FALL, DOCTRINE OF THE. The explanation of the universal prevalence of sin among men by tne supposition of the sin of the first parents of the race, resulting in a transmitted disorder of nature. The doctrine was introduced into theol ogy by the•Apostle Paul (Rom. v. 12 sqq.) from the account of the sin committed by Adam in Eden (Gen. iii.). Whatever other interpreta tions are given to that account, it is psycho logically correct as to the elements of sin. Thus we find here (a) law 16, 17) ; (b) original obedience (ii. 19, 20) ; (c) temptation. coming from without, presenting the desirableness of a forbidden object, and diminishing the force of re straining motives (iii. 4. 5) ; (d) contemplation of the good presented in the temptation (iii. 6) ; (e) the act of choice; (f) condemnation of eon science, evident in the sense of estrangement from God (iii. s) : (g) disorder of nature (iii. 7). That is a faithful picture of every sin. The same disorder appears in all of Adam's descend ants, and universal sin attends this disorder. There have been various theories of the Fall in the history of theology. The Pelagians mini mized its importance, denying that Adam's sin injured anybody but himself, and referring the universality of sin to universal bad example, but failing explain whence comes the universal bad example. The Augustinians made it the true entrance of sin into the race, and taught such a connection of the race with Adam that his sin was truly their sin, and thus all were involved in common condemnation with him, but without any clear theory of the nature of the connection. The Calvinists took up the Augustinian view, and explained it by various theories of imputa tion (q.v.) and federal headship. (See FEDERAL THEOLOGY.) The Arminians put the loss of the race in subjection to death, with its attendant moral disadvantages. Evangelical Arminians (Wes leyan:, etc.) have held to a stricter view.
In recent times the Fall has been attacked from the standpoint of evolution, and one of the most common theological results of the triumph of evolution, in the popular apprehension, has been to overthrow this doctrine. The origin of the race by evolution precludes even the existence of 'first parents,' that is, of any single pair of human progenitors. And even if this difficulty could be overcome, the whole idea of evolution, which is the idea of progress, is against the idea of a primal and disastrous fall. The progress of the race has been by means of its disadvantages, by struggle and survival, and hence error is it self one of the steps upward by which the race ascends. And, then, in a still broader way, sin is the temporary triumph of the lower over the higher, of the animal over the spiritual. Hence it is essentially present in the whole evolution ary process from the lowest to the highest point, which is. in a word, advance from the animal to the spiritual, and cannot have Originated in Eden, or been confined to man's present history. These objections are met by the following argu ments. The Christian doctrine of sin (q.v.) does not identify it with the mere mistaken prefer ence of a lesser good. It is a choice in view of
obligation and against obligation. It may re sult in progress as a remote consequenc•, but it is itself retrogression, fall. Evolution itself pro vides as fully for degeneration as for progress. There is no warrant in the mere' evolutionary process that it will result in unbroken, or even in general advance. And whatever shall be said as to the origin of the race f a single' pair, there was certainly a time when men first became true men, in the sense of having then first a developed moral nature. This group of men, larger or smaller, were the true first parents of the race, and correspond to the Adam and Eve of the biblical story. We have only to suppose universal sin among them, certainly a possible supposition since sin is universal now, to get the foundation for consequent disorder of nature in the race; and it will be impossible to disprove the supposition that some one of this group sinned, and that by him all the rest were infected. In some form or other, that supposition is a cer tainty. On the other band. evolution powerfully supports the idea of a fall by two of its impor tant contributions to thought. By the emphasis ilii•11 it lays upon heredity, it provides for the t the disorder with which sin must atr•ct I un nature. Th.. slightest change in an organism may affect its entire functioning. The slightest variation tends to be handed down by heredity. Let there be such a change in the spirit as that produced by sin, and under heredity there must he profound consequences introduced into the whole line of descent from such a sinning form. If that be a form, or a group of forms, at the beginning of human history, the princi ple's of evolution would forbid the assignment of limits, and certainly of narrow limits, to the possibility of the resulting harm. Again, the provision for degeneration explains how man should not only sink to a lower level by sin than he would otherwise have maintained, but how sin should result in special cases of marked de generation, now found in humanity, such as are many of the savage races. Given such a varia tion from the stock ascending toward man as tends toward an ultimate horse, that varying form has lost forever its possibility of becoming the ancestor of a man. Given sin in man, and sinful man has lost forever the possibility of becoming the ancestor of the idea] man by the ordinary processes of evolution. That is, he is fallen.
The doctrine of the Fall has also been attacked in recent times by schools of critics who have applied evolutionary theories to explain the origin of the biblical books. The tendency has been to reduce the early chapters of Genesis to the category of the mythical, and by thus explain ing away the historical character, it has been supposed that the fact of the Fall has also been disproved. But this supposition overlooks the profound psychology of Gen. iii., and does not explain the undeniable fact of universal corrup tion and sin. Universal sin exists. Underlying it is universal corruption. It must have orig inated somehow. That origination was the Fall.