Is Original Sin Unfair? Why Is Adam's Sin My Fault?

Why is Adam's sin my fault?

Is the doctrine of original sin unfair? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Excuse me, Adriel, I got a little frog in my throat.

It's actually a large toad in my throat. We'll see if I can get rid of it. We would love to hear from you today. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and you can email us anytime. Here's our email address.

It's questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Jim calling in from Nebraska. Jim, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, well, I want to thank you for thank you for taking my call. The book of basically for Leviticus and the book of basically number is very, very hard to understand. I got a blessing in basically numbers where even Adriel was complaining about they didn't have any water for themselves and their animals, and it was basically, God told basically Moses to touch the rock, and they gave all of their animals and all of their people water.

Thank you for taking my call. Hey Jim, thank you for that question. It sounds to me like you're wondering about these two books in the Pentateuch, Pentateuch being the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So Leviticus and Numbers, which are two books that oftentimes when people are going through their Bible reading plan, they skip over.

And especially as we're getting ready to start a new year, let me encourage you not to do that. I actually spent some time, I know Bill teases me about this from time to time, but I spent some time preaching through the book of Leviticus, which was a wonderful experience for me. I'm not so sure the church loved it as much as I did, but one of the things I learned was the book of Leviticus really is central to the Pentateuch, I mean it's right there in the middle, it's the middle book, but in one sense it's central to God's plan of redemption, because the heart of the book of Leviticus is about how we as sinners can dwell in God's presence. You're sort of tracing the story of God from Genesis where you have creation and then fall, the people of God exiled out of his presence, Adam and Eve, cast out of the garden, and then you have God's deliverance in the book of Exodus. And the big question is how can the people of God dwell in the midst of this holy God again?

They've been exiled from Eden, cast out, and the book of Leviticus answers that question. Here's how my people can dwell in my presence through this system of worship that I'm giving them, these sacrifices that cleanse the worshiper, that cleanse the sinner, so that the sinner can live and dwell in my house and in my presence. And so it's really, the heart of these books is fellowship with God, communion with God. Similarly, the book of Numbers, which you brought up also, Jim, another one that I think we have a tendency to sort of gloss over or skip over in our Bible reading, a lot there about the children of Israel wandering through the wilderness and God's dealings with them there, the fact that God isn't going to take thin lightly even with his people, and the judgments that they experienced as well as God's sustaining grace, caring for his people there in the midst of the wilderness. And one passage in the New Testament that helps to explain why these things are written is given to us by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Talking about some of the, you know, some of the challenges that they experienced in the wilderness, he says in verse 6, these things, as Paul, again, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 6, now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play, and we must not indulge in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Remember the grumbling that the children of Israel participated in throughout their wilderness wanderings, grumbling against the Lord.

Well, these things are written for our instruction, Jim. We're told in all scripture, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 and following chapter 4 verse 1, all scripture is given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is profitable for us, for doctrine, for proof, for training in righteousness so that we might be thoroughly equipped. And so I want to encourage you to dig deeply into the Pentateuch and into those books of Leviticus and Numbers. And I know that as you do, you'll be blessed because at the heart of again, these books are given for our instruction, but also to help us know how to dwell in God's presence. And certainly Jesus and his sacrificial death is the fulfillment of so much of the imagery that we see in the book of Leviticus. You think it's helpful, Adriel, to have a good study Bible or commentary as we're reading those books?

Yeah. You know, one of the study Bibles I recommended before is the ESV study Bible. I think that can be a helpful one to give you some of the historical background and maybe some more insight into the different rites and rituals that you read about in places like the book of Leviticus.

So that could be one resource is getting a good study Bible. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open and we'll be taking your calls for the next 20 minutes or so. If you've got a question about the Bible or the Christian life, doctrine, theology, something happening in your church that you're concerned about, feel free to give us a call. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Ruth calling in from Pennsylvania. Ruth, what's your question for Adriel?

My question is this. I come across a word in the Bible that is frightening to me and that word is elect. I also heard you use it in your message yesterday that was transmitted by family radio and I guess the worst fear is that I don't feel a closeness to the Lord when I pray and that has me thinking, okay, what does it mean to be the elect? Maybe I'm not one of them.

