Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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Chapter Four: The Bible Doctrine of Sin The Bible teaches that all men originate their own moral depravity. Gen. 6:12, Gen. 8:21, Deut. 32:5, Psalm 14:1-3, Rom. 3:23, Eccl. 7:29. The Bible teaches that men sin and corrupt themselves. In fact, early in mankind's history upon the earth men had become so corrupt that God sent a flood to destroy them. I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. Gen. 6:7. Observe that God was angry with "man whom I have created." Certainly he was not angry with them because of the nature with which he had created them. No, it was because they had corrupted themselves that God was angry with them. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Gen. 6:11, 12. To corrupt means to make morally depraved. It means to pervert what is good and upright. It means to make unclean what was once clean. It means to spoil what was once good and unspoiled. The word corrupt always implies a former state that was unspoiled, clean, good, or upright. It is never used to speak of the original created nature of man. It speaks of what man has become because of spoiling or perverting the nature with which he was created. Moral beings have never needed a sinful nature to make them sin. The first sin ever committed was committed by the devil. He did not have a sinful nature to make him sin. Then, a third of the angels fell. They did not have a sinful nature to make them sin. Then both Adam and Eve sinned. They did not have a sinful nature to make them sin. Then, why should it be thought necessary for men to be born with a sinful nature to account for their sins? The Bible does not teach that men must have a sinful nature in order to sin; it teaches that men sin in spite of a good nature: Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. Eccl. 7:29 The above Scripture is very clear. God has created men upright, but they have sinned in spite of an upright nature. This truth is taught directly, and by implication, throughout the whole Bible. Acts 17:29 says, "We are the offspring of God." When the Apostle Paul made this statement, he was addressing heathen sinners. We know, therefore, that this verse applies to all mankind, and not just to those who are Christian believers. What, then, does this verse mean? 1. It means that we are all children of God by creation.
2. It means that, since we are the offspring of God, we are created in his image and likeness. (Advocates of the doctrine of original sin teach that men are no longer created in God's image since Adam sinned. This teaching directly contradicts both the Old and New Testament Scriptures. See Gen. 9:6, I Cor. 11:7, James 3:9.) 3. It means that everything we are and have at birth comes to us from God. 4. It means that, since God is the Creator, the Father, and the Author of all that we are and have at birth, we cannot be born sinners. God has created us, and he does not create sinners. He created us in his image and likeness, which is not sinful. We are his offspring, and his offspring do not come into this world as sinners. 5. It also implies and means that every sinner is the author of his own moral depravity. He becomes a sinner after he reaches the "age of accountability," i.e., after he knows right from wrong and after he "knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good." Isaiah 7:16, Deut. 1:39, Rom. 2:15, Rom. 5:14, Rom. 9:11. The following texts also show that we are created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore with a good and upright nature: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him. Gen. 1:26, 27 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. Gen. 9:6 Man is the image and glory of God. I Cor. 11:7 Therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.James 3:9 The statements in the last three texts were made after the death of Adam, so they refute the teaching that men after Adam are not created in the image of God. If we believe that these texts teach that God has created us in his image and if we believe that it is impossible for God to create men with sinful natures, then we must believe that these texts are teaching that God has created man upright and that man has sinned in spite of an upright nature, as it declares in Eccl. 7:29. Rev. 22:16 says, "I am the root and the offspring of David." In this verse Jesus is speaking and says that he is both the Creator and the offspring of David. How foolish it is, then, to maintain that man is born with a sinful nature, for Jesus both created human nature and also partook of human nature when he became a man. God has created man upright and without sin. He has created man in his own image and likeness with sensibility, intellect, reason, conscience, and free will. Man has all the faculties and powers of moral agency. He knows right from wrong. The law of God is
Page 1 and 2: Are Men Born Sinners? The Myth of O
Page 3 and 4: Appendix A: The Nature and Attribut
Page 5 and 6: and that he has been created with a
Page 7 and 8: are born: "The wicked are estranged
Page 9 and 10: We are the offspring of God. Acts 1
Page 11 and 12: Biblical proof-texts. It is these p
Page 13 and 14: not a substance. It has absolutely
Page 15 and 16: flesh and of the mind." And then, s
Page 17 and 18: Rom. 5:12-19 does not in any way te
Page 19 and 20: This is the incredible dogma that i
Page 21 and 22: And, If in Adam human nature as a w
Page 23 and 24: e disciplined and purified. He taug
Page 25 and 26: Even the most cultured Fathers from
Page 27: They being the root of all mankind,
Page 31 and 32: possible to make mankind miserable
Page 33 and 34: 10. The fact that men will deny the
Page 35 and 36: think of the multitudes upon multit
Page 37 and 38: Part Two: Answering the Christian's
Page 39 and 40: men are tempted through the desires
Page 41 and 42: doctrine that Christians were now d
Page 43 and 44: Christ, he points out that Levi had
Page 45 and 46: Why? doth not the son bear the iniq
Page 47 and 48: Those who heartily believe in the d
Page 49 and 50: forth good fruit; but a corrupt tre
Page 51 and 52: appealing to the false logic that "
Page 53 and 54: commanded the sun and not the earth
Page 55 and 56: Second, the doctrine of original si
Page 57 and 58: Part Three: Implications of a False
Page 59 and 60: 5. It is a stumbling-block to the u
Page 61 and 62: The Bible says that God will "judge
Page 63 and 64: heathen philosophy, and was foisted
Page 65 and 66: would lose all its force and meanin
Page 67 and 68: In 426 or 427, it was reported to A
Page 69 and 70: But again, the doctrine of inabilit
Page 71 and 72: The doctrine of a natural inability
Page 73 and 74: they think reason is to be distrust
Page 75 and 76: art Four: Insurmountable Problems o
Page 77 and 78: sinned in Adam before they were bor
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Who will have all men to be saved,
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John wrote his epistles, condemning
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No man is able...by any grace recei
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means has been born and continues t
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Return to the Index Chapter 12: God
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Is God telling lies when he makes t
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6. See further commentary on Romans
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Finney, Charles G., Lectures on Sys
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Appendix A The Nature and Attribute
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until they have a knowledge of good
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accountability, for this they had b
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Matt. 13:38-39; John 3:8; Rev. 12:9
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summing up of all he had said befor
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"The righteousness of the law" is "
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The Bible can be used to prove the
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constitution and this mental consti
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It follows that the elect may deman
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us certain irresistible convictions
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manifestly angry; but I do not reco
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Excerpts from Charles G. Finney's L
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where only the potency comes into a
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striking and melancholy evidences o
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this was through a degradation of t
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12-21. This passage has been usuall
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8. Moses Stuart, Commentary on Roma
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Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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