This Is How I Taught Inherited Sin Nature - The Pro-Sin Nature Position, and A Commentary Refutation

According to the majority of Christian thought, man has inherited a Sin Nature as a direct result of Adam's fall in the  Garden of Eden. Most readers of this blog understand that I am against the Inherited Sin Nature position, but perhaps most do not know that I used to hold to and teach Inherited Sin Nature during my teaching career. Most of the people who debate against my anti-ISN viewpoint assume that I do not know what the doctrine states, and attempt to educate me regarding this quite old doctrine. That being the case, I'm going to attempt  to prove that I have a handle on the issue by writing this post in defense of Inherited Sin Nature. (I have also decided to include a refutation of each point, as will be noted by comments such as these in red).

Why do men sin? According to Genesis 3, Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, and given one command - Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. No one knows how long this couple kept the command, but one day Satan in the form of a serpent enticed Eve to think about eating the fruit of the tree. She knew the command, and refused at first by saying that they weren’t to eat of it, or even touch it lest they die. No matter, Satan then said that God didn’t want the humans to eat of the tree, because they’d become gods. Thoroughly enticed now, Eve eats of the tree. Adam, who according to I Timothy 2 was not deceived by Satan, went along with Eve in eating, and thusly man fell. 

- Adam and Eve were just created by God. They did not have a "sin nature", but were enticed by fleshly desires. Eve was hungry. Adam wanted his wife. Satan used those God-given desires, and tempted man to sin. This pattern is the same today as it was in the Garden. James 1:14-15 illustrates how sin works from temptation to choice of sin to death. Nothing has changed. Further, this does not contradict Romans 5:12, as we shall see below.

God’s voice then comes walking through the Garden, and Adam and Eve hid. Once God uncovers the now sinful humans, He asks a series of questions concerning why Adam and Eve were clothed. “We saw that we were naked”, Adam said. “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree?” Immediately Adam blames Eve. God turns to Eve, who then blames the serpent.

God then issues out a series of curses. 1. The serpent is cursed in that he must now slither and eat dust. He is also cursed in that women will hate him, and try to kill him. (There is also a prophetic statement here as well, but it is out of the scope of this article). 2. The woman has to endure greatly increased sorrow in child birth. She also is placed under the husband’s control. 3. The man is cursed in that he must eat of the fruit of the ground in sorrow all the days of his life. Work becomes hard labor. 4. All mankind will taste of physical death, and will return to dust.

- I believe that this is a key moment in the history of man. God punishes Adam and Eve for sin. The key inherited punishment here is death. Romans 5:12 reiterates this point in that Sin entered the world through Adam, because he (Adam and Eve are both called Adam in Genesis 5:2) was the first man to sin. Romans 5:12 then goes on to say that death, not sin as so many read into the verse, passed upon all men because of their sin. Sin being passed down from generation to generation is not mentioned in either Genesis or Romans. Why not? If inherited Sin Nature were part of the Fall and Curse, wouldn't it then be mentioned in Genesis 3?

Adam and Eve then had children. The first two named in the Bible are Cain and Abel. These boys had special talents, one was a shepherd, while the other was a farmer. One day they were to offer a sacrifice to God based upon His specifications. When Cain offered his sacrifice, God was not pleased. Abel’s sacrifice, however please God, which angered Cain tremendously. Hatred filled Cain to the point that he murdered Abel. This action shows a further affect of Adam and Eve’s sin – namely that sin was passed down to their children. The rest of the next 6 chapters in Genesis are filled with sin, such sin that God had to destroy man, because the imaginations of man’s heart were only evil continually (a great illustration of how sin nature had spread throughout mankind).

- It is commonly taught that because Cain did not have to be taught how to murder that this is a representation of Inherited Sin Nature. How did this sin come to pass? God gave a command. Cain transgressed that command, and it displeased God. Abel's sacrifice pleased God, which set the temptation for Cain into motion. He was tempted and acted upon that sin, hatred, which led to the next sin, murder. Before Cain acted upon the temptation, God gave Cain a choice, do well, and please God, or don't do well, and sin will be his desire and ruler. Cain chose sin. It was at Cain's choosing that sin began to rule over Cain, not at his birth. This issue was personal to Cain, and had no further influence upon mankind, except that now God had to create a new law. (More sin, more laws. Notice the pattern throughout scripture. Adam only had one Law, Moses had 430+).  

