Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

We all know that blood cannot speak. We know, therefore, that the blood of Abel and
Christ speak in a figurative sense.
In the same way we know that blood does not speak, we also know that sin is not a
substance or a virus or anything physical. We know that sin is not something that lives or
has personality. We know that sin is a wicked choice or a wicked act committed by the
sinner. It is an act or a choice that transgresses God's law and, apart from the sinner who
commits the act or makes the choice, sin does not exist. Therefore, when the Bible speaks
of sin as if it existed with a personality all its own and was living and dwelling and
reigning in the body of the sinner, we know that the language is figurative. Its meaning is
that the sinner is a slave to his lusts, that he is ruled by his passions and desires. But to
teach from such texts that sin is a virus, a physical thing that can be transmitted from
parents to offspring, is to ignore reality and the teaching of the Word of God on the
nature of sin. Every kind of foolish and superstitious belief can be proved from the Bible
if it is not interpreted according to the demands of context, language, common sense, and
reality. (An illustration of this is the passage in Romans 7:24-25, which is wrongly used
to teach that the Apostle Paul himself was in bondage to sin at the time he wrote his
epistle to the Romans.)
Finally, those who insist that the phrases "sin that dwelleth in me" and "sin which is in
my members" speak of a literal, physical fact, to be consistent, must interpret all the
language of chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Romans as literal, physical fact. They must, to be
consistent, teach that the Christian literally is "not in the flesh," that is, they must teach
that the Christian has no body and that since the time of his salvation, he has been a
disembodied spirit. To be consistent, they must teach that the Christian literally and
physically was "crucified with Christ" and was "buried with Christ" and was raised from
the dead to live again. And to be consistent, they must teach that all Christians are
literally living in dead bodies: "And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of
sin..." Rom. 8:10
But of course, all those who plead for the doctrine of original sin know that these verses
are figurative and are used to speak of moral and spiritual changes in the believer. Then
why will they not be consistent enough to take the verses in chapter 7 which speak of "sin
that dwelleth in me" and "sin which is in my members" as being figurative? It can only be
because of a prepossessed belief in the man-made doctrine of original sin.
6. OBJECTION: The Bible says that Levi paid tithes while yet in the loins of his father
Abraham. Heb. 7:9-10. This shows that we sinned in Adam; for we were yet in his loins
when he sinned.
ANSWER: But in what sense did Levi pay tithes while yet in the loins of his father
Abraham? It was not in an absolute sense, which would have been impossible, because
Levi had no personal existence at the time, but only in a typical sense. The point that the
writer to the Hebrews wanted to make was that the Levitical priesthood was inferior to,
and superseded by, the priesthood of Christ, who had an unending priesthood "after the
order of Melchisedec," and to prove that the Levitical priesthood was inferior to that of