R.C. Sproul

And we define grace as undeserved or unmerited favor.

But what I'm trying to get at today are some of the theories that have been expounded to explain what it means for man to have fallen.

How is sin to be understood in our anthropology?

What factor does it play?

Is sin something that we look at the human species and we say, well, here is a creature called man.

We'll use that circle to represent man.

Is sin something...

accidental or tangential to our humanness.

Now, when I say accidental, I don't mean accidental in the sense of a tree falling in the woods and happening to fall on somebody's head.

but rather I'm speaking philosophically now.

In the ancient Aristotelian categories, anything that was an object or a substance was understood to have both an essence, what it really is, and are there things, qualities, that are accidental, that is on the periphery, that may or may not accompany the thing.

Here's Bob Ingram sitting here in front of me, and he has a mustache.

Now, is that mustache essential to his humanity?

If he shaves that mustache, will he be less than a man?

He may think so, and so he'll guard it with his life.

If he shaves his mustache, would he still be Bob Ingram?

Now, we would say that the mustache, though it adorns him beautifully, is not essential to Ingram.

It's accidental, even though it's on purpose.

But what we mean by accidental is that it is on the periphery of it.

Now, my question is, is sin in our humanity accidental or essential?