An enormous amount of the religious world believes that we inherit the sin of Adam. The consequence of this doctrine is that we’re born with a depraved, sinful nature. This sinful nature then produces the need of our salvation being totally controlled by God. We’re going to see that this contradicts the Bible.
Romans 5:12, 18 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned … Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” Notice that these verses do not say, “All men have sinned in Adam.” The verses compare and contrast the actions and results of Adam and Christ. Adam introduced sin into the world, and Christ introduced a way of escape from sin. Romans 5:19 says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” For example, Thomas Paine made many infidels, but his infidelity wasn’t transferred to anyone else. Likewise, by Adam’s actions, many have been influenced to commit sin because he introduced it into the world.
Ezekiel says, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (18:20). Adam’s sin brought physical death upon all men because mankind was separated from the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). But Adam’s sin brought spiritual death upon all men because each man is responsible for his own actions (Romans 14:12).
Adapted from Steven Deaton