle to read it. This is especially the case because it is on a doctrine which has been almost forgotten by the modern church.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought I would read something that was harder to understand than Geerhardus Vos' Biblical Theology. Definitely going to have to reread this when I'm wiser and more well-read. Excellent nonetheless in the parts I could grasp.

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got a hardbound first edition.

[Drew Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very scholarly but helpful on a crucial (and practical) theological concept. Pulled it from my shelves for help with preaching from Romans 5:12-21.

[Kevin O’Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic treatise on a difficult subject. As always, Murray is clear and helpful.

[Charles Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Murray's best work.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It tackles the question of how is Adams sin imputed to us. It was a super hard read for me and a lot of things went over my head

[sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic murray.

[Valerie Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

wow. this was my first JMurray book. hard. good but hard... thankful for good teachers so i could follow him.

[Josiah Leinbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense and at times tedious, but quite thorough.

[Jessica]

On the doctrine of original sin.

[Sawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Murray is SHARP. His arguments are cogent and forceful. This short work is no anomaly.

[Mark Lickliter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very difficult read with technical language and Greek as well. Be prepared!

[Evan Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If one comes to even partially understand the arguments within, there is no way to complete the book without by the end adopting the author’s views of the issue.

[S Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear and concise explanation of biblical truth

[Nate Weis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense, but really compelling and important argument.

[Jeremy Kruizinga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is short, but very dense. John Murray provides an exposition of Romans 5:10-19 and makes a biblical case for the Reformed view of imputed guilt and sin to all of humanity because of the one transgression of Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says "In Adam all died." Adam was the representative of the entire human race and now all of humanity has been corrupted as a result. While you may not agree with Murray' conclusions, I challenge you to consider reading this. I will need to re-read it again to better understand Murray arguments.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. A theological and exegetical analysis of Romans 5:12ff, and our representative solidarity with Adam. As Murray regularly demonstrates, without this representative solidarity in Adam, our understanding of our union with Christ is impoverished. Also read in 2018.

[Kevin Sheth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steak dinner - tough read but really rewarding. Murray has a profound grasp on the classical Protestant doctrine of imputation and identifies points of continuity and discontinuity with later theologians like Hodge and Edwards.

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not for easy reading, but the reader will come away with a much more complete understanding of the subject.