What Is Original Sin – Are We Born Guilty?

Perhaps you’ve heard churches teach a doctrine known as “original sin,” claiming that children are born having inherited the guilt of sin.

That doesn’t seem to make sense if God is righteous and just. Why would God condemn a child for sins they did not commit? Why would God punish the innocent for the sins of the guilty? These ideas simply don’t add up.

The reason they don’t add up is because they aren’t true. These ideas are not what the Bible actually teaches. Rather, they are conclusions people have drawn from passages they do not fully understand.

So let’s examine what the Bible really says about the doctrine of original sin.

What Is the Doctrine of Original Sin?

You may not recognize it by the term original sin. Sometimes people refer to it as the sin nature. However, the two terms are not the same, even though many people confuse them and use them interchangeably. Let’s define what we mean by each term:

Sin nature — the belief that all humans are born with a nature that is inclined or tempted to sin.

Original sin — the belief that all humans are born already guilty of sin, even though they have never personally committed a sin themselves.

Notice the difference between these two terms. They are not the same, yet they are often treated as if they were.

I have had many conversations where I tell someone that we are not born already guilty of sin, only to have them reply that the Bible says we have a sin nature and are therefore born guilty. This confuses two different ideas. One is true; the other is not.

We are indeed born with a nature that is tempted to sin. However, temptation is not sin in itself and does not automatically make a person guilty. Jesus Himself was tempted in every way as we are, yet He remained without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

The doctrine of original sin, on the other hand, asserts that God views us as though we ourselves committed the original sin of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is what I mean when I refer to the doctrine of original sin.

In other words, it is the belief that the guilt of the parents is passed down to their children.

The Scriptures Do Not Support the Doctrine of Original Sin

The Bible tells us that God does not change. What He considered good and evil in the Old Testament is still what He considers good and evil today. So how does God view the idea that children bear the guilt of their father’s sins?

Ezekiel 18:1–20 provides a clear answer, particularly verses 17–20.

This passage makes the matter unmistakably clear: God does not hold children accountable for their father’s sins. The belief that children bear the guilt of their father’s sins is directly confronted and refuted by God Himself.

A baby is not guilty of sin simply because he is the child of a sinner. In fact, according to these Scriptures, no one is found guilty because of someone else’s actions. Each person bears responsibility for his own sins.

This same truth is affirmed in Deuteronomy.

Clearly, according to Scripture, children are not born guilty because of someone else’s sin. Therefore, the doctrine of original sin is false because it directly contradicts what God Himself has declared.

Why Do People Teach Original Sin?

With such clear passages, one must wonder how this doctrine gained acceptance in the first place. The answer is a familiar one: Satan twists the Scriptures.

Let’s examine one of the passages commonly used to support the doctrine.

Some interpret this passage as teaching that guilt is passed down from father to child. They conclude that Levi is regarded as though he personally performed Abraham’s actions.

However, notice that Paul qualifies his statement by saying, “as I may so say,” indicating that he is speaking figuratively rather than literally.

When Paul says that Levi paid tithes, he means that Levi was affected by Abraham’s actions. He does not mean that Levi personally approved of the transaction or bore personal responsibility for it.

Nor does this passage teach that Abraham’s righteousness was somehow credited to Levi. It says nothing about guilt or innocence being inherited. Rather, it demonstrates that a father’s actions can affect his descendants without transferring either guilt or righteousness to them.

Some point to the Psalms as justification for the doctrine.

This verse does not say that David bears the guilt of his mother’s sin. It says that he was conceived in sin, but it does not say that David was therefore guilty of his mother’s sin. Nor does the word iniquity necessarily mean guilt.

Iniquity carries the idea of something that is crooked or twisted. David is describing the sin nature which he was born with. He was born with a human nature that is inclined toward sin. Remember, however, that a sin nature is not the same thing as the doctrine of original sin.

Another passage often used to support this doctrine is found in Romans.

Some interpret this passage as teaching that people are guilty of Adam’s sin, even though they did not commit it themselves. However, that is not what Paul actually says. In fact, Paul argues the opposite.

Paul begins by saying, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world.” Before Adam sinned, the world had never experienced sin. Paul’s point is that through one man—Adam—sin entered the world.