What do I do? Well, Ruth, thank you for giving us a call and for asking for clarification on that and you're certainly correct that this is a word that we find in the Bible and so we're forced to think about it and to say, okay, Lord, what are you talking about here? The text that I would go to is in Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 3 and listen to how the apostle Paul talks here because he uses this word in the context of praising God, not in the context of trying to strike fear into your heart or the heart of Christians, but in the context of praising God he says to the Ephesian church, Ephesians 1-3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Now that word chose is the Greek word eklego, it's where we get the word elect from, and this is what Paul is talking about, even as he chose us in him that is in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved, and there in the beloved is another reference to Christ. And so what we're talking about here is God's sovereign choice of his people, of the individual here, not on the basis of their works or anything that they've done, but solely on the basis of his mercy. Paul also talks about this elsewhere in places like Romans 9.

Romans 9-11 discusses this in the context of Israel and their rejection, many of them having rejected the Messiah, and Paul's making sense of that there in Romans 9-11. But just the reason this raises so many concerns, and it did for me too, Ruth, initially. So you're not alone wrestling through this wondering, well, am I elect? Because sometimes, I don't know, I don't feel very spiritual. Or, you know, there are moments where I really have a sense of God's presence in my life and it seems so strong, and then there are other moments where that sense of his presence doesn't seem to be there, and I question whether or not I even am a child of God.

I struggle with sin still and so forth. Well, notice here that Paul says, look, this being called by God, chosen by him, isn't dependent upon how you feel. We are chosen in Christ, and so the big question here is, do you believe in Jesus? Are you trusting in him? Do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? And so we trust in him.

We're not looking to our feelings or even to how well we're, you know, obeying the commandments of God, per se. We're saying, look, God, I believe in your promise, the promise of your word. I believe in Jesus. I recognize that I'm a sinner and I need forgiveness for my sins, and I'm going to you.

And it's to the people who recognize that, people who see that, the Ephesians in particular here in Ephesians chapter one, that Paul is able to say, God chose us in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. And so I would ask you, Ruth, whether you feel like it or not, you know, whether you have a sense of God's presence while you pray or not, do you trust in Christ? Do you recognize you're a sinner in need of his mercy?

If you do, know that the Lord has welcomed you. Jesus himself said in John chapter six, you know, the one who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. We don't, you know, you can't go to Jesus sincerely and say, have mercy upon me, a sinner. And Jesus said, yeah, no thanks.

I didn't choose you. No, the very fact that you're coming to him is demonstrating, Ruth, that the spirit of God is at work in your life. And so I would take comfort from that and take comfort from the words of the apostle Paul there in Ephesians chapter one. And that's precisely what these doctrines are supposed to do. They're supposed to cause us to say, Lord, it's not my holiness.

It's not how I feel. It's your sovereign goodness. And ultimately, all of that should result in praise and worship and saying, God, thank you. Thank you for the great mercy that you've shown me in your son Jesus. And that's precisely how Paul concludes the discussion about sovereign election in Romans 9 through 11. In chapter 11, that whole concluding section, it ends with a doxology, praising God. And even here in Ephesians chapter one, there's this doxology, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so this idea, this doctrine, shouldn't cause you to be afraid. It should cause you to wonder and say, oh Lord, you've been so merciful to me and I didn't deserve it. Yes, I love your son.

I received your son. He is my hope. And I would just encourage you to continue to place your hope and your trust and your faith in Jesus, resting in him. God bless Ruth. That is so well said, Adriel, and I'm sure it has brought comfort to a lot of people who ask that same question that Ruth did. They wonder, they say, you know, I just don't feel close to God right now. I feel like, you know, there's somehow a wall between us, or my actions haven't been reflecting my faith, and maybe I'm not chosen.

