Baptists and Original Sin

[aReformedPatriot]

Now, I know my position on Original Sin, but I do not know the "official" Baptist Position on it. Can someone clarify that for me?

 

[eutychus]

Through Adam all have fallen from God's standard.

Romans 5:18-19; 3:10; Ephesians 2:1-3; Isaiah 53:6; Psalm 51:5; Matthew 15:19; 1 Cor. 15:22

 

[ZiSunka]

The concept that we all somehow are guilty for what Adam and Eve did is not scriptural, therefore, it is not a baptist/anabaptist belief. Baptists and anabaptists believe that we inherit the sin nature from Adam and Eve, but not the guilt for their sin.

 

[MbiaJc]

Now, I know my position on Original Sin, but I do not know the "official" Baptist Position on it. Can someone clarify that for me?

My position: We inhert the consiquence of the original sin, not the sin itself.

 

[Crazy Liz]

We inherit the consequence of our first ancestors' sin, which is death - our mortality. Not guilt, and not depravity.

However, there is not a human being, except Jesus, who has not sinned, if they lived long enough.

 

[Matthan]

Most of the posts on this thread ae correct. Ezekiel 18:20 refutes the very concept of original sin being passed along from generation to generation. By Adam death entered into the world. He will one day answer for his sins, just as we all will one day answer for our own. We will not, however, be impuned with any sins save our own.

In my case that will be more than enough!

Matthan <J><

 

[Snow Angel]

Sounds right to me!

 

[ZiSunka]

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.

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

We inherit the consequence of our first ancestors' sin, which is death - our mortality. Not guilt, and not depravity.

However, there is not a human being, except Jesus, who has not sinned, if they lived long enough.

How long is enough? Doesn't Paul say, "All have sinned?"

 

[ZiSunka]

How long is enough? Doesn't Paul say, "All have sinned?"

Liz didn't say that all have not sinned. She merely correctly pointed out that we do not inherit the guilt for Adam and Eve's sin, we inherit the consequences and the sin nature.

 

[JeffreyLloyd]

Thanks

 

[ZiSunka]

You're welcome.

 

[Gwenyfur]

Most of the posts on this thread ae correct. Ezekiel 18:20 refutes the very concept of original sin being passed along from generation to generation. By Adam death entered into the world. He will one day answer for his sins, just as we all will one day answer for our own. We will not, however, be impuned with any sins save our own.

In my case that will be more than enough!

Matthan <J><

well said!

 

[Mary of Bethany]

I'm surprised at the consensus here (and I agree with you!), but I remember being taught as a Baptist that we "sinned because we were sinners", and we did indeed inherit Adam's guilt. But what you all are saying is what I now believe, which the Orthodox church also teaches. I guess my Baptist pastors were more Calvinist than yours.

Mary

 

[SumTinWong]

I have believe that we inherited a sin nature, which is as a result is why we die (sin=death). I believe that sin nature that we are born with, we have until we die, but as we walk with Christ that sin nature dies, and we become more like Jesus in nature. In the end, God will make us perfect.

 

[BT]

I'm surprised at the consensus here (and I agree with you!), but I remember being taught as a Baptist that we "sinned because we were sinners", and we did indeed inherit Adam's guilt. But what you all are saying is what I now believe, which the Orthodox church also teaches. I guess my Baptist pastors were more Calvinist than yours.

Mary

It's like this. If you go to hell it won't be because Adam bit the apple. It will be because of what you have done. Which you have done because you inherited the nature of Adam after the fall. We inherited Adam's nature (after the fall) but not the condemnation for his "personal" sin....

somethin like that

 

[Crazy Liz]

How long is enough? Doesn't Paul say, "All have sinned?"

I don't know. Answer me this. Does "all" include the newborn baby who takes only one breath and then dies?

Surely it is the human experience that all people, by the time they reach the ability to understand these words of Paul's, are also conscious of having fallen short personally, in some way, at some time.

Is is necessary for us to determine the exact moment of each individual's personal Fall, as precisely as Genesis describes the moment Adam ate the forbidden fruit? Or can we just say that, at some point between taking our first breath and becoming conscious of good and evil, we sin. Our consciousness of good and evil comes (whenever and however it does come), in every case, along with the sense that we ourselves have already fallen short of perfection.

 

[Crazy Liz]

I guess my Baptist pastors were more Calvinist than yours.

To be fair, there are many Baptists who are Calvinists. They would, of course, have Calvin's view of original sin.

Of the responses you have seen here, most have expressed either Arminian or Anabaptist views of sin. The two are somewhat different, with the Anabaptist view much closer to the Eastern Orthodox view, while the Arminian view is more Reformed, but Baptists and Anabaptists seldom split hairs over the differences between Arminianism and other non-predestinarian views. Still, it does irritate me from time to time to have people (even seminary professors) ask whether a protestant Christian is Calvinist or Arminian, as if these are the only two possibilities.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

It's like this. If you go to hell it won't be because Adam bit the apple. It will be because of what you have done. Which you have done because you inherited the nature of Adam after the fall. We inherited Adam's nature (after the fall) but not the condemnation for his "personal" sin....

somethin like that

I agree with this completely.

Mary

 

[Crazy Liz]

I have believe that we inherited a sin nature, which is as a result is why we die (sin=death). I believe that sin nature that we are born with, we have until we die, but as we walk with Christ that sin nature dies, and we become more like Jesus in nature. In the end, God will make us perfect.

Uncle Bud, it's time to stop reading your NIV for a while. Promise yourself that the next 10 times you read Romans or Galatians, you will read it in any version other than the NIV or NLT. Find a version that consistently translates the Greek word sarx as "flesh," and not as "sinful nature."

What you believe would not be considered unorthodox, but it is a particular view, based on a particular understanding of what Paul means by the word "flesh" - one that is not unanimously held by all Christians.


We inherit mortal flesh from our natural parents, and through them from all our ancestors. Human physical needs and desires are also a function of our physical flesh, and therefore flesh can be a vector of temptation. The degree to which we can spin any other meanings out of Paul's use of the word "flesh" is debatable.