Notice what the verse does not say. It does not say that the whole world became guilty of Adam’s sin. It simply says that sin entered the world, and because sin entered the world, death entered with it.

When Paul says, “and so death passed upon all men,” he tells us that death has passed to all mankind. He does not say that Adam’s guilt has passed to all mankind. This is where many people begin reading into the text something that simply is not there.

The verse continues, “for that all have sinned.” Many interpret this to mean that everyone, including infants who have never personally sinned, must somehow be guilty of sin. This interpretation assumes that death comes only as the result of personal guilt. Therefore, if babies die, they must somehow be guilty.

But that goes beyond what Paul actually says. The logic amounts to saying, “Those that have not sinned must have sinned,” with complete seriousness.

In the verses that follow, Paul explains that death reigns even over those “that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” In other words, death affects people who have not committed the same kind of deliberate transgression that Adam committed.

Paul also explains that “sin is not imputed when there is no law.” In other words, where there is no law holding someone accountable, guilt is not charged to that person’s account.

Keep in mind that God’s law is written on the hearts of mankind, even when they did not possess the written Law of Moses. However, babies and small children are not accountable until they are capable of understanding right and wrong. Yet Paul says that death reigns over them as well.

This is where the doctrine of original sin begins to fall apart. Paul tells us that there were people who did not commit the same kind of sin as Adam. In other words, Scripture does not teach that God considers everyone to have committed Adam’s original sin.

Instead, we are told that people who had no guilt of sin charged to their account—and no inherited guilt from Adam—still died. This should not surprise us, because Jesus Himself had no sin, yet He died. Death affects all of creation, whether a person has sinned or not.

The entire book of Job demonstrates that not all suffering is the result of personal sin or personal guilt. God makes it clear that the innocent suffer alongside the guilty.

It should also be noted that if you apply Adam’s guilt to all men, you must also apply the righteousness of Jesus to all men because of this passage. Yet that is not what the Scriptures teach either. People are not made sinners until they sin, and they are not made righteous until they come to Jesus.

Looking through this passage, there is no point at which Romans 5 says that guilt is passed down from Adam to his descendants. Instead, it teaches that the consequences of sin affect far more than just those who are personally guilty.

Even in verses 12 and 18, where Paul says that death and judgment came upon “all men,” he is not teaching that those who have never personally sinned are judged as guilty.

The context explains what Paul means by “all” when he says, “for that all have sinned.” He is not charging the innocent with sin. Rather, he is clarifying that he is saying all who have personally sinned come under condemnation.

Likewise, when Paul says in verse 19 that many “were made sinners,” he is referring to mankind inheriting a fallen nature that leads people to commit sin, not to inheriting Adam’s personal guilt.

So why does Satan promote this doctrine so aggressively if Scripture so plainly contradicts it?

Why Was Jesus Born of a Virgin?

Some claim that guilt is passed down through the father’s blood, as though guilt were a physical substance. They argue that this is why the virgin birth was necessary. According to this view, because Jesus had no human father, He was born free from both original sin and the sin nature.

There are several problems with that claim.

First, the Bible never teaches this. In fact, it teaches the opposite. Jesus was tempted in every way as we are (Hebrews 4:15). The idea that the virgin birth somehow prevented Him from being fully human is pure speculation.

Not only is this idea speculative, but it also undermines the humanity of Christ. Scripture repeatedly tells us that Jesus truly became man. He was tempted. He hungered. He thirsted. He experienced weakness, sorrow, and suffering. Any doctrine that diminishes His humanity stands in opposition to Jesus Himself.

That is what this doctrine ultimately leads to. It pressures people to diminish either Christ’s humanity or His divinity. In the end, it forces the rejection of Jesus. If you are still confused about how the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost can be one person I have already covered that.

The reality is that children are not born already guilty of sin. Yet the innocent still suffer and die.

That leaves an important question unanswered: Why do the innocent suffer and die?

If suffering and death do not happen only to those who are personally guilty, why does God allow it?

Continue To Unit 2:10 – Why Does God Allow the Innocent to Suffer? Understanding Why Even Children Suffer OR

Return To Christianity 101 Unit 2 – Sin and Eternal Judgment