CHRIST OUR REDEEMER AND “ORIGINAL SIN”
The story of mankind begins not in guilt, but in glory. In the beginning, God created man upright and good, made in His own image, capable of fellowship and obedience (Genesis 1:27, Ecclesiastes 7:29). Yet man chose the path of disobedience, reaching for the forbidden and losing the innocence that clothed his soul. Through that first act, sin entered the world, and death followed as its shadow (Romans 5:12). But does this mean that every child born thereafter carries the guilt of Adam’s sin? Some say yes. The doctrine of “Original Sin” permeates the landscape of evangelicalism and much of the even broader community of “Christendom.”
But the prophets spoke otherwise. Ezekiel, the watchman of Israel, declared by the Spirit, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father the guilt of the son” (Ezekiel 18:20). Each soul stands before God in personal accountability. Jeremiah echoed this truth when he foretold a new covenant where “everyone shall die for his own iniquity” (Jeremiah 31:30). The Lord is just. He does not condemn the innocent for the sins of their ancestors.
Children are born with hearts yet unformed in moral understanding. Moses said of them, “Your little ones…have no knowledge of good or evil” (Deuteronomy 1:39). Sin is not the air we breathe by birth, but the choice we make when the will turns against God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)—not because of Adam’s hand, but because of our own. The fault is personal, and so is the grace.
For if guilt were inherited without choice, then obedience would be impossible. But the Lord, in His mercy, calls us to repentance (Joel 2:12). His commands presume our freedom to obey. He still stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20), inviting every heart to turn and live. “Why will you die, O house of Israel?” He pleads through the prophet. “For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies…therefore turn and live” (Ezekiel 18:31–32).
Yet even in our freedom, we all have fallen. Each heart has chosen its own way, each soul has wandered from its Shepherd (Isaiah 53:6). And in that wilderness of sin, mercy found us. From the Garden where man fell to the Cross where Christ bled, God’s answer has always been redemption. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Christ did not come to condemn humanity for Adam’s disobedience, but to redeem humanity from its own. He is the second Adam, the beginning of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Him, the curse is broken, and the way back to the Father stands open. Through His blood, the heart once darkened is washed clean, and the sinner becomes a son or daughter of light (Colossians 1:13–14).
Every person stands before God with the same invitation and the same hope. “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). No inherited stain can withstand the cleansing power of that name. No ancestral shadow can remain where the light of Christ shines. The grace that flows from Calvary reaches deeper than any doctrine of inherited sin, for it touches the will, renews the heart, and transforms the very nature of man.
In Christ, we are not bound by Adam’s fall. We are freed by the Savior’s rise. His resurrection is the dawn of new creation (Revelation 1:18). He opens the prison of guilt and clothes the redeemed in garments of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). Where sin abounded, grace abounds much more (Romans 5:20).
The message of the Gospel is not that man is hopelessly born to sin, but that he is wonderfully called to holiness. The Spirit convicts, not to condemn, but to cleanse. The voice that thundered at Sinai now whispers through grace: “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Redemption does not merely erase guilt—it restores godliness. Christ does not only forgive—He transforms. He takes the rebel and makes him a disciple, the sinner and makes her a saint.
When a soul turns to Christ, a wonderful transformation begins. The old heart of stone becomes a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). The Spirit breathes where death once ruled, and new life begins to grow. Grace does not overlook sin—it overcomes it. The cross is not a license to remain fallen, but the power to rise again. “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
Let the proud heart bow before this mercy. Let the weary sinner cease from striving to fix what only Christ can redeem. There is no inherited guilt so heavy that His grace cannot lift it, no personal sin so deep that His blood cannot cleanse it. The Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29) still calls to every soul: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Therefore, let every heart come to Christ not as one condemned by Adam, but as one invited by grace. Let us stand, forgiven and free, in the righteousness of the One who died and rose again. The first Adam brought death to many, but the second Adam brings life eternal to all who believe. “By one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). The story ends not with the fall, but with redemption. Not with guilt, but with glory. Not with Adam’s failure, but with Christ’s victory.
“Theologically” speaking, we may never fully understand how sin has infected humanity. Its roots run deep, but they do not run through the veins. Sin is not a disease transferred by blood or DNA. It is not something we inherit from our earthly parents, but something born from our own choices and desires. “Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. And when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James 1:14–15). The corruption of the human soul cannot be explained by biology. It is the result of rebellion in the heart.
I may not be able to answer every question about sin’s mystery, but I know what Scripture does not teach—that babies are born evil. Children are not evil. They are innocent in the eyes of God. When Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14), He revealed something profound about the heart of God and the purity of childhood.
The Lord did not see children as sinners to be condemned but as examples of the trust and humility needed to enter His kingdom. Their hearts are tender, their faith simple, their spirits untainted by the pride and rebellion that mark mature sin. “Unless you are converted and become as little children,” Jesus said, “you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
This shows that innocence is not sinfulness. It is the picture of the heart God desires in all His children. A child does not yet know the weight of moral guilt, nor does the Bible teach that infants are born under wrath. In their unguarded purity, children reflect the beauty of God’s original design—untainted, trusting, and precious in His sight.
Sin entered the world through Adam, but it enters the heart when we walk in Adam’s steps. The good news is that we are not bound to that path. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). The problem that no human hand can cure finds its healing in the pierced hands of the Savior. Christ is not merely our example—He is our redemption. In Him, the story of sin meets its end, and the story of grace begins.
Lord Jesus, You are my Redeemer and my righteousness. I was lost by my own choice, but You found me by Your mercy. Wash me clean from every sin I have chosen, and teach me to walk in Your light. Keep me from blaming others for what belongs to my own heart. Give me the courage to repent, the strength to obey, and the faith to believe that Your cross is enough. May Your grace restore what sin has broken, and may Your Spirit make me new each day. In Your precious name, Amen.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
