The way I understand the Augustinian/Calvinist view of original sin is this: Adam's sin had two devasting spiritual consequences for the entire human race. First, every baby is born in a state of total depravity or bondage of the will. In other words, his spiritual nature is so corrupted that his free will is gone, and he grows up with a total inability to come to faith and repentance in response to the gospel call. Second, every child is born guilty and condemned to hell, to which He will go unless the grace of God sovereignly intervenes. As J. O. Buswell, Jr. says, "All men naturally descending from Adam, without exception, are guilty sinners, lost, judicially under the wrath and curse of God." He declares, "I became a wicked guilty sinner in the Garden of Eden."
I don't believe that.
You should believe it, because Paul teaches it in Romans 7. Observe:
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyones account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
Let me break this passage into parts my friend, to show you that Paul is teaching that people are guilty for sin
for being in Adam.
First, is the obvious. Paul says Adam "was a type of the one to come" (this version says "a pattern"). The "one to come" is Christ. So Christ is a "pattern" of Adam or a "type" of Adam.
What does Paul mean? Well, Adam represents everyone who is "in him", and Christ represents everyone who is "in Him". So, if a person is "in Adam", they are found guilty. If a person is "In Christ" they are found innocent. The reason Adam represents us is because you and I would have done the exact same thing that Adam did. So Adam's response to temptation and sin in the Garden is pretty much every human being's response, too.
Now notice that Paul says that sin was in the world before the law was given to Moses, however, sin is not held against people when there is no law. In other words, since the law was not yet given, how can people be held accountable for breaking the law? That's Paul's point. Sin is not counted where there is no law.
However, despite this, Paul says "NEVERTHELESS, death reigned from Adam to Moses" In otherwords, the wages of sin is death, yet sin is not counted when there is no law. The law came from Moses. However, nevertheless, paul says, people still were DYING before Moses came to give the law (they were dying between Adam and Moses)
Paul's point is that they they experiencing the wages of sin (death), because though their own sin is not held accountable (since there is no law), they are still guilty for sin because they are in Adam.
Long story short: People were dying before the law was given because they are guilty for Adam's sin. Paul says they aren't guilty for their own personal sins, because sin is not counted when there is no law. Nevertheless, they still died, because they are in Adam.
