Chizuk Emunah Under the Microscope: Chapter 48

Chapter 48 is short enough that I will quote it in its entirety.

          We would submit to discussion the question whether the Christians have any foundation for the belief that Jesus wrought his beneficial works for the salvation of the souls of his believers, and through his sufferings and his blood, he saved the followers of his creed from everlasting perdition in hell? If that were the case, the Christians would be dispensed from doing good actions, and be irresponsible for evil deeds. A passage occurring in St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (chap. 6:9,) will moreover show that the fall of Jesus was only of advantage to the upright, but not to sinners. "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Of this we find a detailed explanation in the subsequent verses. Now, if sinners devoid of merit cannot be saved, why should the righteous who have merits require any intercession in order to obtain the Divine favour? It would appear then that the death of Jesus serves neither for the salvation of the sinner, nor for the salvation of the righteous.
          Should the Christians argue that the death of Jesus was intended only to rescue from hell the souls of those who were involved in the sin of Adam, then we would refer back to the pages wherein we have fully proved that the prophets and the pious could not reasonably, and according to Scriptural evidence, incur damnation on account of the fall of Adam. 

Troki refers to 1 Corinthians 6

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

 As you can see, the passage says the exact opposite of what Troki intends. Many people are slaves to sin, and it is their salvation and regeneration in Jesus that frees them from this sin. Troki implies that we first have to be righteous in order to receive salvation. The New Testament says the exact opposite.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11)

 Troki is right in one sense: our salvation is not dependent upon our good and evil deeds. Instead, our salvation frees us from our addiction to wickedness. Those who grow in him find sin less and less appealing, until the day that we receive full restoration, and sin loses its appeal entirely.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

 Paul also mentions this issue in Romans 6.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4)

 As to what the Rabbi says about original sin, the early church before Augustine, and Eastern Orthodoxy to this day, agrees with him. We are not guilty of Adam's sin. We do not have a sin nature. Instead, sin is something we do. I will leave the reader to my other article for the rest of the story.