QUESTION No. 24 SUNDAY September 27, 2026

Q. Am I born sinful or sinless?

From childhood, I have lived in a state of permanent guilt. Raised to believe that from the moment of birth, I was filled with sin. One man sinned at the beginning of time and now I must carry the burden of his sin.

That’s a heavy load for any adult, much less a child.

Still, I hear this preached today with much conviction. A Bible study guide reads…

“Every human being is born with a sinful nature and stands in rebellion against the perfectly righteous God.”

And…

“All humans are born morally and spiritually against God, infected by rebellion and deserving of God’s judgment.”

The term “sinful nature” could simply mean we hold the capacity for sin, like a rattlesnake that is considered lethal by nature because of the deadly venom resident within.

Or it can be read, sin is intrinsic to our being. And the claim “born morally and spiritually against God” would support such a position.

This leaves me asking…

Am I guilty for being born?
Am I responsible for another man’s sin?
Does God create beings that are evil by nature?

…..

In the beginning, God created all things. And all things were good - very good. God made us, man and woman, in “His image and likeness” and placed us in a garden rich with life, beauty, and abundance. And He blessed us.

But living in such joyous plenty was not enough for us. We, made good by God and imbued with free will, chose to walk a different path.

We rejected God’s order for an imaginary possibility in which we, not God, would build the structure of reality.

And for this transgression, we have since lived in a “fallen state”.

A WORD ON THE WORD: The Greek verb (hamartanō) can mean to miss, fail, go wrong, err. But the common interpretation of sin as “missing the mark” seems greatly oversimplified, and with it the possibility of rendering sin benign or harmless. Some biblical scholars have gone so far as to label this interpretation a “root fallacy” - a missing of a mark of its own. However, Paul in Romans depicts sin as a much more potent force - a personified power that enters, reigns, enslaves, and pays wages. That’s more than just a near-miss.

Adam sinned and this sin created a shared guilt that has been passed down to all who came after.

“We were all in that one man,” wrote Augustine, the 4th century scholar in his book, The City of God. Augustine transferred that one man’s sin onto the condemned mass of humanity - “massa damnata”.

But was it all who had fallen, or just one man?

And was it humans who had fallen, or the world itself?

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
- Romans 3:23

As humans, each of us is born. But the two humans most associated with sin – one as originator and one as emancipator - were in fact, not born as we are.

Adam was human but was formed of the earth. And Jesus was born yet divinely conceived. So both were human, yet neither were born exactly like us.

According to Scripture, Adam was formed sinless and became a sinner.

Jesus too was born without sin, and while tempted as we are, did not sin.

"And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin."
- 1 John 3:5

What exactly then has “fallen”?

What has fallen is the world, not man. The first sin of Adam brought death and disorder. Death carried with it fear, scarcity, and the daily fight for self-preservation. If an end to life must come, then we want this life to be under our command filled with what we want within an order we control.

And with death, disorder. But disorder from what?

Reality.

A reality built upon a moral, righteous, just truth that enables and empowers life to flourish. God’s truth. The divine order.

"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord's people.”
- 1 Corinthians 14:33

God created a world of harmonious order out of chaos.

In a state of chaos, or disorder, nothing functions as intended. All relationships fracture.

God from man.
Man from man.
Man from earth.
Man from life.
Man from self.

Every break in the order brings suffering. And suffering provides further cover for us to sin.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness."
- Romans 1:18

Adam’s sin changed creation - God’s divine order. But did it change us?

We are born bearing the image and likeness of God. In line with all of God’s creations – we are born good, very good. Yet we arrive into a disordered world.

Pre-loaded with moral agency, we exercise our free will not to follow God’s order but to construct our own reality.

A reality where we choose to set the order, we establish the truth, and we define what is right.

Adam did not act alone. He was just the first one of us.

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…"
- Romans 5:12