A reader asked me this question:
We are struggling to help our teenager with a difficult theological question that’s causing some doubt and confusion: because Adam sinned, now we are all born into sin. If from the beginning of time we had no choice but to be sinners, how is it just/fair that God holds us accountable for that? Why should we praise God for rescuing us from sin that we had no choice but to be prone to?
First, good for you that you are trying to help your teen come to grips with this difficult concept. Many people have wondered about this.
The clearest answer from Scripture is that we inherit a sinful condition from Adam, but God holds us accountable for our own sins—not merely for Adam’s. At the same time, the very principle by which sin came through one representative also makes possible our rescue through Christ. That is why grace is not unfair; it is incredibly merciful.
lnherited sin means we have an inborn sinfulness that leads to death. Scripture describes humanity as sinful from birth and says that “the many died by the trespass of the one man [Adam]” and that “through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners” (Romans 5:15, 19; 1 Corinthians 15:22). We are born into a damaged human race, with desires and dispositions bent away from God. Coming into the world as a sinner is like beginning a journey on a downhill slope. Our sin nature is coupled with our actual committed sins, pulling us toward destruction.
But being born with a sinful nature does not mean we are merely helpless victims who never personally choose evil. Although we’ve inherited sin, each of us is a sinner in his or her own right. God will judge each person according to what that person has done—not according to Adam’s deeds alone (Romans 2:6; Revelation 20:12). Scripture says, “He who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done” and it adds that this judgment is “without partiality” (Colossians 3:25).
We do not begin life morally neutral and then remain innocent until something outside us forces us to sin. The problem is within us. As has often been said, the truth isn’t that we’re sinners because we sin; rather, we sin because we’re sinners. Our sinful condition inclines us toward sin, but our actual sins are still truly ours.
In Romans 5:12, it is clear that though sin came into our lives and our nature through Adam, death spread to all men because all men sinned. Notice how the consequences of sin (death) are only introduced from the personal sin of all men, not solely Adam. It is our own sin that causes spiritual death. The fact that we were born on a downhill slope does not mean every sinful act is forced upon us by someone else. We repeatedly confirm our inherited rebellion through our own thoughts, desires, words, and actions. The Bible teaches us to confess our sins and embrace God’s forgiveness for ourselves (see 1 John 1:9).
Had we been in Adam’s place, no doubt we would have made the same evil decision he did; whether months earlier or years later is irrelevant. Remember, it takes only a single sin along the way to become eternally separated from an infinitely holy God.
I realize that the idea of inherited sin may seem unfair, but God is the proper Judge of fairness. Human beings are deeply connected across generations: physical conditions, destructive patterns, and other consequences can pass from parents to children. That does not make children blameworthy for the acts of their parents, but it does show that our lives are not isolated from those who came before us.
The most hopeful point to share with your teen is that the representative principle doesn’t end with Adam: “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life” (1 Corinthians 15:22, NLT). God’s saving plan answers the ruin introduced through Adam.
So why praise God for rescuing us from sin if we were born inclined toward it? Because God is not rescuing innocent people from an arbitrary predicament. He is rescuing guilty, corrupted people who could not rescue themselves. Our conscience, God’s revelation in creation, and His Word all warn us of the destruction ahead. But if we call upon God in Christ to rescue us and empower us, we can resist the downward pull, moving upward to the narrow road, toward a new center of gravity. The God who requires moral perfection is the God who supplies it in Jesus.
I would encourage your teen not to treat the difficulty of this doctrine as evidence that God is unjust. Adam’s sin brought corruption and death into the human race; each of us commits our own sins and is judged for them; and God graciously offers restoration and life in Christ. But the same doctrines that humble us by exposing our guilt also give us reason to praise God, because the same God who judges sin has provided the rescue we sinners desperately need.
Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” I thank God for the connectedness of humanity that allowed not just the first Adam to introduce evil and suffering to the human race, but the last Adam, Jesus Christ, to take that evil and suffering on Himself.
