It isn’t often I have a core belief shaken, well, to the core. But it happened the other evening in my Bible study group at church. Let me clarify. I hadn't really formed a core belief. I thought I knew my beliefs, but when put to the test, they fell short.
We have been studying the book of Revelation, and honestly, there wasn’t much new for me. Don’t get me wrong, it has been an excellent teaching for someone who doesn’t have much foundation in the book. But even by reading through my blog, you know that I have spent a lot of time in Revelation and studied quite a bit. Still, never underestimate God's ability to knock you off your high horse just when your are feeling like a know it all.
We were nearing the end of the book. The discussion was about the Millennial Kingdom and Jesus’ thousand-year reign on earth. The class was about to be dismissed, so there wasn’t much time left for the discussion.
That’s when the bomb dropped. As we were learning about the inhabitants of the kingdom, and the fact that the Devil would be released at the end of the thousand years to tempt them and why, I casually said something about the people still having their sin nature.
The teacher looked at me and said, “Do they?” (Tricksy, Tricksy Teacher!)
I said, “I don’t know, do they?”
He asked if it would be the same for people if they didn’t have the influence of the Devil and I was madly trying to make a case in my mind and fell short. The class ended and I came home and promptly began to try to piece back together what I thought I believed about original sin.
In order to keep this blog post from becoming a short book, I’m just going to list the main beliefs concerning original sin, and then I’m going to tear them apart. I will finally share the conclusion I have come to by studying this out.
Actually, this study has got me thinking I should go back and rewrite several of my posts here, not to mention entire portions of the book I’m working on. We’ll see.
The main points are:
- We are born with a nature tainted by Adam’s sin
- This nature is passed to children from their fathers
- Because of this nature, everyone has a bent for evil
- Children don’t have to learn how to sin because of their nature
I had never completely thought this through. I just took what I had been told, even going back as far as my Baptist Sunday School, and swallowed it. I mean I believed in an age of accountability and that babies go to Heaven, but you cant have it both ways. Either you're Hell-bound at birth, or you're not.
I’m somewhat disappointed in myself. I have studied out most every foundational doctrine in Christianity to make sure I have a solid idea of why I believe what I believe, like the Trinity, Hell, the divinity of Jesus; and as you know if you have read my other stuff, my own personal study of Revelation and the Prophets has caused me to revamp my view of the Rapture and the Tribulation to a view not held by my church.
Why had I never studied this? That’s what I’ve been saying all along. You must study the Word yourself to show yourself approved. You must know why you believe what you believe, because if you are being taught falsehood, it’s your own fault. The teacher may indeed be accountable, but so are you. By the way, my teacher did the right thing by causing me to think and study for myself.
So, let’s look at the first idea, “We are born with a nature tainted by Adam’s sin.” Most people use Psalm 51:5,
“Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Almost everyone I have read or listened to through this study uses this verse as their primary source, and believes that David is saying he is conceived as a sinner. In all honesty, I didn’t interpret this in that way. If I wanted to build a doctrine of original sin, this wouldn’t be my go-to verse. I think it means that David’s mother was in sin.
If you said something like, “In drunkenness my father beat me,” would you attribute the sin to the father or to the one being beaten…the father, of course.
Also, there is a very good argument that David’s mother had been married to an Ammonite, something that would have been considered sin by the Israelites, before she was married to David’s father, Jesse. I won’t go into it here but I’ll list the scriptures that prove the point so you can study it out yourself. Plus, you can email me with questions at areasoningtogether@gmail.com. The scriptures are: 1 Chronicles 2:13-17, 2 Samuel 17:25, 1 Samuel 11:1, and 1 Samuel 12:12.
So, even though people make a doctrine out of this verse, what else does the Bible say about our condition as babies?
“I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are they works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalm 139:14
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
“For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Judges 13:5
These verses, and others,, indicate that children are born without a sin nature.
This whole sin nature thing is the reason that Catholics, Lutherans, and others baptize babies. Not only that, it is the reason the Catholic Church had to come up with the doctrine of Immaculate Conception.
Most Protestants and Evangelicals think that the Doctrine of Immaculate Conception is all about Jesus. It is not. The Catholic teaching of Immaculate Conception is about Mary.
They teach that Mary was born without sin and that’s how Jesus was born without a sin nature as the ‘Seed of the Woman.’ I don’t think so, and that isn’t just based on my former opinion, it is solidified in this personal study.
Speaking of the ‘Seed of the Woman’, this brings us to point two, "The sin nature is like a virus passed from father to child for all generations." This is the point that I got stuck on the most. Why would Jesus have to born of a virgin if Adam’s sin didn’t pass from father to child?
After thinking this through, I had to conclude that in order for it to be said that Jesus was just like us and tempted in every way as we are (Hebrews 4:15), He would either have had to have a sin nature to overcome, like us, or we don’t have a sin nature, like Him. I think it is the latter.
So why was Jesus born of a virgin? To fulfill prophecy. Genesis 3:15 is called the Protoevangelium. That is just a fancy way to say that it is the first prophecy of the Savior, or Serpent Crusher, in the Bible. It says:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shald bruise his heel.”
Women don’t have seed. This is a prophecy of the virgin birth as well as one of a deliverer. Isaiah knew this and expounded upon it in his book. Verses 7:14-16 says:
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.”
Notice that even Immanuel has a choice of evil and good, which brings us to points three and four, the nature in children.
Jesus tells us that we must become as little children, Matthew 18:3. Jesus tells the disciples to allow the children to come to Him because the Kingdom of Heaven is made up of people like them.
I’m getting long here so I’m going to wind this down. What do we make of all the Pauline verses like Romans 7:24?
“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
This whole passage of scripture, Romans 7:14-24, is a much better passage to argue for Original Sin. It contains verse like the one quoted above and even:
"Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me."
And
"I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me."
But we saw from the prophecy in Isaiah, even the Messiah was given the choice. He chose good.
I’m going to give one more scripture before I wrap this up with my conclusions on all this. That scripture is Deuteronomy 30:11. I’m going to be using the New Living Translation for it:
“This command I am giving you today (the Law) is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach.”
This is another scripture I have read over many times but didn’t see the full impact of it.
I have always said, “No one could live the Law.” I was wrong. It says right here, we could fulfill the Law, if we wanted to. And therein lies the crux of the matter.
It goes right back to the Garden of Eden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve didn't have a sin nature, they had choices. Just like us.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17
These good and perfect gifts include babies. The verses to prove this are numerous. Here is one:
“Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.” Psalm 127:3
My conclusion is that we suffer the consequences of the sin of Adam. His sin brought death to us all. Think of the erosion of our DNA and such.
All the bad that comes from the practice of sin leaves consequences that we can’t deny. There are those that are born disabled because of a drug addicted mother. Epigenetics is a real thing. It is a proven science that shows that our behavior effects our DNA in ways that can impact our grandchildren.
On the other hand, while we may suffer the consequences of Adam’s sin, we do not share in his guilt. We all come to a place in our life where we understand the right choice and the wrong choice, but choice it is, and we will all stand before God and give an account of our own sins, not Adam’s.
I don’t know how this leaves the people in the Millennium that do not have the Devil to influence their decisions and prompt them to rebellion. Maybe that will be my next study. But I suspect it will be like it says in Ezekiel 18:20:
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”
God bless you and yours. Thank you for stopping by.
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