Psalms 119:73 Your hands have made me and formed me; give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.
If sin could not be avoided because of a sinful nature, it could not be considered a sin, that is, a deliberate and intentional transgression and it would be unfair to judge and to condemn the person.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small an great, standing before God and books were opened. And another book were opened which is the Book of Life.
And the dead were judged according to their works(….) they were judged each one according to his works. V.15 And anyone not found written in the
Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
1 John 3:4 Whoever sins also transgresses the law, and sin is the transgression of the law.
Ezekiel 33:20 You say, The way of the Lord is not equal. I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways.
This doctrine of the sinful nature or original sin compromises the human capacity to grow in complete holiness, leading either to despair in thinking that it is impossible to be in pure holy life without sin leading the person into a dangerous comfort, in which sin is seen as a mere consequence of this sinful nature due to a fleshly weakness destroying its seriousness as well as the person’s responsibility.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.
This verse emphasizes that sinful temptation is not beyond the God-given human capacity to be holy and without sin, the phrase “beyond your strength” emphasizes this capacity which has the power to not commit sin.
The preceding verses emphasize that the temptation in
question in v.13 is not ordinary trials but rather sinful
temptation.
1 Corinthians 10:5-9 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for they were destroyed in the wilderness. Now these things happened for our
examples, that we should not desire evil things, as they also desired. Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them did: as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt the Lord, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Paul uses the examples of the Israelites in the wilderness to warn the Corinthians. They succumbed to idolatry, immorality, and rebellion not because they were unable to resist, but because they chose to give in to their desires. This implies that resistance was possible, but that they willfully disregarded God’s instruction.
1 Corinthians 10:13 is a strong statement that man is not a slave to a sinful nature and that he has the ability to resist and overcome temptation by following God’s instruction, His Law, and listening to the guiding voice of God’s Spirit.
All men are born in the exact condition that Adam was in before the fall, with the ability to choose between good and evil.
Ecclesiastes 7:29 Only this have I found, that God hath made men upright; but they have sought many devious ways.
Every human being created by God cannot come into the world contaminated or corrupted by the sin of Adam. The human faculties of freedom, conscience, and moral knowledge must be in a stable state in order for man to be a responsible agent of his conduct. This doctrine of the sinful nature grants a license for sin without remorse or personal responsibility.
Ezekiel 18:19-20 You say, Why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept and done all
my statutes, he will surely live. The soul that sins, it will die. The son will not bear the iniquity of hisfather, nor will the father bear the iniquity of his son. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon him, but the wickedness of the wicked will be upon him.
Therefore, a hereditary sin propagated from generation to generation is totally contrary to justice. Sin is not born with man, but is committed by man voluntarily by imitating the example of Adam. The fault does not lie in human nature but in human free will, so that it is the person who is entirely
condemnable and punishable for his own sins committed during his earthly life.
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
sinned Humanity is socialized to sin, or rather conditioned to sin due
to continual exposure to a sinful family, group, influential society or environment.
Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not be deceived.
The devil is the prince of this world who influences, which is not surprising when we consider it seriously. Men have separated themselves from God by transgressing His will and falling away from Him.
Romans 3:10-12 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God; they are all gone astray, they are all turned aside; there is none that
doeth good, no, not one
Humans rejected God not because of a sinful nature but because their free will-their own decision to reject God’s instruction, His Law, which resulted in the corruption of the heart on a collective scale.
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Jesus doesn’t say, that sin comes from a hereditary sinful nature but rather from the heart meaning it results from free will and deliberate choice, from deep down of your wish not out of a sinful nature from Adam.
Jeremiah 17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
A striking example is that of the inhabitants of the cities of
Sodom and Gomorrah, who were corrupt in their hearts, which led to their destruction.
Genesis 18:25 To slay the righteous with the wicked, that the righteous may be as well as the wicked: far be it from you! far be it from you! shall not the Judge of all the earth do righteousness?
Human nature cannot lose its moral capacity to do good, but a person is free to act or not to act in a just manner. Let us take the example of the eyes: they have the capacity to see, but a person by exercising his will can make good or bad use of them. With the eyes I can admire mountains, but I can also
lust after a woman; everything depends on the maxim that man gives to his will. Visual memory is a virtue, a grace given by God to man, but a person can make good or bad use of his imagination. Immorality, for example fornication, is exclusively a matter of will, that is, a person does not use
natural desires in an appropriate way. Let not the believers of the sinful nature come and say that “if a man insults another man, it is because of his sinful nature”.