God did destroy mankind with the flood, but he spared Noah, his wife, and their three sons with their wives in the Ark. Soon after the Ark settled upon Mt. Ararat, however, that ugly sin nature revealed itself again when Canaan made Noah drunk, and looked upon his nakedness. Another curse, one upon Canaan and his descendants, is levied. Noah’s family then spreads throughout the region in accordance to God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.  But eventually, man rebels against God by congregating together in the plains of Shinar. It is there that Noah’s descendants built Babylon and the Tower of Babel. God then punishes man by confusing their language, which forces the inhabitants to spread outward from one another.

- Canaan sinned here. It was premeditated, and had to take some time, because he would have had to grow grapes from the ground up (a very time consuming process), then cultivated them properly, then harvested, and finally brewed them into the alcoholic drink. This would have taken years of growth and experimentation on Canaan's part. After he settled upon the right concoction, Canaan would have then tricked Noah, and then taken liberties with his grandfather. All of this shows premeditation and blatant action on Canaan's part. His uncles, Shem and Japheth, wanted no part of this wickedness. The curse placed upon Canaan fits with Exodus 20:5 in that God promised to punish the third and fourth generations of them that hate me. Canaan and his descendants certainly knew who God was, but chose to sin blatantly and openly against Him. Any summary study concerning the Canaanite civilizations will reveal just how wicked these descendants chose to be. This is why God commanded Israel to destroy them upon their return to the Promised Land.

Using Canaan, however, as an example of sin nature is unequivocal. Canaan's curse was for him and his descendants only. In spite of that fact, Rahab, a Canaanite from Jericho is listed in the line of Christ (Matthew 1:5). As I will note later, if inherited sin nature can be inferred from here, then Rahab's being in the line of Christ would directly imply that Christ would have inherited that very same sin nature.

These men founded societies and cultures across the planet. Their descendants became the Assyrians, Babylonians, Chinese, Incas, Aztecs, Pashtuns, Russians, Jews, Greeks, etc…. All of them had one thing in common, they were all descendants of Adam, and all cursed with a Sin Nature. This is blatantly evident in how idolatrous, murderous, pornographic, and adulterous these many civilizations became. Sin dominated mankind, but God chose to work through one of these nations, Abraham’s nation, the Hebrews (Jews), in order to bring a Savior, Jesus Christ. The remainder of the Old Testament points to the future coming Messiah, while along the way revealing how wicked man is.

- The only things they all had in common was a free will to choose whether or not to honor God, and death. As nations, they all failed. There were, however, individuals who chose to honor God. The Old Testament has examples of non-Jews who turned to God, such as Rahab, Uriah the Hittite, Ruth the Moabitess, Nebuchadnezzar, Assyria during Jonah's ministry, etc... They all had a choice, and at first chose sin. Later, they would choose God. 

Job, a man praised by God, soon reveals that he has sinned. He declares that men born of woman are a few days full of trouble (14:1). They are sinners from birth! David reiterates this point in Psalm 51:5 when he declares that he was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did his mother conceive him.  He further states that the wicked are estranged from the womb, and go astray as soon as they are born speaking lies (Psalm 58:3). All of this further illustrates how sin had passed down from Adam. Moses even weighs in with Exodus 20:5 by saying that He visits inquity upon the fathers of the third and fourth generations of them that hate me. All of this is to say that man sins from birth, because sin was passed down to them by their fathers.

- Tim and I have already covered Job 14, Psalm 51, and Psalm 58:3 but because I'm commenting on the ISN position here, let me make a few remarks.

Job 14 does not say that man is full of trouble from birth. He says that he is a few days, and full of trouble. Time is indicated here, how much time is not known, but it has to be enough time for the issues listed in Job 11-14 to be completed. A baby does not have enough days to fit that list. 

Psalm 51:5, is usually quoted alone, and well out of context, as are the other two passages. In context, Psalm 51 is a deeply sorrowful outpouring of David's sinful acknowledgement and heartfelt repentance. David is saying that he made the choice. He, and he alone, sinned against God. If he were making the claim that he sinned because he was born a sinner, then he'd have to be blaming God or his mother for making him to be a sinner. It is God who creates babies in the womb (Psalm 139:13, Jeremiah 1:5). Those babies are a gift and an heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3). David even goes on to say that he is fearfully and wonderfully made by God (Psalm 139:14). The weight of scripture is against David saying that God formed him in sin. Scripture clearly states that God is the one creating babies in the womb, and those babies are His fearful and wonderful creation. 

