Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

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God cannot lie. It is the doctrine of original sin which is a lie! For the Word of God reveals that God has always had his saints. He has always had a people that feared him, loved him, and kept his commandments. He has always had a people that did not break his commandments daily in thought, word, and deed: There was Job, of whom God said, "A perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil." There was Enoch who "walked with God" and "was not, for God took him." There was Zacharias and Elizabeth who "were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." There was John the Baptist who was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. There was Joseph who was sold into Egypt, but who loved his brethren who sold him into Egypt, and kept himself pure in the matter of Potiphar's wife. There was Daniel who was taken captive to Babylon, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and all the holy prophets and holy apostles, and all the saints of both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible clearly teaches that God's people can and do live without sin. Therefore, the doctrine of original sin, which teaches otherwise, is a myth and a lie. The four Scripture verses quoted earlier in this chapter (I John 3:6, I John 3:9, I John 5:4, I John 5:18) clearly teach that Christians do not have to commit sin. They show that there is no original sin, no corrupt sinful nature that makes sin necessary in the life of the Christian. Two of these verses have been very difficult for Christians to understand. They are I John 3:6 and I John 3:9. I John 3:6 seems to teach that anyone who commits sin never really knew God in the first place, and I John 3:9 seems to teach that it is absolutely impossible for the Christian to commit sin. An understanding of the tenses of the Greek verb does away with this misunderstanding. In I John 3:6 the verb form menon is a present participle which emphasizes continuing action. It means is abiding or is remaining. The verb form hamartanei is the present active. It can denote either continuous or simple action. It means sins or is sinning. Next, the verb form hamartanon is used. It is a present participle which denotes continuous action. It means is sinning. The last two verb forms in I John 3:6 are heoraken and egnoken. They are both perfect active. The perfect denotes completed action in the past with results that continue into the present. So that heoraken means seen and continued to see and egnoken means known and continued to know. I John 3:6, then, has the following meaning: "Whosoever is remaining in him sins not; whosoever is sinning has not seen him and continued to see him, neither known him and continued to know him." So the fact that a Christian may commit sin does not mean that he never really knew God. What it does mean is that by committing sin, he is not continuing to abide in Christ, and by committing sin, he does not continue to see and know Christ, whom he once saw and knew. You cannot sin against God and remain in him at the same time. You cannot sin against God and continue to see and know him at the same time. In I John 3:9 the verb form gegennemenos is a perfect passive participle which emphasizes completed action in the past with results that continue into the present. It
means has been born and continues to be born. The verb forms poiei, menei, and dunatai are all present active which denotes continuous or simple action in the present. The meaning of each one, respectively, is: do or is doing, remain or is remaining, and can or is able. The verb form hamartanein is a present infinitive which emphasizes continuous action. It means to continue to sin or to go on sinning. The verb form gegennetai is the perfect passive. It denotes completed action in the past with results that continue into the present. It means has been born and continues to be born. I John 3:9, then has the following meaning: "Whosoever has been born of God and continues to be born of God does not do sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot continue to sin, because he has been born of God and continues to be born of God." This verse does not teach that it is impossible for the Christian to sin. What it does teach is that it is impossible to stand begotten of God and go on sinning. The born-again experience and the committing of sin are self-excluding. One cannot exist where the other exists. If you have the seed of God in you and if you stand begotten of God, you cannot commit sin. If you commit sin, you cannot stand begotten of God. These two verses militate mightily against the doctrine of original sin. They teach that the Christian who remains in Christ and continues to see and know Christ and continues to stand begotten of God both does not and cannot sin. Surely if it is true that "Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not," then there is no original sin, no corrupt Adamic sin nature in the Christian that makes it necessary for the Christian to commit sin. If it is true that "Whatsoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God," then surely there is no indwelling sin in the Christian that makes sin necessary and obedience to God's commandments impossible. God testifies that "His commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world." I John 5:3, 4. If "The commandments of God are not grievous..." and if "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world..." then there can be no original sin that makes God's commandments grievous and that makes them so impossible to keep that believers cannot overcome the world. The commandments of God are not grievous. They are not more than we can bear. They do not require what is impossible for us to do. No, God is not a hard taskmaster. He requires of us only what we are able to do. If we had a sin nature which made it impossible for us to serve and obey him, he would not command: "Be ye holy, for I am holy." He would not say, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." But God does command us to be holy. He does require us to be perfect. So either God is requiring impossibilities and he has commandments that are grievous, or there is no original sin. I John 3:6 and 3:9 also militate mightily against the doctrine of "once saved, always saved" and "once a child of God, always a child of God." Those who believe that once you are saved, you can never be lost equate physical birth and spiritual birth, and say, "I may be a disobedient child of my father, but I will forever remain my father's child."
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Are Men Born Sinners? The Myth of O
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Appendix A: The Nature and Attribut
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and that he has been created with a
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are born: "The wicked are estranged
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We are the offspring of God. Acts 1
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Biblical proof-texts. It is these p
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not a substance. It has absolutely
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flesh and of the mind." And then, s
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Rom. 5:12-19 does not in any way te
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This is the incredible dogma that i
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And, If in Adam human nature as a w
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e disciplined and purified. He taug
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Even the most cultured Fathers from
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They being the root of all mankind,
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2. It means that, since we are the
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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
Page 79 and 80: Who will have all men to be saved,
Page 81 and 82: John wrote his epistles, condemning
Page 83: No man is able...by any grace recei
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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