Am I my brother’s keeper?
Recently someone asked, “why do good people have to suffer?” I replied, “Because of original sin.” To which they said, “I know that, but why do I have to suffer when it was Eve who ate the apple, and not me?”
The answer to this question is neither straightforward nor fulfilling.
First off, the fall was not the result of Eve, because the covenant was made through Adam. Recall that when Eve ate the apple nothing happened, but when Adam ate the apple, the whole world fell apart. But that aside, Adam and Eve only committed one sin; how many have you committed? Besides, if we refuse our share of the sin of the first Adam, then we are also denying salvation of the second Adam.[1] This all began because Adam failed to do what he was created to do – till and keep the garden.[2] And as descendants of Adam, we must all answer for his negligence. Why? Because we are all mystically and inextricably linked and whether we think it is fair or not, it is what it is. Moreover, not only are we accountable for our sins, but for each other’s as well.[3]
The curious case of Uriah
In 2 Samuel 11:1-17 we have the curious case of Uriah the Hittite. We don’t know a lot about the Hittites except that they were a kingdom of people in modern day Turkey who lived during King David’s time. We also don’t know much about Uriah – other than he was a professional military man with a trophy wife.[4] One day, while out fighting David’s battles for him, King David, er… “knew” Bathsheba[5] and fearing that her becoming pregnant would reveal David’s sin, David called Uriah home. On two occasions he encouraged Uriah to go home to sleep with his wife so that David could have plausible deniability regarding his own sin. But being an upstanding man, Uriah could not in good conscience do so knowing his men were still fighting and dying on the battlefield. So, when Uriah refused to have relations with his own wife, David’s sin was in danger of becoming exposed. So David plotted to cover the sin of fornication with the sin of murder.
But wait, there’s more…
When Nathan confronted David and convicted him of his sin, Nathan said something peculiar. He told David that although his sin was forgiven, that the child’s life would be demanded[6] (presumably for the sin of fornication).
What a mess!
- Poor Uriah – who was minding his own business – is dead!|
- Poor Bathsheba lost not only her husband, but her child
- Poor David…the greatest King in the Bible is beset with calamity after calamity!
Not so fast…
First off, we don’t know everything about these figures so we shouldn’t make too many assumptions. However, we can assume:
- The Hittites had their own kingdom, so what was Uriah doing fighting for King David?
- Was he nothing more than a mercenary?
- A hired killer?
- What about Bathsheba? Let’s not assume that she was innocent as it takes two to have a baby.
- And what about David? David was far from innocent!
- David’s problem was that he was presumptuous and arrogant (recall the story of David and Goliath[7]),
- If David had such great confidence in God, then why did he take five stones and not just one?.
The only one we can say is close to blameless in this story is the child, who (through no fault of their own) was conceived in sin and falls under the sin of Adam. So, what is the lesson here? We are mystically and inextricably linked together such that the sin of one affects the sin of the other. To think otherwise is like (and forgive the crude euphemism) having a peeing section in a public pool – either the whole pool is off limits to this sort of activity or we all are affected from even one persons sin.
Need salient examples of one person’s sin affecting others? Here are but a few that I’ve encountered:
- A woman came to me who had an illness. After deliverance prayer, it was revealed that she was cursed because of her grandmother’s infidelity. She forgave her (long deceased) grandmother, renounced the curse and as a result was completely healed.
- Another came to me with various ailments. Nothing seemed to add up in this case, but one pattern was clear. Every third child of the past three generations suffered from identical issues. This turned out to be a curse from a forefather.
- I’ve prayed with several people whose parents were involved in witchcraft and dedicated their children to Satan. Through no fault of their own, these people suffered terribly for years until they renounced the occult, forgave their parents and then prayed to cleanse their bloodline.
- A man with debilitating pain revealed that a “family legend” had it that a distant relative in Romania was a gypsy. This man was two generations removed from this person and had never been to Romania, but after prayer, the curse was lifted and the pain disappeared.
How many people do you know where “alcoholism runs in the family” or gambling, or addiction or just plain-old-bad luck? I know of a woman who has been involved in eighty car accidents! Eighty! Do you think there might just be something funny going on here?
The lesson here is NOT that everything that befalls us is caused by an ancestral curse and that our problems are easily healed through deliverance prayer. No! The lesson is the age-old teaching that we must renounce our old ways, die to ourselves, pick up our crosses and go forward accepting that we ARE our brother’s keeper. The question therefore is not “I wonder how many afflictions are on me because of my ancestors” but “how many afflictions have I caused my family and others through my own sin?”
We are born of Adam’s stock and there is a connection between us and him; but we are also adopted into Christ’s body who is the new Adam[8] and to deny one is to deny both.
Luke 12:48 states:
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be demanded.”
David was given the tremendous responsibility of kingship, and, like Adam, the cost of his sin was borne by others. You are given the responsibility of father, mother, brother, aunt, uncle, sister, grandparent, CEO, supervisor, teacher, Congressman, Governor, Pastor, Priest, Bishop, or godparent. Are you willing to make sure that those you have authority over never bear the cost of your own sins?
If we are of Adam, and we suffer from his sins, then we also must come to the realization that we are also of Christ and can benefit from His sinlessness and by changing our lives for the better, our progeny benefits.
[1] 1 Corinthians 15:45, Philippians 2:8
[2] Gen 2:15
[3] Js 5:19–20; Mt 18-15
[4] 2 Samuel 11:1-17
[5] There are many parallels here:
- Traditionally the King’s lead his army into battle, yet David stayed behind, neglecting his duty (just as Adam did).
- Bathsheba was seduced and did what she knew was wrong, (just as Eve did).
- Both stories also involved God who, very firmly settled the issue.
[6] 2 Sa 12:13-14
[7] 1 Samuel 17
[8] 1 Cor 15:45-49