The Cure--Some Clarifications

I had a conversation with someone today after my blog came out yesterday, and I have decided to clarify some things. I could probably write about the subject of sin for a lifetime, but I will try to be brief. I guess I'll start by looking at 'original sin', and what it means. Does the Bible tell us that men are sinners because they 'inherit' their sinful nature from the first man, Adam, through whom sin entered into the world? I believe that it does, and I don't mean that we inherit the specific sins that Adam committed, but that we, like him before us, are sinners, fully capable of it, and it comes right down through our DNA, so to speak.

People aren't sinners because they commit sin. I believe that people, including kids, sin, because they are sinners. The world that we live in attempts to explain this away by saying that people sin simply because of their specific environment, but that isn't what Scripture teaches us. Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world. They had no environmental problems, and no sin nature, until they were tempted by Satan and disobeyed God out of their own pride.

"The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." Psalm 58:3

Bill Cosby used to do a bit about refuting how innocent little kids are. He talked about a two-year-old, watching her take a forbidden cookie from the jar, and asking her point-blank if she had taken one. The reply of course was an emphatic no, and I remember belly-laughing, but that's a pretty good illustration of how it works. Even from our youngest age, we have it. We have a sin nature. Look at what Paul said to the Ephesian church in Chapter 2, verses 1-3:

"AND you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

There are a couple of really important things in that passage that we should take notice of. One, Paul is talking about the believer's former existence, recalling that they (including himself) were all dead, spiritually, in their sins, because they followed the ways of the world. Following after the sinful ways of the world, meaning the 'unsaved', and the lustful lifestyles of sinful mankind is outgrowth of spiritual death. The second thing he was conveying was that this spiritually dead, sinful condition which brings consequence, specifically being under God's wrath, and that we inherit it from our parents, as David showed in the passage I quoted in yesterday's post. We were, "by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

Paul gives further support with his teaching to the Roman church.

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--
13(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

In this passage, Paul is dealing with the imputation of Adam's sin, (look at Hebrews 7:9-10) and Adam as the one through whom, again, sin entered humanity, but it is also showing us that man is sinful because of his relationship to Adam. The point is, after the fall, Adam and his descendants were only capable of begetting sinners in need of a Savior, because all men were under the weight of fallen-ness. That 'weight' is a sentence of death, the very penalty for sin.

What I have been trying to say is that all men are born 'spiritually' dead for three main reasons. The first is 'inherited sin'. They are sinners by nature, which they get from their parents. The second is 'imputed sin'. They're sinners by imputation, in that Adam's sinful nature is imputed to our account, in the same way that Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us when we place our trust in Him for our salvation. The third reason is our 'individual sin'. We sin personally. We all sin personally, against God, because we possess a sinful nature. This is why I made reference to those of us who have taught Sunday school before. Even kids in a godly environment can be selfish, deceitful and rude. Paul lays this out plainly in Romans 3:23.

Thanks be to God for who He is.