Insults and vulgarity are the fruit of the human heart, a responsible decision. If this were the case, Jesus’ warning about judgment and condemnation would not be timely.
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother,
Raca, will be in danger of the council; and whoever says to him, You fool, will be in danger of hell fire.
Adam’s transgression made humans mortal, for all have sinned willfully and inevitably submerged in a world under sinful influence and received a bad example, but without their nature being corrupted. It would be unreasonable for God to command the impossible
Genesis 4:7…sin lies at the door, and its desire is for
you; but you rule over it. and to impute guilt to man for an unavoidable sin, caused by the act of another. Every human being retains absolute freedom of action and full responsibility for all his actions, thoughts, imaginations, deeds, behaviors, attitudes etc.
Deuteronomy 30:11 This commandment which I command you today is certainly not too strong for you or too difficult for you to carry out.
The mass of humanity’s sins is nothing but the effect of bad habits acquired by men from their childhood and preadolescence rooted in a sinful way of life.
Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour: and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite every living thing, as I have done.
Man, by exercising his faculty of will, allows himself to be
absorbed by immoderate desires and bad behavior. There is no disease or weakness of human nature here. If they act in this way, it is by their free will and under their full responsibility.
Jeremiah 32:19 Great are you in counsel and mighty in deed; your eyes are open to all the ways of the children of men, to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Man being born into a world submerged in sin, transgresses the law of God inevitably. God by His foreknowledge knows that man will sin willfully and therefore, man inevitably dies, physical and spiritual death. The curse of death becomes a
reality because man sins willfully.
Animals kill each other not because of any sinful nature, but because the perfect harmony of the world is no longer under the direct control of God in the present context. This violence in the animal kingdom has nothing to do with the theory of sinful nature. young children from 1 to 9 are considered to be at an age of innocence, not yet having reached the moral maturity
required to be responsible for their actions before God.
Matthew 18:3 Truly I tell you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
This responsibility begins around the age of 9/10 or 11/12, it’s depends the age at which a human being is aware of the distinction between good and evil. The implacable and inflexible character of God’s justice makes no compromises,
no matter how early a human being’s age.
2 Kings 2:23-24 And there came out of the city some little boys, and mocked Elisha the prophet, saying unto him, Go up, thou bald man; go up, thou bald
man. And he turned and looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then came out two bears out of the wood, and tore forty-two of the
children to pieces.
Here, it is evident that God utterly loathes and fiercely hates mockery, mocking laughter and derision. He treats those children, probably between the ages of 9 and 14, according to their vile and sinful behavior, showing His wrath against their abominable actions. God applies His justice independently of age but according to each person’s responsible engagement in sinful actions.
If humanity were not morally responsible for its actions, then
there would be no court, no judgment, no final verdict.
These elements are there to remind us that each person’s actions
will be evaluated by God according to their degree of conscience and responsibility.
Again
Revelation 20:12-13 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before the throne: and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.…
What judge would accept that a guilty person justifies his crime or his violence by invoking his alleged sinful nature? It would be like giving up the notion of individual responsibility, a cornerstone of justice. Human law is based on the
foundation that everyone is free to choose between good and
evil, and good and evil has been very well defined since the
dawn of time in justice.
The consciousness of a moral law is present in every civilization, culture, nation, and time. But beyond everything, the knowledge of the moral law
concerning good and evil is ingrained in the human mind and
heart since birth, independently of the century, time, and
culture.
Romans 2:14-15: ‘For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.’
This gives each one the responsibility and accountability for
his actions before the One who gave it.
A defense based on the argument of a sinful nature would nullify the very meaning of the court and the judgment, because it would make the crime an inevitability and not a voluntary choice. Romans 2:6-8 Who will render to every man according to his works; reserving to them who by patience in
well doing seek for honour and glory and immortality eternal life; but to them who are selfish and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and
anger.
If evil deeds could be excused by mere sinfulness, then no wrongdoing could be judged, and justice could no longer have human responsibility as a criterion of judgment. It is precisely because each individual possesses well-ordered and stable free will and therefore the ability to resist temptations that he can be judged for his evil deeds. In the same way, God, in his divine judgment, takes this human freedom into account in evaluating each person’s life.
