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Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

How Adam’s original sin messed us up

Stephen M. Miller
man eating apple
FORBIDDEN FRUIT. Whatever the fruit was, it wasn't supposed to end up in anyone's mouth because it was toxic. Photo by Aditya Doshi, flickr, CC2.

ADAM AND EVE did more than just sin when they bit into that forbidden fruit. They poisoned  themselves and all generations to come. That’s a theory Bible experts call original sin.

Scholars may have done a fine job putting a name on this idea. But they can’t explain  it. Not in a way that makes sense to the typical brain. The scholar who named the theory,  Augustine (AD 354–430), said there was nothing harder to explain.

Some scholars pitched the idea that Adam’s ancient sin worked through genetics. The  fruit somehow changed humanity’s DNA, and the sin gene got passed on to the rest of us.  Now every human comes wired to sin. Exception: Jesus, born of a virgin. “He did not sin”  (Hebrews 4:15).

Other scholars say it couldn’t be genetics. If it were, we’d eventually find the cure to  sin. That would leave future generations to sit around and debate whose sin Jesus died for.

Without explaining how sin migrates from Adam’s generation to ours, Paul seems to  state it as fact: “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so  death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned” (Romans 5:12).

We might not understand the original sin part, but most of us understand the “everyone  sinned” part. Even if everyone didn’t sin when Adam did, everyone sinned after Adam did.

If there’s a sin gene, at least spiritually speaking, most souls would agree we’ve all got it.

The cure?

“Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? I give thanks  to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25 NIRV).

This is an excerpt from Steve’s new book, releasing July 1, 2016:
A Visual Walk Through Genesis, page 42.

Blog subscribers who win books this week

  • Sharon Critchfield
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I give away free books every week to randomly selected subscribers to my free blog or my quarterly newsletter.

Winners now get to choose from a stack of titles, including my two most recent: A Visual Walk Through Genesis and The One-Stop History of the Bible.

Note to the two winners: send me an email and I’ll give you the full list of books from which you can choose.

The deal’s good for a month, or for as long as I have giveaway books available.

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About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

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Comments

  1. Tom Fowler

    June 23, 2016 at 8:10 am

    I’ve had trouble with the concept of Original Sin. It weakens the idea of free will. But, it does agree with the Biblical warning that the sins of the father will be visited upon his children.

    Reply
  2. Amahyel

    June 25, 2016 at 11:23 am

    Wow, can’t wait for the book. I hope it gets to Africa, specifically Nigeria, soon after release.

    Reply

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