Original SIn

WHAT IS ORIGINAL SIN?

The Sin of Adam and Eve

Original sin is the term for the sin of Adam and Eve, the first sin of man. The original sin consisted in disobeying God, breaking his commandment about not eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God has established certain rules and has given people the freedom to decide. He wanted people to want to be with Him of their own free will, not because they were created that way. Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation to gain knowledge and knowledge, they succumbed to Satan and followed the lust of the eyes, which was fatal for them.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
[Genesis 2:16-17 ESV]

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
[Genesis 3:1-7 ESV]

God threw people out of paradise because he didn’t want them to eat from the tree of life and live forever. In Paradise, close to God, there is no place for sin, because God is Holy.

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
[Genesis 3:22 ESV]

THE EFFECTS OF ORIGINAL SIN

What happened after eating the fruit?

Sin has entered the world.
Because of sin, death entered the world. People lived shorter and shorter. (God warned Adam and Eve that they would die.)
Henceforth, everyone is born with corrupt human nature.

The present world is completely different from the one in the beginning precisely because of sin. It is sin that is the problem. From the children of Adam and Eve began murder, theft, hatred, etc. After eating the fruit, Adam and Eve began to feel shame.

Human nature tainted by original sin

Every person who is born has a corrupted nature manifested by inclinations to sin, to bad conduct. This can be clearly seen in small children who, from an early age, do things that noone taught them: they lie, cheat, steal, envy, get angry, etc. Original sin has made every human being susceptible to temptation, has weaknesses and a weak I prefer.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
[Genesis 5:1-3 ESV]

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
[Romans 5:12-19 ESV]

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
[1 Cor 15:22 ESV]

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
[1 Cor 15:47-49 ESV]

ORIGINAL SIN AND THE WORK OF SALVATION

Salvation from the carnal nature

The word salvation can be considered in various aspects. One of the things that Jesus Christ can save us from is the corrupted bodily nature – the so-called our old man. Jesus Christ came in order to free (save) us from the effects of original sin, that is, from the slavery of sin.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit

Jesus Christ was not conceived by man, but by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, he did not inherit a corrupt carnal nature! No sin was found in Jesus Christ. He didn’t steal, he didn’t kill, he didn’t commit adultery, he didn’t slander like the rest of the world did and does. Because of this, death could not control him – he had to rise from the dead.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
[Matthew 1:18-20 ESV]

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
[Acts 2:24 ESV]

Baptism frees you from original sin

We must be born again, no longer from the man “Adam”, but from God: from Jesus Christ. We can be born again through biblical baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ (the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
[John 3:3-7 ESV]

Baptism gives New Life in Jesus, in His body. The baptized receives a completely new identity as a child of God, a member of the body of Jesus Christ, an heir to the Kingdom of God. Debts, curses, and other matters concerning the old man are removed and “nailed to the cross.”

Through water baptism, the “body of sin” is destroyed and freedom comes not to sin. (Romans 6:3-8). In the letter to the Colossians (2:11-13) we read that in baptism there is a circumcision (shedding) of the sinful body.

What about generational sins?

Original sin can be called generational sin. All generational sins lose their power over a person born again of God. Such a person is a completely new creature in the spiritual world. One must accept this truth by faith, based on God’s Word, which is the truth and foundation, and confess it.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
[2 Cor 5:17 ESV]

Does baptism take away the guilt of original sin?

Water baptism is not the forgiveness of the “original sin” because God does not impute to us the sins of our ancestors. Baptism is the spiritual death of the body bounded to sin, the corrupt nature caused by the sin of Adam and Eve.

Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
[Ezekiel 18:4 ESV]

“Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live.
[Ezekiel 18:14-17 ESV]

“Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
[Ezekiel 18:19-20 UBG]

“Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.
[Deuteronomy 24:16 ESV]