Romans 1:21 Because that, although they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became futile in their thinking, and their foolish heart was darkened
A man can be without sin and keep the commandments of God if he wishes, for God has given him the ability to do so. Certainly, throughout the life of the natural man, man is guilty from adolescence until death, there can be observed periods marked by willful sin. However, if a man is converted, forsakes
his sins and accepts the redemptive work of Jesus, he can, by his regenerated free will and by the sanctifying grace of the baptism of the Holy Spirit which assists the ability, live without sin.
1 John 3:6 Whoever abides in him does not sin; whoever sins has not seen him or known him.
The glory and praise belongs to God who has given us such ability by His grace so that by exercising this ability and living in complete holiness without sin, we praise God and give Him the Glory.
1 Corinthians 6:20 For you are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your
spirit, which are God’s.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
It is unreasonable to say that God could have imposed any
commandment without also providing man with the help of
his grace.
God gave his commandments so that, by obeying them, man would live in harmony with his Creator. He also provides his grace, which is not limited to the Law, the Revelation of the Son of God, and the example of Jesus Christ,
but also includes the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which assists
us, direct us and lead us so that we may be victorious in our
walk toward holiness.
Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us to renounce ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live
self-controlled, righteous and godly lives in this present world.
So he opens the eyes of our spiritual heart, he shows us the
future and the path to follow, he makes us discover the traps
of the devil to avoid, and above all, he directs us towards the
path of the Father’s justice.
Psalms 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will advise you and keep watch over you.
A pure mind is a holy temple to God, and a heart pure and without sin is his best altar.
Jean-Marie Vianney
If the theory of sinful nature were true, then hell and eternal perdition would not exist, because God simply could not condemn human beings who naturally act by doing evil, that is, by sinning. The Bible and reason teach us that man is an intelligent being, endowed with the faculty of free will, and
therefore responsible before God for his words, actions, thoughts, and intentions.
Mark 9:48 (…) to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So corruption lies in the heart of man, contracted in a world overwhelmed by sinful habits, and not in human nature itself.
Again, it is the heart of man, his willful inclination that is evil, and not nature, therefore God will judge man according to equity.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to
give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
It gives endless comfort to transgressors of God’s Law to
believe that their failure to conform to God’s Law is due to a sinful nature rather than to a lack of will. Indeed, in their erroneous reasoning, they think that no one can be judged for failing to do the impossible (i.e., to be without sin, holy, and pure before God). What seems justifiable to them
(occasional and periodic sins) is, in their eyes, excusable because of supposed impossibilities, which they attribute either to fleshly weakness or to an inevitable consequence, without risk of condemnation.
1 Corinthians 15:34 Come to your senses, as is fitting, and sin not. For some do not know God; I speak this to your shame.
Under the pretext that it is impossible not to sin, they are
given a false sense of security in sin…Anyone who hears that it is impossible to be without sin will not even try to attain this state which he judges unrealizable.
Thus the man who does not seek to be without sin necessarily comes to ease his conscience by believing that his occasional and periodic sins are the fruit of this impossibility. All the more so since he reassures himself in the idea that his faith in Jesus compensates for his inability not to sin.
Philippians 2:12 My beloved, as you have always obeyed, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling… V.15 that you may be blameless and harmless, children of God without rebuke in the midst of a
crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
God, the God of justice and majesty, has commanded nothing impossible. Why do we seek useless excuses by invoking a supposed weakness of our nature as an objection to Him who commands us?
God has given us the ability to be righteous, pure, and holy before Him every day of our lives. Since that ability comes from Him, no one can defend himself behind some type of weakness or sickness. Therefore, we must use that ability to glorify God in our lIfe it not a form of contempt to believe that the ability given by God is not sufficient to do His will completely ?
Ecclesiastes 7:29 Behold, this I have found, that God hath made men upright: but they have sought many devious ways.
No one knows the true measure of our strength better than
the One who gave it to us, and no one understands better
what we are capable of than the One who granted us this ability.
Isaiah 64:8 O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou hast formed us; we are all the work of thy hands.
It would be unfair to think that God commands the impossible or destines someone to condemnation for doing what he could not avoid.
Full and complete freedom is required for a man to be judged guilty and liable to punishment.
Ecclesiastes 11:9 Young man, rejoice in your youth, let your heart be glad in the days of your youth, walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your
eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
What good are laws if we are not masters of submitting to
them or not? What good are threats of condemnation for transgressions of the law if contempt for it is not a free and spontaneous act?
Let us imagine a murderer or a rapist before a judge, declaring in his defense: It is my sinful nature inherited from Adam which pushed me to do evil.