Maybe I'm not one of the elect. What a great, what a great comfort. And that's, again, we've talked about the spiritual battle that we're all in. That's one of the tactics of the evil one, is to get us to question or doubt the identity that we have in Christ, the forgiveness of Christ, really the word of God ultimately. And I do want to just reiterate again how important it is for us to grasp that in the context of talking about this doctrine in both Ephesians 1 and Romans 9 through 11, Paul breaks forth into praising God, into doxology, into just wonder over the fact that God is the Lord, and He's sovereign, and yet He's merciful to us when we go to Him. And so you place your trust.

It's not like we're trying to climb into heaven and figure out, okay, God, you know, am I elect, am I not elect? No, we're placing our trust in Jesus. It's in Christ. And so we rest in God's promises and His word, which is sure and true and real.

And that's what we need to go back to continually. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life. Maybe you have some doubts about the Christian faith.

Maybe you're struggling in some way and could use some prayer. Here's our phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can always leave us a voicemail at that number as well, 24 hours a day. Let's go to Alfred calling in from Kansas. Alfred, what's your question for Adriel? My question is, I go to Bible study, and I got this one brother that goes to Bible study with us. He don't believe in the Trinity. I was wondering, can you still make it to heaven if you don't believe in the Trinity? Often a really good question, and really one that gets to the very heart of why we do this broadcast, Core Christianity, because we want to talk about the core doctrines of the Christian faith.

Now, we often talk about all sorts of things. Not everything strikes at the vitals of what we believe as Christians, but there certainly are some things that do. Belief in the Holy Trinity, that is belief in one God, three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and in glory, as the Church has confessed for 2,000 years, and as I would say, is the clear teaching of the Bible in the Old Testament, but more clearly even in the New Testament as well. The Father referred to as God, clearly, the Son as God, the Holy Spirit being God, one God, the same in substance, equal in power and in glory. And if somebody was to reject that, say they were to say, well, no, I believe in God the Father, but I think Jesus was a created being, or I believe in God the Father and God the Son, but I don't believe in the Holy Spirit as God.

That's more of an impersonal force or something like that. That would be heresy. That would sever someone from the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You can't get the doctrine of God wrong or reject the true doctrine of God and still be a Christian, because essentially what we're doing is we're believing something that is contrary to the Scriptures, but again, gets to the very heart of our salvation. We're saved by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We're baptized, Matthew 28, into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We're not baptized into the name of some creature or some impersonal force.

We're baptized into the divine life, if you will. And so this is really central to what we believe as Christians. And so this is one of those errors that does strike at the vitals, gets straight to the jugular of the Christian faith, so that if somebody rejected it, that you no longer have Christianity. Now, I don't know this individual who's in your Bible study with you, what angle he's coming from. I know that you have Jehovah's Witnesses and other kinds of Unitarians and whatnot who think that the Bible doesn't teach the deity of Christ or the deity of the Holy Spirit, but my encouragement to you would be to say, one, well, just to recognize the level of error that you have here, to go to those passages of Scripture that do clearly teach the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, that Christ is God, the eternal Son of the Father. Places like John chapter 1, verse 1 and following, Romans chapter 9, verse 5, Colossians 1, 15 and 16, by whom all things were made. Go to those places and appeal to this individual and say, brother, you're in a dangerous spiritual condition if you reject this doctrine.

And get a hold of some of the resources that we offer on the broadcast. Core Christianity is an excellent one because it has a chapter on the deity of Christ and the Trinity. And so maybe if you stay on the line, Alfred, we can get you a copy of that book. And I do hope that you're able to get into some good discussions with this individual in your Bible study. Alfred, thanks so much for your call and for listening to Core Christianity and for your concern about this gentleman in your study as well. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. So what are the core doctrines of the Christian faith and how can you be sure you're part of a biblical church?

We receive questions like that all the time. All the time here at Core Christianity. And to answer these questions more in depth and more in depth than we can often go into on the radio, Pastor Adriel wrote a brand new Bible study on those topics. Yeah, the team has put together a new study called We Believe, really a team effort here. And this study looks at the Nicene Creed.