Further, if David were blaming someone or something else for his sin, then repentance would be stopped, because he'd have been making an excuse, other than his own willful choosing to sin, as to why he sinned. This is exactly what Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. God did not hear their excuses, nor does he hear any man's excuses. He only hears the broken and contrite heart. David's heart was truly broken and contrite, as seen here and Psalm 38. Bottom line, it was David's fault for sin, and he acknowledged that beautifully.

Finally on Psalm 51, it is dangerous to create doctrines based upon figurative, poetic language. If this passage were entirely literal, then a cure for sin is purging with hyssop, as David asks God to do in verse 7. 

Psalm 58:3 - Once again, be careful of figurative/poetic language and context. David is only talking about the wicked in the passage, as opposed the righteous mentioned in the chapter's ending. To paint his picture, David uses figurative language throughout - poison of a serpent, deaf adder, lion's teeth, etc... Zeroing in on verse 3, David does not say that from birth the wicked are sinful. Babies don't talk (notice the figurative language), they don't have teeth, let alone lion's teeth, they're not full of snake poison. David does not want all babies to melt away and destroyed in order for him to walk in their pools of blood. The passage has even less to do with why men sin. 

Because of Adam, we need a savior. Romans 5:12 declares that we all sinned in Adam. Furthermore Romans 5:19 states that by one man we all became sinners. We are without hope, totally incapable, and lost in sins because of Adam’s choice in the Garden.

- Romans 5:12 says that sin entered the world through Adam, but Death, not Sin, passed upon all men, because all have sinned. Romans 5:19 does say that many were made sinners by one man (Adam). It says many, not all. The second half of the verse goes on to say that many were made righteous by one man (Christ). If many means all in the first part of the verse, then just a few words later in the second part, many has to also mean all. It's not the case, however, that all were made righteous by Christ. That being made righteous hinges upon man choosing Christ, which not all men have done. What is being highlighted here in Romans 5 is that man has a choice, and the greatest choice is Christ. Contextually, as a whole, this passage taught as a support for ISN could only lead to a series of unscriptural doctrines, but that's not within the scope of this article. 

Paul famously illustrates how the flesh wars against the spirit in Romans 7. He shows the saved that though they’re born again, they still have to fight that sin nature until they die, and receive their glorified bodies. He continues in Romans 8 by revealing that the Christian can either be in the Spirit or in the Flesh. Because of this, he must war against the flesh daily. This is one reason (the other two are the world and the Devil) why we need the whole armor of God as listed in Ephesians 6. We need it and Christ in order to fight against the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5. It is against such sin/carnal/fleshly nature that we must fight in order to please God and fully enjoy the Fruit of the Spirit.

- Mike Miller wrote a series of three articles (here, here, and here) that summarize how Roman's 7 is not supporting inherited sin nature. Please, read those if you've struggled with Romans 7 and this topic. 

Briefly, however, Romans 7 fits in with Romans 1-8 as a whole dialogue. Specifically, Romans 5:12-Romans 8 are to be taken contextually together. Romans 6 talks about sin's being crucified, nailed to the cross, killed, destroyed, etc.... If this be the case, then how could a supposedly born again man be struggling with the dead corpse of sin in Romans 7, while also living a victorious, Spirit-filled Christian life in Romans 8? How could sin abide in a person's life, while Christ also abides? How can one be filled with the Spirit and sin concurrently? Or are we talking about losing salvation and regaining it over and over and over until we, hopefully, die in Christ? Where is the victory promised in Romans 7:25 and the Spirit-filled life of Romans 8? 

Bluntly, if Romans 7 is about the daily struggle of a born-again man, then Romans 8:1 is a lie. We'd all still be condemned, even in the Spirit. None of it could make any sense, unless, the traditional view of Romans 7 is incorrect. Romans 7 does teach about a struggle with sin, while under the Law, that is as an un-repentant, lost man. Paul is not saying that while he was unsaved while writing the passage. He's illustrating what his struggle was like as an unsaved, though religious person, long before he wrote the passage. Under the Law he had no victory. Under Grace his life is victorious. He, and those in Christ, are more than conquerors!

This is what Adam’s choice did for all mankind. We need a new Adam. We need Christ, without whom we’d remain dead in our trespasses and sins. We needed Him to redeem us, and declare wicked sinners righteous, even though we don’t deserve such favor. Though He did all of that, we will still have to struggle against sin for the rest of our lives, because of what Adam’s choice brought to mankind. But we will be freed from sin’s power, once we enter glory and receive our glorified bodies. Oh what a day that will be!