No one knows the true measure of our strength better than the One who gave it to us, and no one understands better what we are capable of than the One who granted us this ability.
Isaiah 64:8 O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou hast formed us; we are all the work of thy hands.
It would be unfair to think that God commands the impossible or destines someone to condemnation for doing what he could not avoid.
Full and complete freedom is required for a man to be judged
guilty and liable to punishment.
Let us imagine a murderer or a rapist before a judge, declaring in his defense: It is my sinful nature inherited from
Adam which pushed me to do evil. The judge’s head….
Nothing in Adam’s nature was corrupted by his sin.
Romans 5:12 indicates that humanity inherited mortality as a result of
Adam’s transgression. He was not born dead in sin. His nature
evolves according to the choices he makes between good and evil. These choices determine whether or not he will seek to
do what is right by turning to God. Adam’s primary inheritance is mortality, not moral corruption, because Romans 5:12 emphasizes the transition to death because of Inevitably transgression without mentioning a sinful nature.
The heart of man is corrupted, infected in his will and not in
his human nature, because of a depraved world that lives in
ignorance.
It is not human nature that is corrupt. If it were, God would save humanity unconditionally, without taking into account our actions, our words, our thoughts, nor our religion, nor our way of living on earth. Original sin or sinful
nature is a dangerous heresy that exonerates man from
responsibility.
1 Corinthians 6:9 Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God.
What does it mean to be born with a sinful nature? This would imply that we are not responsible for the sins we commit, since sin would be a condition prior to our choices.
From this perspective, it would be impossible to rule over sin.
Except God’s command to man in Genesis 4:7 “Rule over sin”
would be impossible to grasp.
If everyone disobeys, infected in spite of themselves by sin, this would mean that God would save everyone unconditionally, without taking into account the moral state of man, since it is corrupt nature that would be at fault,
independently of the will.
However, the Bible attests several times that God will judge men according to their actions, that is to say their way of living on earth. This leads us to conclude that the moral capacity of man and his responsibility are
indeed at stake.
Genesis 18:30 And the LORD said, I will not do anything in Sodom and Gomorrah, except I find thirty righteous persons there.
Job 8:4 If your children have sinned against him, he has given them over to their sin.
Sinful nature and free will cannot coexist in man, because one cancels out the other. Either man is completely free to choose the path he will follow arbitrarily, whether narrow or wide, or he must be transformed by miraculous divine intervention so that the choice is made for him, which destroys his role as a synergistic actor, thus contradicting the Bible and Reason.
Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Consider the city of Nineveh: God had decided to destroy it because of its obvious sins. If human nature were inherently sinful, then God, being love, would not punish men for their failure to be upright.
Jonah 3:10 And God repented of the evil which he had thought to do unto them, and did it not. However, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah perfectly
illustrates human responsibility in the face of sin.
Matthew 7:18 A bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Believers in the sinful nature are at odds with this passage.
The following verses contradict this idea. “Every tree that
does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
If human nature were sinful by essence, this would amount to saying that God condemns to fire men who by nature were incapable of producing good fruits. This leads to the corrupting heresy of predestination.
The new birth and regeneration are necessary because the
heart of man is corrupt.
Man is spiritually dead, not by nature, but by will, influenced by the seductions of sin, by a corrupt world, and by the intensity of temptations. His evil reactions become rooted in him over time.
John 3:2 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.…
Romans 5:12 “Because all have sinned” can be interpreted as a reference to the fact that each individual has chosen to sin rather than to receive a sinful state by transmission.
The emphasis is on personal action rather than on inherited
collective guilt. It is therefore reasonable and logical to read
Romans 5:12 as a reference to the imitation rather than the hereditary transmission of sin, especially if one relies on a reading that emphasizes individual responsibility and free will.
This interpretation is consistent with biblical thought and might also better correspond to a reading of the Greek text that does not see in the passage direct evidence of an original sin transmitted to all humanity by Adam.
However, it is important to note that this interpretation is not the one that has been retained by the Catholic tradition, which has adopted the doctrine of original sin as formulated by the heretic Augustine of Hippo.
This destructive doctrine was carefully taken up by the heretic Luther for his fallacious doctrine of salvation completed by faith, which persists among contemporary lying movements. Jesus has perfectly accomplished redemption and His victory is total.
This means that nothing limits the power of God in the believer’s life, not even this so-called sinful nature.
