in Psalm 515 David said behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me does this verse mean we are sinners from the moment of conception what are the ramifications of this idea for Christian teaching and practice that's the subject of today's podcast episode welcome to Apostolic life in the 21st century a podcast dedicated to helping modern-day Believers live out the teachings of the first century Church this podcast is part of the Teaching Ministry of Dr David K Bernard Dr Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping Believers
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some Christian groups teach a Doctrine known as original sin the doctrine of original sin holds that humans are are sinful from the moment of conception so one of the verses that's often cited to back this claim up is Psalm 515 where David said behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me it also has been frequently pointed out that nobody has to teach a child to sin we just naturally sin it seems like from the birth it feels like nobody has to teach a child to lie nobody has to teach
a child to be selfish they just naturally pick these things up on their own is the doctrine of original sin then biblical and how does it impact Christian practices like baptism the doctrine of original sin means different things to different people so I would say yes we inherit a sinful nature going all the way back to Adam and Eve but no we're not held accountable for specific sins that we did not commit so we're not going to be judged and sent to hell because of the sin of Adam and Eve now I'll give you scripture
for this but let me flesh out the implications so I do believe that every one of us has a sinful nature so therefore and and there's no question the Bible says repeatedly Romans 3:23 but also passages of the Old Testament all have sinned and come short of the glory of God there's no human being who has not sinned so this would account for our proclivity to Sin from childhood right so so I don't think that we're held um we're not going to be sent to hell because of a sinful nature but we are going to
be judged for sinful acts now you might say well if I have a sinful nature well then how can I be held accountable well there there's something about it though we do have a will and even though our will has been distorted by sin it hasn't been destroyed and moreover through the grace of God God our will can be restored so that we can choose what is right and when we receive the Holy Ghost the God's spirit we have power to overcome the sinful nature so it's no excuse to say well I was born in
sin I can't help it that's true to a point but God's Grace has an answer now it it may offend our sense of justice well how how would God let me inherit it a sinful nature but all I can say is that in scripture families are seen in solidarity families are seen as and the human race is seen in solidarity if you think it's unfair and unjust well God has a solution that's equally quote unfair uh but I do think you know GK Chesterton uh who was uh a British philosopher and theologian said the one
doctrine of the Bible that can be empirically proven is that all have sinned so we can actually prove that we can't everything else you have to accept by faith but you don't have to accept that by faith and I think it's true every human being even if you don't believe in the Bible or don't know the Bible every human being has sinned against their own conscience in other words every human being has done something that they believe themselves and knew themselves to be wrong and they did it anyway so that's a practical fact now as
you said children need to be taught how to cooperate and how to play fair and how to be patient how to be loving how to be kind you don't have to teach them to be selfish to be full of Pride to lie to steal it seems to come quote naturally so regardless of how you describe that you know another thing about GK Chesterton which is very interesting I think it was the London times did um they wanted um to do a prize and so they advertise write an article on what is wrong with the world
and whoever had the best essay on what is with the world with the prize Well GK Chesterton won the prize he just said something I may not get it exactly right was something like this dear sir I am uh sincerely yours GK test tester and so of course on the service it's just a greeting but it's actually the answer what's wrong with the world I am every human being is the problem every human being is sin uh Alexander Solan niton the the famous Russian dissident he said you know if it was it's not easy you
could say well some people are good some people are evil so you know the Communists are evil you know the West is good but he said it's not so simple because this is the line between good and evil is drawn through every human heart there's good and evil in every human being well I think that's empirically true but I think it's biblically true as well so let me give you a scripture Romans chapter 3 um talking about Jews and Gentiles new King James Romans 3:9 what then are we we Jews better than they the Gentiles
not at all for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin so it's a little different saying all have sin they're all under sin they're all dominated or controlled by sin and then if you go to Romans chapter 5 in verse 14 well let's go back to verse 12 512 then therefore just as through one man sin entered the world and he's speaking of Adam which by the way even though Eve sinned first I think God was looking at Adam and Eve in solidarity and looking at Adam as the
leader and so he didn't really place the primary responsibility on Eve but on Adam leading you to wonder if Eve had sinned but Adam had refused would the human race could have been somehow redeemed from sin would that sin just been isolated to Eve and maybe she could have repented but since they entered in solidarity and since Adam was seen as the leader then it's really his fault he takes the responsibility just as through one man centered into the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all sined so notice
the sinful nature comes first then the sinful act so it's not just that all have sinned it's that all have inherited this nature for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed it's not reckoned to you when there is no law and so that's why I would say even though we have a nature of sin until we commit acts that we know are wrong then we're not per held personally accountable or at least until we commit acts that have been under God's law identified as wrong so I don't think as
