Inherited Sin: guilt attributed to a person because his parents (forefathers) had sinned, or an inherited nature making a person unable to not sin.
- Who has sinned? (Romans 3:23)
What are the results of their sin? (Romans 6:23)
Who hasn’t sinned? (Hebrews 4:14-15)
- Who brought sin into the world? (Romans 5:12)
What was the result?
This death passed to all men “because all sinned”.
- What was the offence in Romans 5:18? (Genesis 2:17, 3:11-12)
Through this offence – eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil – how could Judgment come to all men?
In Romans 5:19 how were they made sinners?
Could it be that now knowing “good and evil” they were held accountable?
- These verses are said to teach inherited sin; do they? Consider each.
a. (Ephesians 2:3) – “Nature” in the Greek means growth, not necessarily that which is Inherited but possibly that which is learned.
b. (Psalm 58:3) – Can the wicked “lie” as soon as they are born? Is this figurative?
c. (Psalm 51:5) – Whose iniquity and sin—-his or his mother’s?
d. (Romans 7:18) – What is the sin in his flesh? (I John 2:16, James 1:14-15)
Why can’t he resist it? What does “carnal” and “sold under sin” indicate? (Romans 7:14)
What’s the remedy? (Romans 7:24-25)
e. (Job 14:4) – Natural man is unclean in his desires, but it’s not until he sins that he is guilty as in James 1:14-15. He then must be born again to be clean (John 3:7).
- When does a man become guilty? (James 4:17, Romans 7:7-9, Hebrews 10:26-29)
Memory Work: Ezekiel 18:20 – 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.