- We certainly do still fight a battle. We do have to fight the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world is Satan's structured system. It comprises anything and everything he can use to make a believer stumble, or keep a lost in darkness. The flesh, though not inherently wicked, is weak. It has limitations. It needs food, sleep, drink, and sex, or the human race would cease to exist. All of those desires were present in the Garden of Eden before death, or Satan would have had no way to tempt man. Those desires are God-created and God-given. Our flesh is also God-given, and he expects us to yield our members unto righteousness. 

Simply put, our bodies are tools for his service. In Christ, our bodies become His holy temples on earth (I Corinthians 6:19 and Ephesians 2:21). Essentially, we are not our bodies. Our bodies are where our soul dwells on earth, and we communicate with one another through our bodies. When our bodies cease to exist, we, our soul as Ezekiel 18:20 for example defines our being, continue, either unto life with Christ, or unto death in Hell. 

A tool can be used in any number of ways. A knife can be used to cut meat, or it can be used to kill. The knife is not evil, it had no choice in the matter. It was controlled by the user. Our bodies, likewise, can be used for good, if we choose it, or evil, if we choose it. The flesh isn't evil or good either way. The flesh can only be defined by what we make it. An adulteress has an adulteress body, because she chooses adultery, and so on and so forth. She's yielded her members to unrighteousness, and in so doing is in sin's control and bondage. 

Satan does not want us to use our bodies for Christ, and he actively uses all he can to hinder our yielding to Christ's service. We, spiritually speaking, have to put on the whole armor of God to stand against Satan. What good would protecting our flesh be, if it's our flesh that is the problem? No, the problem is from without, and what we choose to do with the problem is up to us. Choosing righteousness through Christ yields life eternal. Choosing sin brings death. It is up to you to make the decision either way. Once yielded to Christ, He promises victory, fruit, and life eternal, because He crucified sin, and the grave has lost her victory (I Corinthians 15).

(Ok, I don’t think I missed anything here. Granted it is a very brief summary, but that is how Sin Nature was taught to me in Bible College and Seminary, as well as growing up in a Christian home, attending  Christian Schools, hearing thousands of sermons, reading many tracts, witnessing to the lost, and studying the issue extensively from Augustine to Calvin to today’s theologians. It is how I taught it to my students. If I missed anything, please comment below, and let me know). 

Sin Nature - Part 10: Why Any Person Should Know that Original Sin Isn't True by Mike Miller

There are some things that are just basic and MUST be true. When it comes to God one of the most basic truths has to be the justice of God. He is righteous, He is fair, He does all things right – He is just. He doesn’t mistreat anyone and He is no respecter of persons. That means that He will never wobble in judgment because of who it is that is in trouble. The Bible plainly calls that a SIN and says God doesn’t do that. (Rom 2:11; James 2:9) If this basic attribute of God is undermined, then we simply cannot trust him. No one can truly trust a God who is not completely and consistently just. If He doesn’t absolutely do what is right ALL the time then we just cannot completely trust him, and that is the very basic thing we must do in order to be saved – trust God.

The idea of justice is basic to our nature. Almost every story ever told, or every movie ever made, has as its basic theme good versus evil. There are always two forces pulling against each other – right and wrong. The suspense is always basically about how the story will end. Will it end “right” or will wrong prevail? No one wants the bad guys to win. Any story or movie that would end with the bad guys winning and the good guys getting defeated would be contrary to our nature and no one would like it – that’s why no one writes stories or makes movies like that. Even bad people root for the good guys to win, and are troubled when it looks like they will lose. That is because God so constituted us that we want justice to be done. The only part of our nature that will override that desire for justice is plain old selfishness. People will mistreat others and be unjust in order to get their own way or obtain what they want. But even when they do that they must rationalize until they justify it (make it just or right) some way in their minds so they can live with themselves. That is further proof that God has instilled in us a great sense of justice, and because of that we know that God MUST be just.

So we come to what is the greatest problem with the doctrine of original sin. Not only is it unscriptural and illogical, but it is plainly unjust, and it necessarily makes God unjust. Every person’s conscience cries out that it is wrong to blame someone for the wrongdoing of another, and even more so when they had no knowledge of the act, gave no consent, and didn’t even exist when the act was committed! If an infant is judged guilty before he is born because of what Adam did 6000 years ago then God is not just. That is just not right and every person on earth knows it! Even those who believe the doctrine of original sin concede that it can’t be reconciled with the justice of God.

