Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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sinners? Would we balance the good ones out against the bad ones and come up with what was left over? But the whole idea of sinning in Adam is a theological fiction that has been perpetuated to a large extent by Jerome's erroneous translation in the Latin Vulgate of Romans 5:12. He translated the Greek phrase eph o pantes hemarton by the Latin phrase in quo omnes peccaverunt, which means in whom all have sinned. This translation was in error, and Greek students agree that it was. Nevertheless, this error has helped to form and perpetuate the false doctrine that men actually sinned in Adam when he sinned. The teaching that men sinned in Adam directly contradicts the Bible's plain teaching that men sin in themselves and not in someone else, and there is no other way that men can sin. Paul spoke in Romans 5:14 of "them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." Paul referred here to those who had sinned before the giving of the law and so had not sinned against a positive precept as Adam had, but only against the law of conscience and reason. Paul said they were sinners, but the fact that he said they had "not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression" shows that Paul did not consider the sin of Adam to be their sin. Then in Romans 9:11, Paul, speaking of Jacob and Esau in the womb of their mother Rebecca, says, "For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil..." Now here were two very remarkable children who for thousands of years had been in the loins of ancestors all the way from Adam through Abraham and Isaac, and during all those thousands of years of being in the loins of different ancestors, they had never done anything good or evil. This astonishing fact is hard to reconcile with the idea that every human being was supposed to have actually sinned in Adam, and that Levi actually paid tithes in Abraham. 7. OBJECTION: But the Bible does teach that God condemns the children for the sins of the fathers. It says, "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." Ex. 20:5. ANSWER: It is true that this text would seem to teach that God condemns the children for the sins of their fathers, but the text itself shows that God does not visit the iniquity of the fathers upon innocent children. It is only upon those children who hate and disobey him that he visits the iniquity of the fathers. First, we have many direct statements in the Bible which teach that God does not punish the children for the sins of the fathers. Since we have these statements, they should alert us to the fact that, if there is another scripture that seems to contradict them, somewhere we have either taken the scripture out of its context or in some other way misinterpreted it. Let us look first at some of the direct statements teaching that God does not punish the children for the sins of their fathers: What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sours grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, sayeth the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel...Yet say ye,
Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?...The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Ez. 18:2, 3, 19, 20 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like...he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. Ez. 8: 14, 17 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. Deut. 24:16 But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law of the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. II Chron. 25:4 From the above passages we know that it is contrary to the character of God to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon those who are innocent. When God said in Ex. 20:5 that he would visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, he was not talking of innocent or godly children. He was talking of wicked and ungodly children who were following the wicked example of their fathers. This is seen directly from the text itself, which says, "unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." The iniquity of the fathers is visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate God, and not upon children who are innocent and obedient to God. Other Scriptures testify to this as well. God did not judge the innocent children of the Israelites for the sin and unbelief of their fathers. Deut. 1:39. There were wicked kings who had godly sons, and God did not judge their sons but blessed them. II Chron. Chapters 28-35. Also, Ez. 18:14, 17 declare: "Now, lo, if he beget a son that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like...he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live." All of chapter 18 of Ezekiel is written to show that the godly do not have the iniquity of their fathers visited upon them, and that every man is condemned and judged only for his own sins. The only way that the iniquity of the fathers can be visited upon the children is for the children to walk in the sins of the fathers, for to follow in the steps of our father's sins is to approve what they have done. Jesus himself taught this: Wherefore be ye witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Matt. 23:31-35
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 and 28: They being the root of all mankind,
Page 29 and 30: 2. It means that, since we are the
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: Christ, he points out that Levi had
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
Page 79 and 80: Who will have all men to be saved,
Page 81 and 82: John wrote his epistles, condemning
Page 83 and 84: No man is able...by any grace recei
Page 85 and 86: means has been born and continues t
Page 87 and 88: Return to the Index Chapter 12: God
Page 89 and 90: Is God telling lies when he makes t
Page 91 and 92: 6. See further commentary on Romans
Page 93 and 94: Finney, Charles G., Lectures on Sys
Page 95 and 96:
Appendix A The Nature and Attribute
Page 97 and 98:
until they have a knowledge of good
Page 99 and 100:
accountability, for this they had b
Page 101 and 102:
Matt. 13:38-39; John 3:8; Rev. 12:9
Page 103 and 104:
summing up of all he had said befor
Page 105 and 106:
"The righteousness of the law" is "
Page 107 and 108:
The Bible can be used to prove the
Page 109 and 110:
constitution and this mental consti
Page 111 and 112:
It follows that the elect may deman
Page 113 and 114:
us certain irresistible convictions
Page 115 and 116:
manifestly angry; but I do not reco
Page 117 and 118:
Excerpts from Charles G. Finney's L
Page 119 and 120:
where only the potency comes into a
Page 121 and 122:
striking and melancholy evidences o
Page 123 and 124:
this was through a degradation of t
Page 125 and 126:
12-21. This passage has been usuall
Page 127:
8. Moses Stuart, Commentary on Roma
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Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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