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| Q: | I have noticed repeatedly in your defense of Infant Baptism and Original Sin, you quote Psalm 51:5, suggesting that David is blaming his sin with Bathsheba on a condition he was born with, i.e. original sin. However, that seems quite far from David's heart and mind throughout this psalm. In this psalm David confesses not a condition he was born into, but his personal accountability and responsiblilty before God for his sinful actions. It is obvious that David is using a literary term known as hyperbole to express his anguish over what he has done. In essence, David is saying, that his sin is so grievous that it tarnhishes his entire life. That David is using hyperbole is evidenced elsewhere in the psalm when he says to God, "Against you, you only have I sinned." Of course, he also sinned against himself, Bathseba and Uriah. Isn't it possible that Psalm 51:5 was intended to be taken as a figure of speech? Doesn't the context indicate that it should be? | ||||||
| A: | You present no evidence for your idea that this is hyperbole except conjecture. Nothing in the text indicates hyperbole. There is no contrast or contradiction between confessing both a sinful nature and personal responsibility for actual sin. Paul certainly does both in his letters. Compare Romans 7 and Romans 8. A bad tree produces bad fruit. David is saying that his sins, horrible as they were, were not flukes but expressions of a sinful nature. An act is sin because it violates the will of God. David's adultery would have been sin even if Uriah and Bathsheba had both consented to it, and society condoned it. The doctrine of original sin is taught many places in Scripture. Psalm 51:5 is analogous to many other passages. Neither the doctrine of original sin nor of infant baptism depends on this passage alone but on many other passages as well. | ||||||
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