Man’s Moral and Natural Ability, Part 4

Most Christians agree with the doctrine of original sin.  The disagreement is over the concept of original sin and its extent.  In Part 3, I mentioned that original sin is not the first sin of Adam and Eve.

2. Original sin is not a specific act of sin.

When the Bible teaches original sin, it is talking not about a specific act but a condition of sin. In other words, original sin is referring to a sin nature out of which acts of sin flow.  We commit sin because we’re born sinners, we’re not sinners because we sin.

When God created Adam and Eve, they were innocent and sinless. It was not in man’s original nature to sin.  However, after the Fall, man’s moral nature changed.  When people are born into this world subsequent to the Fall of Adam and Eve, they are born with a sinful corrupt nature in which they cannot help except to sin, and they are morally bound unable to choose righteousness over sin. 

Indeed, man can choose to do good, but his good is unaccepted by God since it flows out from a sinful nature.  The major difference is that man may seek to perform various acts of good now and then, but left to himself, he will never seek the highest good, which is God (Rom. 3:10-12). So then, by nature we are born “children of wrath.”  We are not born in a state of innocence (cf. Psalm 51:5; Eph. 2:3).

Some ministers refuse to baptize infants because of this teaching of original sin. Since everyone is born sinners, water used in baptism is a symbol of washing away sin. The only thing that can successfully wash away sin is the blood of Jesus (Acts 22:16). This occurs when a person places his faith in the Son of God and on His finished work on the cross on his behalf.

Infants do not know enough to believe, nor are they able to make a confession unto salvation (Rom. 10:9). As a result of believing this, some ministers have chosen to perform Baby Dedication in which the whole family becomes involved to raise up and lead the infant unto salvation and nurture him or her in the things of God.  Although infants are innocent of specific acts of sin, they are nevertheless guilty of original sin, i.e. being born in sin.

At this point one might ask, “Pastor Rich, if an infant dies, will it go to heaven?” Without going into much discussion on this because it is not within the nature of this study to do so, let me answer by saying:  “Yes, they do go to heaven at the time of death!” One day, I will show biblical support for this in a later study.

It is also helpful to understand the state of Adam before and after the Fall. Before the Fall, Adam had two possibilities:  He had the ability to sin and the ability not to sin. After the Fall, Adam had the ability to sin and the inability not to sin.

The phrase “inability not” seems confusing in English since it contains a double negative.  It means that after the Fall man was and is morally incapable of living without sin.  The ability to live without sin was lost in the Fall.  This moral inability to not sin and choose God is what theologians refer to as original sin.

End of Part 4