Colossians 2:13-15 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven us all trespasses; and having blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was against us, and having taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; and having disarmed principalities and powers, he has made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross
1 John 3:8 He that sinneth is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
In the Genesis account, there is no indication that human
nature or the descendants of man, that is Adam, are corrupt or sinful by default. Before eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve lived in a state of innocence, without shame or guilt.
They were naked, but they had no moral awareness of it;
their nakedness posed no problem for them. It was only after
eating the fruit that their eyes were opened and they knew
that they were naked.
This change does not reflect a corruption of their nature, but a transformation of their perception: they have just acquired the knowledge of good
and evil and with it, the capacity to feel guilt and shame.
The passage does not suggest that sin is rooted in human nature itself; on the contrary, it shows that sin results from a choice, from an act of personal disobedience in full knowledge of the moral consequences. This moral conscience is innate in man; thus no one is justified in his moral
responsibilities.
This transformation of perceptions emphasizes that the fault does not lie in an innate ‘sinful nature’, but in the conscious decisions that one makes.
Indeed, the idea of an inherited sinful nature exonerates the individual from responsibility, by presenting sin as an inevitability. This concept risks compromising the understanding of human freedom and the capacity of each person to do good and evil.
The contamination accumulated by submission to carnal passions results from a process where man, through his own choices, allows himself to be dominated by his repeated iniquitous desires, thus moving away from the path of purity that God had ordered him.
Ephesians 2:1-2 And being dead in trespasses and sins, in which ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Thus, the Genesis account contrasts the original innocence of Adam and Eve who lived in harmony with God, with the condition of guilt they experience after their act of disobedience.
This perspective challenges the doctrine of the sinful nature which distorts individual responsibility and the capacity of man to live according to the divine commandments. By recognizing that sin results from choices,
and not from a choice due to the sinful nature from birth, we
restore to each person the responsibility for his actions and
the possibility of choosing a life in conformity with the will of
God.
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
In James 1:13-15, it is clear that if human nature were intrinsically sinful, this would imply that God is the author of evil, since he would have created humanity under a fatalistic system by transmission.
Now James specifies that “each one is drawn away by his own lust.” He thus emphasizes that the source of sin is not an imposed sinful nature, but personal desires that find their source in free will, the faculty of the will
seduced by the attractiveness of sin. In verse 15, James
exposes the consequence of this lust: when temptation
reaches its highest degree, it produces sin, death.
Original sin, the sinful nature, or total depravity, whatever you want to call it, are doctrines of the devil designed to flatter the ears of those who are inclined toward sin and love what it brings them. These people turn to sin because they seek its pleasures. We are either drawn to the righteous Shepherd or to the evil shepherd.
The doctrine of the one will speak to the hearts of the righteous, while the doctrine of the other will seduce those who love evil. God has endowed every human being with the capacity of free will and the power of will. This is why He has also given commandments and instructions: so that man may do His will, please Him, and abide in complete holiness without sin.
Psalms 119:4 You have prescribed your statutes, that they may be diligently observed.
Archelaus, who was a Christian bishop in the third century wrote: All the creatures that God has made, he has made very well. And he has given to each individual the sense of free will, by which he has also instituted the right of judgment.
Our will is constituted to choose either to sin or not to sin, and creatively, whoever wants to, can keep the commandments. Whoever despises them and turns away to what is contrary to them will undoubtedly have to face this law of judgment.
Clement of Alexandria, a first-century Christian theologian and philosopher, said: For no other reason does God punish the sinner in this world or in the world to come, except because he knows that the sinner could have overcome but failed to gain the victory over sin.
Eusebius of Caesarea, who was a 2nd century bishop and historian said: The Creator of all things has impressed a natural law upon the soul of every man, as an assistant and ally in his conduct, showing him the right path by this Law.
Irenaeus of Lyon, in his book “Against Heresies”, said ”God, therefore, has given the good, as the Apostle testifies, and those who do it will receive glory and honor for having done good when they could have chosen otherwise, while those who do not do it will undergo the just judgment of God
for having failed to do good when they had the ability to do so. If, on the contrary, some were naturally evil and others good, then neither would the good be praiseworthy for being good, since they would have been created as such, nor would the wicked be blameworthy, since they would have been
made that way.
But in reality, all are of the same nature, capable of keeping and doing good, but also capable of rejecting it and failing to do it. Thus, in all justice already before men governed by good laws, and even more so before God some are praised and receive a worthy testimony for having chosen the good
and persevered in it, while others are blamed and suffer a rightful loss for having rejected the good.
