SIDE ISSUES ELIMINATED 199 



constitute the moral state hypothecated by the cathoHc 

 doctrine of original sin. 



4. Another uncatholic opinion, which the technical 

 use of St. Paul's symbolical language has made to 

 appear scriptural to many, is the view that original sin 

 deservedly brings everlasting punishment, even upon 

 those who die before they have committed sins of their 

 own. This opinion is closely related to one which I 

 have already shown to be unwarranted — the view 

 that the personal guilt of Adam is transmitted to his 

 posterity. The most plausible scriptural exegesis which 

 is thought to support the notion that God is angry with 

 fallen creatures because of their inborn condition is 

 a common interpretation of the passage in the Epistle 

 to the Ephesians, wherein his readers are declared to 

 have been, previously to their regeneration in Christ, 

 *'by nature children of wrath." ^ I have already shown 

 that we are not justified in taking this phrase to mean 

 that God is angry with the unregenerate because of 

 conditions which they have had no part in producing.^ 

 A general induction of scriptural teaching on the sub- 

 ject shows that the attitude of God towards fallen 

 mankind is one of loving pity — the depth of which is 

 demonstrated by the costly mystery of the death of the 

 Son of God for us while we were yet sinners.^ Such 

 induction also shows that the alternative of heaven or 

 hell is limited in its asserted application to those who 



* Ephes. ii. 3. 



2 See pp. 145, 197, above. 



3 Rom. V. 6-8; Ephes. ii. 4-8. 



