Did I Inherit Adam’s Sin?

Let’s  talk about the sin of Adam specifically  as it relates to a very popular concept  today that we all as human beings  inherit the sin of Adam and are  therefore born by inheritance sinful and  guilty and with blame because of sin. Is this a biblical concept? The concept of this  inheritance of sin is taken a lot of  times from Romans 5:12. Paul  said to the church at Rome “Therefore,  just as through one man sin entered the  world, and death through sin, and thus  death spread to all men because all  sinned.” He said that through one man sin entered  the world. In Genesis chapter 3, you can see that Adam was the first  man to sin and that was the  entrance of sin into the world. So it’s a  very simple concept. He also says that  death entered also through sin. As a  result of sin, death entered the world. In  Genesis chapter 3, we have the  introduction of spiritual death being  brought into the world because of Adam’s  sin. He, as well as Eve, were  removed from the Garden of Eden. They  were removed from the tree of life. They  were removed from that relationship that  they had with God because they were  now in darkness, they now had sin and  they didn’t have anything to properly take care of that sin, to make  atonement for that sin. But rather he  says that that death has spread to all  men. Some might say “Death has  spread to all men because of Adam.” No, the text only says that by Adam death  and sin have been introduced into the  world. But rather he says that death has  spread to all men because ALL sinned. So death spread to Adam because Adam  sinned but death spread to you and I and  everyone else because we sinned.

Romans 3:23 says that all  have sinned and fallen short of the  glory of God. Adam was responsible for  his sin and that’s the reason why he  lost his relationship with God while he  was no longer innocent and blameless. And  that same spiritual death that was  introduced first in Adam, because of his  sin, has now spread to all men (Romans 5:12) – The reason why  it spread to all men is not because of  Adam but because of all men. He says  “because all sinned”. 

If you look skip  down into the context to verse 18, he  starts to talk about what the Lord Jesus  has done and he said in verse 18  “Therefore as through one man’s offense  (he’s talking about Adam), 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. For  as by one man’s disobedience, many  were made sinners, so also by one man’s  obedience many were made righteous.” Let’s think about this logically. By one man’s disobedience (he’s  certainly talking in context about Adam), many were made  sinners. Earlier in the context, he  identified that sin and death  spread unto all men, reason being that  all sin. We’ve followed in the  footsteps of Adam and so Adam is  shown here really as a representative  of the condition of all men not because  just Adam sinned, but because all have  sinned, we are all individually guilty of  sin. He begins talking about “through one man’s righteous act”. That’s the Lord Jesus on the cross. Through his righteous act, we have the  free gift coming now to all men  resulting in justification of life. Let’s  think about this logically. If we have  Adam’s sin and one says “We are all  inheriting that”, then the same would  come in the comparison of verse 18, with the righteous act of Jesus, that we  would all inherit through birth the free  gift. Because he says here that “it came  to all men”. Verse 19 says “By one man’s  disobedience, many were made sinners. Even  also by one man’s obedience, many were  made righteous.” How am I made righteous? Through the obedience of Jesus? Yes,  but what do I need to do?  I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to  respond to to the Lord. I’ve got to  respond to the gospel call unto  salvation. So there’s my obedience to the  gospel that needs to be taken into  consideration and that’s how I come  to the blood of Christ, that’s how I was made  righteous.

So in the opposite figure, we have the  sin of Adam and we’ve all  followed in that footstep as well. But we had to do something where  it’s not that we’re just born that  way, we had to commit sin as well in  order to follow in Adam’s footsteps. Likewise we have to come into  obedience and follow in the footsteps of  the obedient Messiah in order to have  the benefits in which he has given us as  well. We follow in Adam’s footsteps,  we commit sin and we become spiritually dead, we’re no longer  innocent. We follow in the Lord’s  footsteps, we become obedient as he was obedient and we become  righteous, we become holy and our  sins are atoned for. So Romans 5, in harmony of the  context, does not say that  we have inherited Adam’s sin, it only  says that we have followed in his footsteps and now we need to turn  and follow in the Lord’s footsteps.