"The Noetic Effects of Sin" means simply, the negative effect on people's intellects due to the the Fall of Man in general (sin!). Everyone is born into a sinful state or condition, so everyone born into the human species in a physical capacity is subject to the noetic effects of sin. Generally, the noetic effects are thought to apply to knowledge of God specifically, which can touch subtly (or overtly) on other subject areas.
It is horrible misconception that people who are lower in intelligence, mentally handicapped, mentally incapacitated, or psychotic are necessarily that way because of sins they specifically committed. The noetic effects apply to every single person, just as no one is exempt from the "sinful condition." It is possible for fetuses and the mentally incapacitated to be saved because of God's grace! (see the doctrine of unconditional election, the five points of Calvinism). It is not because of how smart people are that they are saved, nor do people become geniuses immediately when they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Nor are the regenerate somehow exempt from psychotic symptoms.
The Noetic Effects of Sin are defined well on the website theopedia:
http://www.theopedia.com/Noetic_effects_of_sin
Cornelius Van Til wrote about the noetic effects of sin as well in his An Introduction to Systematic Theology. Starting on page 66 he wrote about how specifically the mind of a man improves after the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. "After we have begun with the Adamic consciousness, and then turned to the unregenerate, we must next consider the regenerate consciousness. The regenerate consciousness is the Adamic consciousness restored and supplemented, but restored and supplemented in principle and standing only."
"In the first place, the regenerated consciousness is the Adamic consciousness restored. It recognizes afresh its own derivative character. It is able to do so only because God regenerated it and thus made it confess its ethical depravity. God has quickened what was the natural man so that he now lives. The regenerate man can discern and do spiritually good because it is God who works in him both to will and to do...
"The regenerate consciousness is restored in principle but not in degree. The struggle of Romans 7 remains the struggle of every Christian till the day of his death. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8)."
[endquote]
Sinless perfectionism and notions which tie intellectual levels and/or disabilities to righteousness levels are both terrible mistakes in theological thinking. Sinless perfectionism is the incorrect idea that people have to make themselves perfectly righteous (sinless) before God in order to be justified or declared judicially righteous. The idea was promoted early on by Charles Finney, whom I would consider a heretic. People are declared judicially righteous when they have faith in Jesus Christ. People's intellectual level or disabilities are no indication of their level of sin or their salvation. We exist in a fallen creation, and all physical bodies as they exist now are earmarked to deteriorate and die until Jesus Christ comes, the final resurrection happens, and believers in Christ receive glorified bodies which will not corrupt. We don't receive incorruptible bodies until that time. We know that sometimes maladies, deformities and illnesses can exist for God's glory because of the story of the man born blind in the Bible in which Jesus explained the purpose and cause of the man's blindness. " Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:3)"
It is horrible misconception that people who are lower in intelligence, mentally handicapped, mentally incapacitated, or psychotic are necessarily that way because of sins they specifically committed. The noetic effects apply to every single person, just as no one is exempt from the "sinful condition." It is possible for fetuses and the mentally incapacitated to be saved because of God's grace! (see the doctrine of unconditional election, the five points of Calvinism). It is not because of how smart people are that they are saved, nor do people become geniuses immediately when they are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. Nor are the regenerate somehow exempt from psychotic symptoms.
The Noetic Effects of Sin are defined well on the website theopedia:
http://www.theopedia.com/Noetic_effects_of_sin
"The noetic effects of sin are the ways that sin negatively affects and undermines the human mind and intellect. Moroney^[1]^ argues that sin's noetic effects are most prominent in our knowledge of God (our "sense of divinity") and less prominent in other domains."
Another great resource is The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes by G.I. Williamson. On page 72 he writes, "A totally depraved man may have high intelligence. He may devise intricate systems of thought and deeply probe the mysteries of nature. His intellect is not annihilated by sin, nor is it made inoperative. But it invariably works error.""The Fall brought about the perversion of human faculties, but it did not destroy those faculties. Human reasoning abilities are affected but not eliminated. This can be seen in the fact that the writers of Scripture often appeal to the minds of unbelievers by citing evidence on behalf of their claims, using logical inferences in building their case and speaking in thelanguage and thoughtforms of those outside the faith." (J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig, PhilosophicalFoundations for a Christian worldview, ch. 1) [endquote]
Cornelius Van Til wrote about the noetic effects of sin as well in his An Introduction to Systematic Theology. Starting on page 66 he wrote about how specifically the mind of a man improves after the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. "After we have begun with the Adamic consciousness, and then turned to the unregenerate, we must next consider the regenerate consciousness. The regenerate consciousness is the Adamic consciousness restored and supplemented, but restored and supplemented in principle and standing only."
"In the first place, the regenerated consciousness is the Adamic consciousness restored. It recognizes afresh its own derivative character. It is able to do so only because God regenerated it and thus made it confess its ethical depravity. God has quickened what was the natural man so that he now lives. The regenerate man can discern and do spiritually good because it is God who works in him both to will and to do...
"The regenerate consciousness is restored in principle but not in degree. The struggle of Romans 7 remains the struggle of every Christian till the day of his death. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8)."
[endquote]
Sinless perfectionism and notions which tie intellectual levels and/or disabilities to righteousness levels are both terrible mistakes in theological thinking. Sinless perfectionism is the incorrect idea that people have to make themselves perfectly righteous (sinless) before God in order to be justified or declared judicially righteous. The idea was promoted early on by Charles Finney, whom I would consider a heretic. People are declared judicially righteous when they have faith in Jesus Christ. People's intellectual level or disabilities are no indication of their level of sin or their salvation. We exist in a fallen creation, and all physical bodies as they exist now are earmarked to deteriorate and die until Jesus Christ comes, the final resurrection happens, and believers in Christ receive glorified bodies which will not corrupt. We don't receive incorruptible bodies until that time. We know that sometimes maladies, deformities and illnesses can exist for God's glory because of the story of the man born blind in the Bible in which Jesus explained the purpose and cause of the man's blindness. " Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:3)"
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