For this reason it has been the stumblingblock to many of the famous skeptics and enemies of the Gospel through the years. Any reasonable, thinking person who insists on truth just can’t reconcile this illogical, unscriptural doctrine with the fact that God must be just. It is not necessary to throw out reason and common sense when it comes to understanding and explaining the Gospel. It is ridiculous for anyone to belittle or condemn reason and logic when it comes to understanding God. We were created by God and given the ability to reason and think. It is a part of everything else in our life and to insist that you have to lay it aside when it comes to God is an abominable idea. Certainly, there are things about God that we cannot understand this side of heaven, but not when it comes to understanding the plan of salvation! Not when it comes to God’s basic character! Not when people insist on a doctrine that totally contradicts the righteous character of God! How many souls has the doctrine of original sin damned for eternity? How different might it have been if this doctrine had never been introduced into the church and become so widely accepted!

The doctrine of original sin necessarily teaches that babies who die go to hell forever. Augustine, who introduced this doctrine into the Catholic Church in the fifth century A.D., plainly stated that babies who died without being baptized by the church were condemned to hell. The Catholic Church teaches that baptism is the new birth and the water washes away sins. This is the reason for the persecution against the Anabaptists, which was a general term referring to those who didn’t baptize babies. Because of their firm belief in original sin the Catholics thought it a terrible crime not to baptize babies, because if they died without baptism they went to hell. Many good and faithful believers were burnt at the stake or otherwise tortured and killed by the Roman Church because of this doctrine of devils.

Over the years this doctrine has crept into other denominations and become the foundation for all their beliefs. The doctrine of original sin has served the cause of ecumenicalism far better than anything else Rome has ever come up with. The way it was transferred from the Roman Church to the rest of Christianity is through Calvinism. Calvin simply took the teachings of Augustine, starting with original sin, and began his own brand of Christianity. Through the years it has evolved into a watered down version that is palatable for most undiscerning Christians. But a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, and the gospel has become a mass of confusing contradictions that has no power to save or to sanctify.

The Catholics, the Calvinists, and most of the rest of Christianity, including the cults, all agree on original sin. When you really begin to dig and study this matter, one of the first things that becomes apparent is that the Roman Catholics are more consistent than the rest of Christianity when it comes to original sin. Over the years they have realized the obvious inconsistencies and the fact that they are not reconcilable. So they come up with new doctrines to try to make the whole thing reasonable and workable. Not the so-called Bible-believers! I have never met one of them who believed babies go to hell when they die. They know God is just and that it is unjust to send an innocent baby to hell. Yet they will defend the fact that babies are born sinners with all the fire and brimstone they can muster. What a contradiction! They say, “Well, they haven’t reached the age of accountability!” But when asked for Scripture to prove that, they are totally empty-handed. There is no Scripture to prove that certain sinners will go to heaven because they were unaccountable. The only way given in the Bible for a sinner to make heaven his home is to repent of his sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin is not imputed where there is no law. Babies are simply not sinners because they have no knowledge of good and evil. The Bible teaches that they “become” sinners when they “turn aside” and “go astray.” Sin is a deliberate act of the will against the known law of God – not some hidden gene you are born with! Adam’s sin is not recorded in our DNA! If it is then it is only a matter of time until scientists figure out where it is and they can cure it – without the blood of Christ. Salvation is a matter of the heart (soul) of man and not of the body. Jesus doesn’t do anything to your physical body when you get saved – it is your heart He makes new!

Those who believe in the doctrine of original sin are therefore very unconvincing to any lost sinner who thinks. In his mind, he knows God must be just, but this Christian, who is trying to win him to the Lord, teaches a doctrine that denies the justice of God. Therefore, the would-be soul-winner puts a giant stumblingblock in front of the sinner. He must trust God, but God is not always just. He will not always do what is right. He sometimes blames people for things they didn’t do. He creates innocent babies and then puts them in hell because of the sin of Adam.

If you have embraced the doctrine of original sin you certainly have your work cut out for you. Obviously, because of the deceitfulness of sin, there are many that will believe this nonsense, but thankfully, there are some who won’t, and I am one of them. It is amazing how the Word of God becomes so rich and real when you lay aside this confusing, deceitful doctrine! The Atonement and what God has done for us through Christ becomes so much more understandable and wonderful! This doctrine is like blinders that keep you from seeing. Take it off and throw it away and you will be amazed at what you can see!

My sin was MY own doing, and my own fault! It was MY HEART that was set against God because of my own sin that I loved. But God loved me while I was yet in such a state and gave his Son for me! He will forgive me if I simply trust Him and I CAN do that because He is a righteous (just) and holy God! Salvation is real and the world needs to hear that way!