Inherited Sin

What affect does Adams sin have on us today?

There are 2 ways in which it affects us:

1. Inherited Guilt/Original Sin: We are counted among the Guilty because of Adams sin.
Let's look at what Paul says in Romans 5:12
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--"
And to put it in context read through verse 21!
Paul is not talking about a sin that we commit day in and day out. He is talking about the sin of Adam.
Paul says that "All men sinned."
This means that Go thought of us all as having sinned when Adam disobeyed...Paul backs that up in Vs. 13-14! Sin was in the world before the Law was given to Moses.
Proof that Sin was not counted against the Law but that Men were still held accountable was that Death was in the World! What was the penalty for eating of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Genesis 2:15-17 -- The penalty was Death!!!
But continuing on...Paul goes further to back up His point. Go back and check out Romans 5:18-19. That one man is Adam and through Him many were counted as sinners.

So may think that this is unfair!
Think about these 3 things:
1. Everyone has also voluntarily committed many actual sins for which God also holds us guilty.
2. If you were in Adams you mostlikely would have done the same thing. (But we can't test that now can we).
3. If it is unfair to be represented by Adam in the Fall. Then it is also unfair to be represented by Christ and the redemption that He offers.
God sees the Human race as an organic whole, a unity, represented by Adam as its head. And God also thinks of the new race of Christians, those who are redeemed by Christ, as an organic whole, a unity represented by Christ as head of his people.

2. Inherited Corruption: We have a sinful Nature because of Adams Sin.

Not only do we have the legal guilt that God imputes to us, but also because of Adam's Sin we inherit a sinful nature. Sometimes called "Original Sin or Original pollution." We will use the term "Inherited Corruption."

Ps. 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

David is not talking about His mothers sin here...this whole passage from vs. 1-4, David is talking about His own sin.

Ps. 51:1-4 "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment."

See also Ps. 58:3 "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies."

Paul affirms this very thing when He writes: "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."

Do you have a child? If you do, you don't need to be told that they have a tendency to do wrong...they naturally do that...they however do need to be taught how to do right!

No Inherited Corruption does not mean that people are as bad as they could be!
Many things keep people from this: Human Conscience, Expectations from Family, and Society, and Laws of Government.

A. In Our Natures we Totally Lack Spiritual Good Before God!
Every part of our being is affected by sin...not just a few parts. Our intellects, emotions, desires, our hearts (who we are at our core), our goals, motives, and our physical bodies.

Romans 7:18 "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out."

Titus 1:15 "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled."

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

In these passages Scripture is not denying that unbelievers can do good in human society in some senses. But it is denying that they can do any spiritual good or be good in terms of a relationship with God.
Apart from the Work of Christ in our lives, we are like all other unbelievers who are "darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart."

B. In Our Actions We are Totally Unable to Do Spiritual Good Before God:
Not only do we as sinners lack any spiritual good in ourselves, but we also lack the ability to do anything that will in itself please God and the ability to come to God in our own strength.

Romans 8:8 "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."

Eph 2:1-2 "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--"

John 8:34 "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.'"

Isaiah 64:6 (Romans 3:9-20) "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away."

1 Corinthians 2:14 "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day."

What do all these verses mean?
The first 2: We cannot do anything to please God apart from Christ doing the work in and through us.

The next 4: We cannot please God without Faith --- which is a gift from Him. And we were or are all dead in our sins (that is apart from Christ) and when we are living in Sin, we are slaves to Sin.

The next 1: Without Christ we cannot understand anything that is Spiritual and we cannot accept them.

The last 1: No one can accept Christ or draw near to God, unless God first draws that Person to His Son, Jesus Christ! Jesus is a gift to us from God, and unless God draws us to Jesus, we will think all that has to do with Him is foolishness and we will not accept it.

If we have a total inability to do good and to do any spiritual good in God's sight, then do we still have any freedom of Choice?
Certainly, those who are outside of Christ do still make voluntary choices--that is, they decide what they want to do, then they do it. In this sense there is still a kind of "freedom" in the choices that people make. Yet because of their inability to do good and to escape from their fundamental rebellion against God and their fundamental preference for sin, unbelievers do not have freedom in the most important sense of freedom--that is, the freedom to do right, and to do what is pleasing to God.

I can just hear William Wallace..."FREEDOM!!!!!!"

The application to our lives is quite evident: if God gives anyone a desire to repent and trust in Christ, he or she should not delay and should not harden his or her heart. This ability to repent and desire to trust in God is not naturally ours but is given by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and it will not last forever. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:15

In Christ,

David