Isn’t sin the tendency of human beings to do evil?
Question:
I am particularly disturbed by the concept of Original Sin. The article mentioned that there is no original sin and every baby is born sinless. This is an Islamic concept. All along, I had been taught that sin entered into the world through Adam. The sin here is normally referred to as the tendency of human beings to do evil. If we do not have any sin when we are born then, there is a possibility that some people do not need Christ to be their savior since they do not have any sin. In Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God". In Revelation 3:2, I always believed that it referred to our spirit who had almost died due to our inherited sin from Adam. In receiving Christ, it rejuvenates our spirit and be alive in Christ.
Answer:
Whether Islam happens to teach the sinlessness of newborns or not, it does not tell us whether the concept is one taught in the Bible. If you have read articles, such as "If there is no inherited sin, then wouldn't this leave a possibility for a person to live a sinless life?" then you read through numerous passages cited to back up the point. It is those passages that you need to address. Not one of them comes from the Q'ran.
Yes, I understand that Augustine and John Calvin's teachings are popularly discussed in many denominations, but again this isn't evidence of what is right or wrong concerning this matter. It is only by appealing to what God has taught that we can establish the truth. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:3-5).
You define sin as the tendency to do evil. This is not a biblical definition. "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (I John 3:4). Sin is the breaking of God's laws.
Yes, we are born sinless and the potential exists that we could live without sin. "Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Jesus proved it was possible for a person to live sinlessly. "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). If people must sin, then you would need to define how Jesus could live without sin and still be tempted in every point like we are.
The point that Paul makes to our shame is that in the thousands of years of human history, no one except Jesus lived without choosing to sin (Romans 3:9-23). This is because we inherited something from Adam that makes us sin or that we inherit responsibility for Adam's sin. Rather, the point is that we all fail miserably in our choices. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). Adam opened the door to sin and every one of us walks right through.
Revelation 3:2 is addressed to the church in Sardis. "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God" (Revelation 3:1-2). This congregation was basically dead. It hadn't died completely yet, but it was close. There were still a few Christians in that congregation who were holding on. "You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy" (Revelation 3:5). Thus, it is not addressed to the near-death of an individual Christian, but the near-death of a church.
An individual dies because he sins. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). That is what happened to Adam and Eve. "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"" (Genesis 2:16-17). It was their breaking of God's command that caused them to die. In the same way, when we break a command of God, we die. "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come" (Romans 5:14). We become alive when we put off the old man of sin. "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin" (Romans 6:3-7).
