I don't believe we are born with a sin nature. I believe we are born with a human nature, which means we are born with a nature of self-preservation. Think about it... what sins do babies "commit?' One steals a piece of candy from another. A conscious act to break the 10 commandments, or an act to satisfy its own need- an act of self preservation?
Our sin nature develops from our environment. Sin is, in essence, learned behavior.:
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
"Shapen" means to be formed, to devlelop. And, again, "sin" is not a noun (the name of a person, PLACE, or thing, but a verb (an action word). Sin is the wilful act of disobedience to what we know to be right rather than "a state of being.
My veiw, I suppose, in somewhat controversial, but I don't believe we are born with a nature to sin. We are, IMO, born of God, innocent and without sin. Jesus speaks in
John 3 of being born again. I believe we are spiritually born at conception. Everyone of Adams race is born of God at conception. At the physical birth, they enter a sinful environment where they learn and act on sin. As sin comes to reign in our bodies, there come a need to be "reborn of God" according to Jesus' teachings to Nicodemus. The sinful nature we incurred from our environment must die at repentance so we can be reborn spiritually. Thats the reason John said
1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Once we are born the 2nd time (born of God), we no longer have the nature (ned, desire) to commit sin.
Lets look at this a little closer: Jesus said in
John 3:
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Unless we are RE-born (2nd birth) in God, we cannot SEE (Understand, comprehend) the Kingdom of God ( Spiritual matter, the church. Note: NOT "the kingdom of heaven"' but rather "kingdom of God", the church, etc.) Compare with 1 Cor, 2:14- the natural, un-regenerated mind cannot comprehend spiritual matters)
Nicodemus confused spiritual birth with natural birth and Jesus made it clear he was not referring to natural birth.
Then Jesus says this:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. First, notice the absence of the word AGAIN. Jesus is saying you must be born again (at repentance) in order for us to understand the things of God. Then He is saying we must obey the elements of the Gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord in order for us to ENTER (occupy our place) in the Kingdom of God (or the Body of Christ).
We are born physically without sin, (created in Gods image) but with a freewill. With freewill, we learn and commit sinful acts.
Our sin nature (those acts that we learned by our enviornment) is shed when our sins are forgiven at repentance. We begin to understand the Gospel and spiritual matters by studying and being taught the Word of God. We are RE-born into Gods nature (the nature we had at birth- created in God's image....without sin) by obeying the Gospel of repentance, water baptism and being filled with the Holy Ghost. We are
"baptized into One Body" (the church) thru the reception of the Holy Ghost (
1 Cor. 12:13)
There is no sin nature except that which we develop as we mature phyiscally.
Threaded Mode
