People often say we have original sin - that sin has been passed on to us from Adam and therefore everyone is born a sinner and in need of salvation.
Others counter that it is death that has been passed on to us, not sin, by quoting this Bible verse:
Therefore, just as sin entered into the cosmos through one man, and death through sin, so also death pervaded all humanity, whereupon all sinned. [Romans 5 : 12 DBH]
Sinning is missing the mark, the goal, the target.
The goal for humanity is to have eternal life, to be in the image of the perfect human, Jesus Christ, as we were originally created (Genesis 1 : 26).
Because death has been passed on to us, we are missing the goal of eternal life. So we are sinning because of the death (the mortality) we have inherited.
Consequently, it can be said that both opinions are correct since both death, and consequently sinning, have been passed on to us.
But thankfully this is not the end of the story. God's promise for the future is so much better than that.
All of us who are mortal, as Adam became, will become immortal like Christ.
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
[1 Corinthians 15 : 22 NIV]
And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.
[1 Corinthians 15 : 49 DBH]
All this is possible because of what Jesus has done for us - he's paid the price for our sin and defeated death for us - which we have just celebrated again at Easter.
And we can begin experiencing the excitement of this life (although only in a limited way while we remain in these earthly bodies) when God awakens us to His plan and gives us the faith to believe it and trust Him in it.
And that will be for everyone eventually, some in the past, some in the present, and the remainder in the future, so all will bear the image of Christ when God's plan is completed.
So as one sin of Adam brought the punishment of death to all people, so too one good act that Christ did makes all people right with God, bringing them true life.
[Romans 5 : 18 EXB]
Blessings, Barry
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