A contemporary man of God said: “The shame of sin should be enough to turn any Christian away from it. Suppose a promiscuous woman is converted, marries, and then returns to her former lovers. She is confronted by her husband. She explains, ‘I have this sexual nature that I can’t completely control.
Surely you don’t expect me to be totally faithful to you. I love you more than anyone else, but I just can’t help but go to my old boyfriends from time to time. Only when I die and go to heaven will I be free from lust.’ Obviously, such a woman would be a disgrace to her husband. In the same
way, ‘Christians’ who daily indulge in sin are a disgrace to the
Spirit of Grace.”
This verse from Psalm 51, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me,” shows a poetic hyperbole expressing David’s feelings about his own condition, without linking this to any sin committed by his
mother. Psalm 51, and the book of Psalms in general, is a poetic
book rich in hyperbolic and metaphorical expressions. This verse can be seen as a form of poetic exaggeration where David, in his state of deep repentance, expresses the idea that sin is so deeply ingrained in this sinful world as a habit that he feels to overwelmed by it. This type of language is common in the Psalms, where intense emotions are often expressed in hyperbolic ways. Another strong interpretation might see this
verse as a reference to the sinful environment in which David was born and raised.
Psalms 55:10-11 For I have seen violence and strife inthe city; they go about day and night upon the walls thereof; iniquity and mischief are in the midst thereof; wickedness is in the midst thereof; and deceit and guile depart not from the streets thereof. David here expresses his awareness of the sinful human condition, not necessarily by saying that he was guilty from conception, but that he was born into a world marked by sin, where the tendency to sin is present from the beginning of human life.
Psalms 36:2-4 The wicked word of the wicked is in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, That he may
accomplish his iniquity, that he may hate him. The words of his mouth are false and deceitful; he forsakes to do wisdom, to do good. He plans iniquity
on his bed; he stands in a way that is not good; he does not turn away from evil.
It is a recognition of the reality of sin in human life, without making any statement about a hereditary transmission of sin.
This verse shows a poetic hyperbole expressing David’s feeling
towards his own condition, without linking this to a sin committed by his mother. This profound expression of guilt underlines David’s acute awareness of his iniquitous act. It highlights his state of contrition in the face of the gravity of his sin.
Psalm 51:3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
The fact that he recognizes the universal reality of a sinful world in a hyperbolic and poetic way.
Psalm 51:5 I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. And to his desperate need for divine forgiveness
Psalms 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. The child, before reaching the age of reason, can sometimes adopt inappropriate behaviors or perform inappropriate acts, because he does not yet have the moral capacity to fully distinguish good from evil.
This incapacity is natural and results from free will which, without guidance, can be influenced by a deficient education or by environmental
factors. This is why a family education based on the law of God is crucial from a very young age.
1 Samuel 2:26 And the child Samuel continued to grow, and was in favor with the LORD and with men.
Parents play a key role in this moral education according to divine principles, influencing and guiding their child until the age when he or she can choose whether or not to continue on the path of faith. They play a central role in learning moral values according to divine principles.
This support generally lasts until the age of 14 to 16, when the young person is led to decide whether or not to pursue these divine values and principles, as well as faith.
Age of Innocence and Moral Incapacity: From birth until about 8-9 years of age, the child goes through a period where he is in some way innocent, not having yet developed the full capacity of moral awareness to distinguish right from wrong in an enlightened manner.
Age of conscience and moral responsibility: From the age of
10, and more precisely between the ages of 10 and 12, the child enters a phase where he gradually acquires full conscience of his actions and becomes morally responsible before God.
This phase of moral development continues until death, with the possibility for each individual to grow in moral and spiritual maturity.
A correct education, based on the law of God, contributes to the good development of the child’s character and enables him to make informed and responsible choices in favor of good.
Even though children may inherit certain biological traits from
their parents such as voice tone, pitch, facial expressions,
laughter, or body posture and may also learn speech
patterns, gestures, and attitudes through observation and imitation, sin itself is neither genetically nor socially inherited.
While a child may naturally adopt an accent, manner of speaking, specific gestures, or even ways of reacting to situations from their parents, the act of sin requires a willful moral choice and personal responsibility
independently of the parents’ resemblance. As it is written 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.’
