Tag: traducianism

The Image of God

by Ken Hamrick

Of all the creatures. Man alone is a spiritual being. Man and all other creatures have bodies, but only man has a spirit. It is significant that God, inspiring His inerrant, written word, chose to call the immaterial nature in man a spirit, which is the same word He chose to describe His own nature –John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Every functional similarity of God in man that has been labeled as the image of God, such as man’s moral nature, his relationality, his dominion over the other creatures, and his reason and rationality, his personhood, etc., are only possible because man is a spiritual being. Without his own spirit, man could function in none of these ways. Because man is a spiritual being, he is a person. Only spiritual beings are persons. Animals without spirits can never be persons and men can never lose their personhood. Men are innately moral beings because they are spiritual beings.

There is another aspect of the image of God to be considered. There is a real sense in which what we gain in Christ we lost in Adam. We are spiritually resurrected—brought to life spiritually—when we are saved by Christ. Prior to salvation, we were spiritually dead—alienated from God and without the Spirit of God inside us. God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ I suggest that Adam was created not only as a spiritual being, but also in spiritual union with the Holy Spirit inside him. As he chose to sin, the Holy Spirit left him and he spiritually died. Spiritual death is disunion with the Spirit of God who is the only Source of spiritual life.

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Letter to a Mormon from a Realist

Dear J. D.,

Lately, I’ve been trying to learn more about LDS teachings. To be up front, as I’ve shared before, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool baptist, so my interest in LDS is just for apologetics and to better understand the viewpoint of my LDS friends.

I found it somewhat startling to see the similarities between my view of traducianism (and realism) and the LDS idea of spirit propagation.

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Defending Traducianism from Materialism

by Ken Hamrick

The most common, and often the most convincing, objection to traducianism is the argument that traducianism would require a materialistic division of the immaterial substance of the soul. The ironic thing about these objections is that they first assume that propagation of the soul would require a materialistic division…

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A Realist’s Response to Robert Strimple

by Ken Hamrick

In a recent discussion with Dr. Lane Tipton and others on the Reformed Forum Discord, I was offered Robert Strimple’s critique of Realism as “the finest… ever heard.” What follows is my informal engagement of that critique, as posted in that discussion.

You can find much of the remainder of that discussion here.

Dr. Robert B. Strimple, Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary California, approaches the origin of the soul in the following lecture: https://www.wscal.edu/resource-center/trichotomy-the-origin-of-the-soul-the-covenant-of-works-part-1 beginning at 07:55; He teaches about Realism in two of his lectures: https://www.wscal.edu/resource-center/the-parties-involved-part-2 beginning at 40:20, and continuing with: https://www.wscal.edu/resource-center/the-parties-involved-part-3

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Al Mohler the Traducianist

by Ken Hamrick

I was surprised this week to hear Al Mohler take a stand for traducianism—and to explain it in terms that were exclusively paternal.

See 53:14 – 56:20, @ https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F_3T6YoaiMmw&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cc7efcac0c2964c65362608db12e436f2%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638124543593139726%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=r0xz2PZ538UqSSVh63faUiNAlE%2FF0TGcSH6xxHHTyiY%3D&reserved=0

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A Realist’s Review of J.V. Fesko’s ‘Death in Adam, Life in Christ,’ Part 2

by Ken Hamrick

Continuing from Part 1

Fesko’s misrepresentations are disturbing. As I read his section on Augustine[23], I thought maybe he had misunderstood Augustine when Fesko claimed that Realism was about a “biological” union in Adam—that Realism claimed a physical presence of all men in Adam.

However, after Fesko described the views of Shedd and Baird (the Realist School of the 19th century), and showed that he does indeed understand that the view is about the propagation of the soul and the “co-agency” of all men while in Adam[24], he continues for the remainder of the book to refer to Realism as “biological” and “physical transmission”—not as additional to “spiritual” or “immaterial transmission” (which he ignores) but as if “physical” and “biological” accurately described the Realistic view. Misunderstanding Augustine might be excusable, but continuing the error even after showing a basic understanding of Shedd and Baird is inexcusable! Fesko says,

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A Realist’s Review of J.V. Fesko’s ‘Death in Adam, Life in Christ,’ Part 1

by Ken Hamrick

J. V. Fesko is Academic Dean and Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary in California, and has written many books. I found this book[1] to be substantive and thought provoking. It is well worth the reading—and I think it demands a response.

Fesko writes in the preface, “[…T]here are few, if any, books that treat both imputed guilt and righteousness. When it came to the history of the doctrine of imputation, there are hardly any monographs that treat the doctrine.” Fesko is a proponent of the modern Reformed view of Covenant (or, Federal) Theology, and defends that view against the main alternatives, historical and contemporary—including the Realistic view. While it is not his main purpose to engage the Realistic view, it is my main purpose in this article to address his engagement of that view, which I have found to be lacking.

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It’s Time for New Thinking on Atonement, Part 7: Traducianism

This eight-part series introduces the new perspective of Realistic Substitution, which unties the knots and answers the questions that previous theories could not. It is the ancient Realistic view of Adam further developed and applied to Christ.

Traducianism is the belief that the immaterial nature (the spirit or soul) is propagated from one or both parents. Creationism is the only Christian alternative, the belief that the spirit is created out of nothing.

While one may hold an implicitly realistic view without affirming traducianism, (preferring to leave it to mystery), it is inescapably implied. A participative union implies common being in singularity of origin, and a propagation of individuals out of that common being. It is my contention that the biblical case for traducianism is strong, and it should not be avoided, as it sheds light on the Adam-Christ parallel. While no explanation of traducianism is without mystery, neither is the creationist view without equal mystery, since it is as difficult a problem to view God creating morally corrupt souls out of nothing as it is to view Him creating them out of the parents.

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