This is actually just an excellent resource for the brother I was just speaking to. And for those of you who have questions about the doctrine of the Trinity, the Nicene Creed is an ancient summary of biblical truth that has been passed on for centuries, teaching each new generation the essentials of the faith. We have it recited actually every Sunday as an act of worship in the church that I have the privilege of pastoring. This study will help you know and love the biblical truths that every true church of Christ proclaims, like the doctrine of the Trinity, the resurrection, the second coming, and more. When churches falter or go astray, it's because they neglect these great truths that all Christians at all times have confessed.

That's why the modern church has to stand on the treasure of these core truths more than ever. And so we'd love to send you this study for a gift of $25 or more. And you all should know that getting these resources is what helps to sustain our work. Right now, a small group of passionate donors keeps core Christianity on the air, and we must grow that support in order to sustain what God is doing and to expand our reach. You know, it's so true, and with your help, people's lives are being changed every day. We get letters and emails and voicemails all the time of people who are sharing how our answers to their questions have made a huge difference for them to keep going in their Christian life, to turn their life around, or to find comfort and confidence in their faith once again.

Yeah, Bill, it really is amazing and humbling to get to be a part of this. And so, as the end of the year approaches, please consider sending a gift of $25 or more to help continue this work. If you send in that gift of $25 or more, we will send you Pastor Adriel's brand-new Bible study, We Believe. This study is really a tour through the biblical truths and doctrines essential to our faith. To get this, just head over to corechristianity.com forward slash offers, and you can call us at 833-843-2673 for help getting any one of our offers.

What we do receive voicemails here at the core, and here's one that came in earlier this week from Elizabeth. I'm wondering about the concept of original sin. It doesn't seem fair that God would create people who are already condemned when they're born. They didn't have any say in being born, and our theology teaches us that they're born already under condemnation, and then if they do not accept Christ, subject to eternal torture. I really struggle with this as a believer.

It just hurts my heart, especially as a parent. Why would God do that? Like, why is it worth it to make people only to have so many subject to eternal torture when they didn't have any choice in being born and being born with a sin nature?

Thank you. Appreciate this question, and the heart behind the question, I can tell that it's really does trouble you. I remember when I was studying this doctrine in particular, preparing for ministry. I was in seminary, and we were talking about the doctrine of original sin in class, and we were talking about how original sin is something that's immediately imputed to us. There's nothing in between us and original sin that mediates it to us, but as human beings born under Adam, we all inherit this sin, original sin, the guilt of Adam's first sin, together with the corruption of our whole nature, and all the actual sins that proceed from that as well. And so you think, well boy, if that's how children are born, what happens to a child that dies in infancy, or are they really responsible?

And so there are a couple of different questions there. Now with regard to the children dying in infancy, I think we can say, well no, we believe that the same God who has created the world and made the world in which we live, we don't have hope that those children who die in infancy are saved miraculously because they're guiltless per se, but because God is merciful. And I do happen to believe, I mean this is my personal view, that those children who die in infancy are in the presence of the Lord. And I think there are some passages in scripture that you can go to there. With regard to the fairness of this whole thing, I wonder if sometimes part of the issue is just our own perspective.

As Westerners and being highly individualistic, the idea of corporate responsibility is something that we have a little bit more of a difficult time with, whereas other cultures maybe have less of a difficult time with that. But clearly the Bible has this sort of covenantal background, this ancient Near Eastern background, and we are responsible for what our federal head, as theologians sometimes say, Adam, our representative, for what he didn't. And the Apostle Paul talks about this in particular in Romans chapter 5, and it is bleak when you think about it. Because of one man's sin, death entered the world and spread to all men because all sinned, Romans chapter 5 verse 12.

For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. And then Paul goes on to say, and this is where it flips around, and this is where the good news comes in, and this is what I think you need to see. In the same way that Adam's sin led to the condemnation of all, the hope of the gospel, what Jesus came to do as the second Adam, leads to justification for all who trust in him. And so it's not just, you know, that we've inherited this and are hopeless, but it's that God himself has come as the second Adam, and the free gift, verse 15, is not like the trespass. Through the free gift, by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ abounded for many the free gift of life, eternal life. And that's the hope that we have through Jesus. And so you need to have both of those together to balance it out. God bless and thanks for calling. you