There have been two books that I have been reading while on a trip to Melbourne, Australia recently, they are The Bible, and The Normal Christian life, by Watchman Nee… and I was inspired to re-read the book of Romans.
If you read in the Bible the book of Romans from Chapter 1:1 through to 5:11 Paul seems to be talking about ‘sins’ and from chapter’s 5:12 to 8:39 the word ‘sins’ hardly occurs once but the word ‘sin’ appears again and again… it would seem that Paul is talking about two separate subject matters. The things that we do, and the nature of why we do it, or you could say it like this – the sin and the sinner.
Chinese evangelist Watchman Nee explains it like this:
“I need forgiveness for my sins, but I need also deliverance from the power of sin”
And so the story is set… and there are two players, the sin & the sinner. We all know the famous verse in Romans 3:23 “All have sinned and fallen short of Gods glory” and this indeed is true, but I wonder if we are looking it the wrong way round, it would seem that the teaching in Romans is not that we are sinners because we commit sins, but we sin because we are sinners. We are sinners because we are born sinners, because of what our forefathers (Adam) did. Romans 5:19 states:
“Through the one mans disobedience the many were made (or ‘constituted’) sinners”
It would seem that the fact that we sin is merely the evidence that we are already sinners; it is not the cause. Someone who sins, it would be fair to say – is a sinner, unfortunately even if it was possible for us not to sin, we still would be sinners… because we were born into ‘the world’ or as my pastor Murray Talbot would say “born into the Adam Garden” and we would still need to be saved.
Again Watchman Nee explains it like this:
“The root trouble is the sinner; he must be dealt with. Our sins are dealt with by The Blood, but we ourselves are dealt with by The Cross”
And so our search begins… how do we deal with the sin, and the sinner
To be cont…..
Screaming Goose 
Interesting post bro. Well written too! :o)
Well, you know what I think about this topic… That the concept of Adam’s sin corrupting mankind doesn’t mean that everyone is born guilty of sin, but rather that they are born with a sinful nature – that they can’t help but sin (i.e. transgress the commandments).
It’s a really interesting topic though eh – I’m reading a cool book at the moment that talks about the similarities and differences between Adam and Jesus. One really cool thing that came up in the book is that both Jesus and Adam were “born” sinless (of course we know Adam wasn’t born…). Now if the sinful nature is passed on from the parents, Jesus would have been half sinful – from Mary’s side. This is why the Catholic teaching of Mary’s immaculate conception came about! The book I’m reading has some interesting ideas about why Jesus didn’t have to be half sinful, even though he was born of a sinful woman.
yeah it is interesting… but I have a theory that I believe kills both your theory and that of the catholics giving Mary a ‘with out sin’ status.
You see the sin of Adam is passed on by Adam… the seed of Adam (the latin word for seed is ‘sperma’) – now all people are born from a seed or from sperm… this means that we are all literally born from the seed of Adam, this is great news because Jesus was born from the seed (or sperma) of the Holy Spirit (or God) who by his nature is without sin. This means that Jesus is indeed born without sin, as the seed wasn’t from Adam (thus meaning he was still able to be fully God AND fully man)
It also means that Mary (who was born normally) is born with sin, she may have been morally good, but not without sin.
This is only my personal theory on the matter but I’m lovin’ the debate. I’ve read scriptures over this, but the specific verse slips my mind so I will get back to you about this.
That’s a coincidence! The book I’m reading is written by a Biologist, and has the same theory as you! It says that the seed of woman (egg) is not the part that was corrupted by Adam’s sin (and it has a funky theory on why Adam’s seed became corrupt too).
This is a great topic because it exalts Jesus way above the level of a mere human. Those who say he was just a good man or a prophet don’t see the significance of his virgin birth. Only in this way could Jesus be born sinless, and only then could our perfect God indwell a fully human body, and only God incarnate could redeem the entire human race at once.
Why wasn’t Jesus created in the same way as Adam? So that He could redeem the entire genetic bloodline of humanity. If He was created separately, He wouldn’t be born in the line of David, and be able to redeem all humans from Adam to modern man.
You will need to read “The Normal Christian Life” by Watchman Nee… it’s an AWESOME book (it’s hard work… but worth the chase!) –
1 John 3:9 “No one who is born of God will continue to sin because Gods seed (the word used there was Sperma) remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God.”
Oh and the other thing… yes both Adam and Jesus were both born ‘sinless’ but only Jesus was God, while Adam was still fully man.