Likewise, James 1:14-15 states: ‘But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Romans 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds…
Each individual is responsible for his or her own acts of sin, which are committed in this context of separation.
The interpretation of Romans 5 can therefore include the idea that humanity is influenced by Adam’s separation from God , and it is in this context that each man, through his sin, willingly makes himself a sinner.
This shows that guilt and sin are not directly inherited in a hereditary manner, but that the impact of Adam’s separation from God has set up an environment that leads humanity to turn away from God and commit personal sins.
This sinful and separated environment does not justify this state of iniquity, but on the contrary pushes man to seek the face of God, as in Genesis 4:7: “Surely, if you do well, you will lift up your face; and if you do evil, sin will lie down at the door, and its desire will be for you; but you shall rule over it.”
This passage illustrates that, despite an environment marked by sin, man retains the responsibility and the capacity to choose the good. In this state, man is influenced by his own desires and his natural orientation is now toward himself rather than toward God, as described in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Separation from God makes humanity more susceptible to following its own desires and to being influenced by a sinful environment where sin is a persistent practice This inclination is not an imposed state, but is fostered by the context of separation and estrangement from God. The absence of divine
life makes humanity, now prey to physical and spiritual death
because of this separation, more susceptible to committing evil.
Adam’s separation from God has several negative effects that affect his descendants:
1) Loss of intimate knowledge of God: Adam’s descendants are not born with the same direct knowledge of God that Adam and Eve had before their fall. They are born into a world where God’s presence is hidden and where relationship with God must be restored through Revelation of GodCreator,
His Moral Law, and especially through Faith by the encounter with Jesus Christ Himself through His Blood of Redemption.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me
.
2) Inclination to sin due to lack of communion with God : All of Adam’s descendants were born outside the Garden of Eden, that is, in a context of separation of Adam from God.
They arrive in a world where the relationship with God is not immediate, but marked by distance. The context of sin and separation leads to a situation where sin dominates and where men find themselves in a state of alienation from their Creator. By being separated from God, men no longer benefit
from the same divine intimacy and direction, which makes them more vulnerable to sin.
Adam influenced the world by introducing sin into it. Men are therefore influenced by this sinful reality where sin becomes a habit , it turns into a “lifestyle.” . However, they are not born sinners because of
hereditary guilt. They become sinners by voluntarily
responding to the influence of sin in the world.
Ephesians 4:19 – “Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Romans 1:24-25 – Speaks of those who exchanged the truth for a lie and lived in unrighteousness.
Romans 5:12 “all have sinned” and Romans 5:19 “many have been made sinners” show that sin is a voluntary act, each man being responsible for his own disobedience. This disobedience is facilitated by the sinful environment
introduced by Adam, but even despite this environment, it does not justify their sins.
Examples in Genesis such as Genesis 4:26 show that even in a
context marked by sin, some men sought God: And Seth had a son, and he called his name Enosh: and men began to call upon the name of the LORD.
Genesis 4:7 emphasizes the responsibility to overcome sin through natural ability and Genesis 18:20-32. These passages demonstrate that, despite the influence of sin, man is capable of seeking God and choosing righteousness.
stories like Sodom and Gomorrah show that man remains morally responsible for his actions.
Through Adam’s act, sin became a general condition in which humanity finds itself. Men are not born with the guilt of sin, but they enter that condition by sinning themselves, influenced by the sinful context established by Adam. Adam, by introducing sin, created an environment where sin became predominant. Men are made sinners in response to this
influence, but it remains the result of their own personal choices.
This had the effect of changing the moral and spiritual context
of the world, making sin more present, more seductive and accessible.
Proverbs 9:17-18 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread in secret is pleasant. Yet he does not know that the dead are there, and that his guests are in the valleys
of Sheol.
It is this influence that has caused men to become sinners. Men are not guilty of Adam’s sin, but they end up imitating his example of disobedience, and thus they become sinners.
This view holds that each individual is personally responsible for his own sins, even though the world is corrupt and pushes them in that direction.
Through Adam’s act, sin entered the world and created an
environment where disobedience became a pervasive reality
.
The verb used in Romans 5:19, “were made sinners,” can also be understood as “were constituted” or “were established in this state by their own voluntary sins. This may indicate that humanity has been placed in a context of sin by
the act of Adam, but it does not necessarily imply that the guilt of this sin is automatically transferred to each individual.
It could mean that men have been placed in a context, a worldly, sinful environment.” where sin is a constant possibility, and they eventually succumb to it.
