Adam sinned a long time ago, yet I am born a sinner today because of him. How could this possibly be fair? Is it just and righteous for God to have the entire human race to be born in a sinful state simply because some naked guy ate from a forbidden tree? The doctrine of original sin faces two common objections: First, where is the fairness for everyone being so severely punished or condemned for two people’s sin. Second, why would God create a perfect world only to see it become cursed when Adam sinned?
In this article we will address these two common objections and then respond to three common questions regarding original sin. The questions are:
- Are We Punished for Adam’s sin?
- What about infants and children?
- Isn’t the doctrine of original sin unhealthy for society?
Objection # 1: It is unfair that we are punished for Adam’s sin.
The short answer is that we are not punished for Adam’s sin. Punishment would mean that we suffer the guilt and condemnation for what he did. We do not. We suffer from the effects of the original sin but not the guilt. When our first parents, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God, they lost the gift of God’s favor that protected them from death and suffering. They experienced a diminished goodness. This diminished goodness was extensive. Yet, it was caused by God removing his direct closeness and presence. After losing this, the rest of the human race was born in a state separate from this complete favor from God.
Let’s be clear, only Adam and Eve suffered the guilt from their sin. Everyone born since has suffered the effects of their criminal act but not the guilt. Trent Horn says that a way to think about this is to imagine a man is given an inheritance that makes him rich, but in his greed he steals more money from the estate of his deceased relative. The man’s wife and children, who didn’t know he did this, are thrilled about never having to worry about money again—until the police arrive and arrest the man, and the courts take back all the money he inherited. The courts don’t punish the man’s family members, because they did nothing wrong. However, the man’s family members still suffer because they would have been blessed with riches if he had not stolen more money. This is the best illustration of how many people can suffer the effects but not the guilt of one person’s sin.
Objection # 2: God was stupid to create a world that could be so easily corrupted.
The world we live in is one where future generations either benefit or suffer from the actions or conditions of those who have gone before them. We don’t normally find fault with that kind of system. (Though certain very flawed political systems are built on reversing this and making everything equal in result through force of law.) It is, still, impossible to imagine the world any other way. Genetic science has shown that of all the billions of people in the world today, we all have a common ancestry from one man (Acts 17:26), and the differences among us add up to about 1/10th of 1%. It is lower than miniscule. That means that what makes us human consists of a 99.9% commonality–one human race. We are all in this together, both the good and the bad.
A person can contract a disease which has been passed down from their ancestors. Another can inherit genes which makes him very athletic. This is just the way it is. In both cases, this is neither “fair” nor “unfair” that they received something from their ancestors because everyone does–good and bad. If Adam and Eve (and others after them) had not sinned, we would not say, “It’s not fair I am born into such a good condition, because I did nothing to earn it!” If you believe in the concept of inheritance, be it financial, genetic, or spiritual, then you have to accept that human beings are capable of leaving either good or bad inheritances for their children. That is just the way it is. This is the way God designed the world starting in the original creation.
Common Questions
Are We Punished for Adam’s Sin?
If we are punished for Adam’s sin then that would be unfair. We are condemned or punished for for our own sin. None of us will stand in judgement for what Adam or anyone else has done. Further, none of us are forgiven for the sin of Adam or anyone else because we are not guilty of it.
Parents are not to be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their parents; each will die for their own sin.
Deuteronomy 24:16
The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.
Ezekiel 18:20
Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
Romans 14:4
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2 Corinthians 5:10
Paul expresses this very point when it comes to understanding our sin in relation to Adam’s sin. Paul triumphantly declares:
Romans 5:12
Consequently, jut as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.
Romans 5:18
God in his majestic providence took humanity’s greatest defeat and turned it into an opportunity to show us his greatest victory. As one Easter song, the Exultet, declares:
“O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the death of Christ! O happy fault that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”
What about infants and children?
While all infants have inherited a sin nature from Adam (the absence of God’s direct blessing), God extends special grace to these infants and young children. R.C. Sproul explains that “infants who die are given a special dispensation of the grace of God; it is not by their innocence but by God’s grace that they are received into heaven.” Sinful nature, then, is not sufficient reason for God to condemn the child, for where salvation is by grace, condemnation is by works–not contracted sin but committed sin.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:18
4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
Jude 4
Those who have not had opportunity to do works which explicitly and willfully reject God are not condemned. It is unscriptural to see condemnation for those who have no willful rebellion or unbelief; they have never suppressed the truth; they have no understanding of sin’s impact or consequences; and they have no ability to choose salvation.
John MacArthur writes:
“…there is no place in Scripture in which a person suffers the judgment of damnation on the basis of anything other than sinful deeds, including the sinful deed of disbelief–a conscious, willful, intentional choice to disbelieve. Furthermore, God does not charge people with sins until sins are committed.”
John Piper commenting on Romans 1:18-19, writes in relation to infant/children and accountability:
“God only executes this judgment on those who have the natural capacity to see his glory and understand his will, and refuse to embrace it as their treasure. Infants, I believe, do not yet have that capacity; and therefore, in God’s inscrutable way, he brings them under the forgiving blood of his Son.”
For added comfort and assurance, we remember that King David had a child who was sick at infancy and then died. After his time of praying and grieving, he made this declaration:
“While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him…”
2 Samuel 12:22-23
Isn’t the doctrine of original sin unhealthy for society?
In a recent interview, Alain de Botton, a famous British atheist, said, “I love the concept of original sin, the idea that we’re all fundamentally broken and fundamentally incomplete.” When asked why de Botton explained:
Because [original sin] seems to be such a useful starting point … Imagine a relationship in which two people think they’re great—you know, perfect—that’s going to lead to intolerance and terrible disappointment when they realize that they’re not … perfect. Whereas imagine a relationship that begins under the idea that two people are quite broken and therefore they need forgiveness …
When asked to define “broken” he replied:
By broken I mean “not quite right” … So that’s why the concept of original sin seems so plausible and applicable and also kind, because it basically says, “Look, when you meet someone new … just assume that something major has gone wrong here.” Treat everybody you meet as though they were laboring under some really big problem, basically. That’s the starting point of any encounter.
The source of meeting us at this starting point is the grace which is given in Jesus Christ.
Story of Grace 