a matter of Justice God is not going to hold a person accountable um for their nature he's going to hold them accountable for their acts what they knew or should have known and what they did or did not do not because of their birth now people that believe in the strict original sin like Augustine taught they will say and like the Catholic Church teaches that children inherit not only the nature but also the guilt of of Adam and Eve and so therefore if a child is not baptized they're not saved Now The Logical implication is
that baby that dies goes to hell but the Catholic church has moderated this by a later tradition of a place called Limbo where there is neither pleasure nor pain and so while the unbaptized infant who dies can't go to heaven can't be saved they go to this neutral zone technically they're lost but it's a place where they don't experience anything um but that's their consequence of original sin I don't believe that I believe somehow that until there is this age of of maybe we consider it so the child knows an age of accountability then God
has some plan for children who die and no they're not lost they do not go to the lake of fire but the grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ has a provision for children below that age of accountability they're not going to be held guilty of Adam and Eve's sin or held guilty for their own nature but the fact that they do have the nature is still true so they need to still need to be saved by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ so verse 14 nevertheless death reigned from added to Moses even
th over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam who is a type of him who was to come so even if they didn't sin like Adam did they still sin but the free gift is not like the offense for If by one man's offense many died much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of one man Jesus Christ abounded to many so if you feel like that it's not fair that you are born into to sin because of something you didn't do well all I
can say is well God has more than matched that with not only equal but surpassing unfairness because Jesus Christ died for you and now his righteousness can be put in your account and actually it's much more because everything we lost in from Adam and Eve we gain much more in Christ so because of Adam and Eve sin we lost the Garden of Eden we lost that fellowship with God but God is not just going to restore us to uh mortal life on planet Earth he actually fills us with the Holy Spirit which is more than
Adam and Eve had and he's going to transform us to a glorified body which is more than Adam and Eve had and he's going to give us eternal life with him which is more than Adam and Eve had so if you think it's unfair that we suffer because of what Adam and Eve did well it's even more unfair to our advantage that we have the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ so whatever questions we have about God's justice and fairness is overwhelmed by God's grace and mercy but the fact that we are uh do
have sin is is clearly true uh one more PL passage in Romans 7:14 for we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin so again more than just I've committed wrong acts um so some people believe that okay every child is born neutral innocent and theoretically if they never committed a sinful act they would be saved uh but that's not the case what it's saying is we're born in sin and Paul goes on to explain now he's talking as a Christian but he's not talking about the Victorious Christian Life he's
talking about a person before their conversion or even after their conversion if they depend on the Flesh and he goes on to explain there's a law in my members it's a law of sin um that dominates me I'm I'm carnal Soul under sin so even though I want to do right many times I do wrong even though I know it's wrong I do it anyway it's like I'm compelled it's like sin in me controlling me and then he goes on to say but there's another law the law of my mind that knows what's right so
he's saying even a sinner can know and desire good things and can do make some good choices but in the end he keeps losing the battle because sin is stronger so he says there's also the of God which is good which tells me what's right but it doesn't give me power over sin so Paul describes the human dilemma there's a law of sin which dominates me that even though there's a law of God which tells me to do right and even though I have a a conscience and a law of my mind which can know
and choose right yet when I battle the law of Sin Sin wins out so that's why a sinner can be a good moral person in many ways an atheist can be a good moral person in many ways but but in the end nobody can overcome sin now some people think that's just the normal Christian Life that's the end of the matter but it's not because if you read all the way through chapter 8 verse two the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death
and so the solution ultimately is when you're filled with the spirit now in this life you have power over the law of sin and then one day we'll be glorified and the the nature of sin will completely be eliminated and we'll live in eternity with no temptation no sin no sinful nature will'll simply have a glorified human body and a righteous nature like that of the Lord Jesus Christ but in this life we still battle and so we have the law of sin which is still in us but we have the law of the spirit
which gives us power over the law of sin and that explains the Christian Life Galatians 5 explains there's this struggle there's this constant struggle of the lust of the flesh versus the lust of the spirit but it's an unequal struggle for the spirit gives us power over the law of sin uh so the Practical implication is everyone needs to be saved no one can be saved without Jesus Christ and the second practical implication is that no one can live a holy life in their own flesh we need the power of the holy spirit so we
cannot be saved or justified in our own sinful flesh we need Jesus Christ and we cannot be Sanctified or made holy Holy by our own flesh we must have again Jesus Christ in the power of the holy spirit thank you for listening to this episode of apostolic life in the 21st century if you enjoy this podcast please take a moment to give us a review on Apple podcasts Spotify or your favorite podcast app we also appreciate it when you share Apostolic life in the 21st century with a friend or family member and make plans to
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