John Willam Fletcher, Christian Reformer said
A monarch, in whose dominions all children are naturally born lame, makes a law, that all who will not walk upright before a certain day shall be cast into a fiery furnace. The dreadful day comes, and myriads of lame culprits stand before him. His wrath smokes against them; and with outstretched arm he thunders: Depart from me, ye cursed, to this place of torment prepared for the stubborn culprits; for when I bade you walk upright, ye persisted in lameness. Go, burn for all eternity, and, as you burn, purify my justice; and remember that “your misery is wholly of yourselves.”
John Wesley, Christian Reformer, excerpt, sermon 17,
Circumcision of the heart
What else is it but to accuse God and reproach him for being a harsh master, who demands from his servants more than he gives them the means to accomplish? As if he were mocking his weak creatures by binding them to impossibilities, by commanding them to conquer where neither their own
strength nor even his grace can suffice them!
There is in these blasphemies almost enough to ease the consciences of those who, throwing themselves to another extreme, hope to fulfill the commandments of God without any work! But what a vain hope, for a child of Adam, to expect to see the kingdom of God and of Christ without a
struggle, without first striving “to enter in at the strait gate”;
(1* for a man conceived and born in sin, and who is only wickedness within,) to hope ever to “become pure as his Lord is pure,” unless he walks in his footsteps, takes up his cross daily, “cuts off his right hand, plucks out his right eye, and casts it from him“; vain hope to dream of the renewal of his opinions, his feelings, his thoughts, the entire sanctification of his spirit, his soul, his body, without continually and in all things renouncing himself!
…that all his virtues would be insecure; and even his salvation
in danger, without this constant renunciation of himself?
1* “Wesley had a triumphant view of the heresy of the sinful
nature. Although, under the influence of his times, he
admitted it to be a recognized doctrine, it is not surprising
that his view of it was victorious.
He believed that through justifying grace man is delivered from this nature, regenerated, born again, and thus has power over sin to grow in purity and live in complete holiness without sin.”
See, in the chapter The Fallacious Heresy of Faith, in his
sermon Salvation by Faith, he declares that the Christian by
faith is delivered from original sin.
See Sermon 44 on Original Sin, where Wesley believed that
the divine method is through faith in Christ, and the
regenerating power of the Holy Spirit to heal the soul of the
sinful nature on earth.
John Wesley Sermon, Working Out Your Salvation
This, however, does not excuse those who continue to live in sin, and who lay the blame on their Creator, saying, “It is God alone who must awaken us, for we cannot awaken ourselves.”
Even confessing that all the souls of men are dead by nature, this does not excuse them, since there is not a single man who is in a state of mere nature and who is, unless he has quenched the Spirit, totally destitute of the grace of God.
No man is destitute of what is commonly called natural conscience, which would more properly be called prevenient grace, because it is not the fruit of nature. Every man has a greater or less degree of that grace which does not wait for man’s call. Every man, sooner or later, experiences some good
desires, though most men stifle them before they can put down deep roots or produce any important fruits. Every man has some rays of that light which, sooner or later, more or less, enlightens every man who comes into the world. And every man, unless he belongs to that small class of men
whose conscience is cauterized, feels more or less uneasy when he acts against the light of his conscience.
So that no man sins because he has no grace, but because he does not use the grace that he has. Therefore, just as God works in you, you are now able to work out your own salvation. Since he works in you both to will and to do
according to his good pleasure, without any merit on your part, it is possible for you to fulfill all righteousness, to love God because he first loved us, and to walk in love, according to the pattern of our great Master.
Certainly, we know that these words, “Without me you can
do nothing,” are absolutely true. But we also know that every
believer can say, “I can do all things through Christ who
has strengthened me.”
Wesley’s sermon, On Perfection, 78
But we certainly cannot be saved from sin while inhabiting a sinful body. A sinful body? Please observe how profoundly ambiguous, how equivocal, that expression is. But there is no authority for it in Scripture. The word “sinful body” never occurs there. And as it is totally unscriptural, it is therefore substantially absurd. For no body, nor matter of any kind, can be sinful. Only spirits are capable of sinning.
Pray, in what part of the body must sin lodge? It cannot lodge in the skin, nor in the muscles, nor in the nerves, nor in the veins, nor in the arteries. It cannot be in the bones, nor in the hair or the nails. Only the soul can be the seat of sin. Ezekiel 18: “ The soul that sinneth, it shall die.