Original Sin: Original Guilt & Infant Depravity

Today we are going to look at 2 main things: 1) Does the Bible say sin is transferable or inheritable? And 2) What does the Bible say about the state of infants and children (are they doomed from the womb?). Do they inherit Adam’s guilt.

Does the Bible say Sin and Guilt are Transferable/Inheritable?
Deut 1:39

Sons punished for a Father’s sin?
Ezekiel 18:19-23
Deut 24:16
2 Kings 14:6
Exodus 32
John 9:1-3
Exodus 34:6-7

What about the nature of Infants and Children?
As we said in the first episode of this series; the Reformers who inherited their doctrine from Augustine believed in the depravity of infants and their damnation from birth without baptism to wash off Original Sin.

Johnathan Edwards (famous Reformed Puritan) sums up their beliefs saying:
“It is most just, exceedingly just, that God should take the soul of a new-born infant and cast it into eternal torments [due to Adam’s sin]” Or as Voddie Baucham says: All babies are vipers in diapers.

Isaiah 7:14-15
Psalms 22:9-10

Jeremiah and Innocent Babies
Jer 19:4-6, 7:30-33, and 32:32-38 basically say the same thing: The burning of INNOCENT babies never entered God’s mind.
Notice: Babies are declared innocent (not sinful) by God. They are not born guilty of Original Sin but become sinners when they sin and can be held accountable for it. This has major ramifications on the abortion debate, as we mentioned in the first episode. If babies are born in Original Sin then why advocate for human life? They are born under the hatred and wrath of God anyways!

The Parable of the Prodigal Son as a Paradigm
· The son is born in the father’s house. (we are born in the Father’s House- innocent)
· A time comes the son can choose to stay in the house or squander the inheritance. ( We can choose to stay in Christ or squander the inheritance of innocence)
· Yet, the father is merciful and welcomes the son back when he comes in repentance and reinstates his inheritance. (Same is true for us when we turn back to Him!)
Therefore, we are not born dead but choose to leave the Father’s house of our own Free Will.

Infant Depravity Proof texts
Psalm 58:3
Go astray means they weren’t already astray at birth. It was something they had to leave to become astray. They become this way “FROM” (or after) birth. Not IN birth.

Psalm 51:5
The Hebrew never says that David started out condemned in sin, but the act of his conception was sinful (but this is not concupiscence). It also says that it was David’s mother’s sin/iniquity and not David’s in Hebrew. It does not say that David was born in sin. (NIV and NLT translate this horribly!)

The Jewish view is that David was conceived in adultery. This makes sense when Samuel was looking over Jesse’s sons to anoint a king and denies them all. He asks if Jesse has more children and says David is tending the sheep.

What is the context of the psalm? David’s sin with Bathsheba. David is putting his sin with Bathsheba in parallel with his mother’s sin in his conception. “brought forth” here is always used of “an animal in heat” in the Hebrew Bible and not the normal words used of sex or conception within a covenant.

What about Job?
Job 15:14-16
Job 25:4-6
Job 14:4
Two of these are the false words of Job’s friends (See Job 42:7-9) and the 3rd is about ritual uncleanness and not about the nature of man.

Jesus and the Children
Matt 18:3-6
Mark 10:13-16
Children are equated with innocence, purity, and trust. They are the example of the Kingdom.

Conclusion/The Better Way
We looked at 2 things today: Inherited guilt and Infant depravity.

Inherited Guilt
o We saw that the Bible says that sins cannot be transferred.
o Each will be accountable for their own sins
o Thus when Original Sin says we inherit Adam’s guilt it goes against God’s Law and all of the scriptures

Infant Depravity
As we can see in scripture babies and children are innocent before the Lord. God does not hold them accountable until they can truly know good from evil.
o Some call this the age of accountability or as the Jews call it Bar mizpah (becoming a son of the commandments- age 13)
o We are born with desires and we must learn how to act upon them because they can be used for good or evil.
o We are not born doomed from the womb or as sinners but rather become sinners when we sin knowingly.

Jesus invites us into the kingdom to become innocent like children and renewed into the state we were at the beginning in order to bear his name in this world.

The Take Aways
o We need to be formed in Christlikeness from our youth
o God has placed life in front of us and we must choose it
o He guides us by the Spirit to be able to walk in this way
o The discipleship of children is so important!
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