Mankind’s greatest problem is sin because it is the reason for our separation from God (spiritual death), here and hereafter: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23; see Rom. 2:1-11). Sin, and it’s devastating spiritual consequence, is a universal problem: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

Many people believe that we inherit the guilt of Adam and Eve’s sin at our birth, and are thus, spiritually dead in sin from birth. The Westminster Confession of Faith (accepted by the Presbyterian Church and others) defines the doctrine of “Hereditary Depravity:” “They (Adam & Eve, D.R.) being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation” (Ch. VI, 3; The Book of Confessions, 6.033). In other words, the guilt of Adam and Eve’s sin was charged to every person who has ever been born. The transgression of Adam and Eve corrupted the nature of all human offspring. Is that what the Bible teaches? If it is then we must believe it and live accordingly. However, if the doctrine of “Hereditary Depravity” is not in agreement with the Bible, it must be identified as a false doctrine.

Romans 5:12 reveals that the guilt and punishment of sin passes to all men “because all sinned.” It does not say we are guilty of sin because Adam sinned. There is a big difference.

Sin is committed, not inherited. Ezekiel 18:20 reveals, “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.” That should forever settle the matter for Bible believers. We do not bear the guilt of our ancestors’ sin; we bear the guilt of our own sin. Jesus died to cleanse our own conscience from our own sin (Heb. 9:14; Acts 22:16).

Paul was “alive once without the law” (Rom. 9:9). He was speaking of the universally shared period of the moral innocence of childhood. But then, “the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” – he matured to moral capacity and responsibility, he sinned against the law of God, thereby causing him to die, spiritually (Rom. 9:9). He was not born in sin; he chose to sin, and the practice of sin resulted in his spiritual death.

But, someone asks, “Didn’t David say that he was born in sin?” David acknowledged the sin-filled world in which his mother lived and into which he was born (Ps. 51:5). But David also said he had personally committed sin (Ps. 51:3-4). David’s life illustrates what happens to each of us: “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes” (Eccl. 7:29).

Sinful schemes lead to the practice of sin and its consequence of spiritual death (Rom. 6:23). The Bible also teaches that each one of us will give an account of ourselves unto God; we will not give an account of our ancestors’ actions (Rom. 14:11-12). For us to be freed from our sin, we must be “born again” of water and the Spirit (Jn. 3:3, 5; Acts 2:37-41), returning to the upright nature for which God created and saved us, by following Christ in the paths of righteousness.