Are people born sinners?

"All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all." —Isaiah 53:6 (NLT)

Yes, the Bible tells us that all humans are born with a sinful nature. That means that every human mind, will, emotion, and body has been corrupted by a compulsion to rebel against God's will.

Sin affects all areas of our existence—including who we are and what we do (Isaiah 53:6). That original sin is at the root of why we have pain, struggle, mental illness, disease, and death.

Not How God Intended

At first, everything was good. In the beginning, God called everything He created good—including human beings (Genesis 1-2). So what happened? God did not create us with that nature to want to rebel. What He did do is gift humanity with the freedom to choose our own actions. This is called having "free will."

God gave the first humans loving guidance and only one rule to follow. It was up to them to choose obedience or rebellion. Adam and Eve chose to rebel, and every human being who came after them was corrupted by that first sin.

By eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they learned about evil. Sin and shame sprang to life in their hearts and became a part of human DNA. Our inheritance from Adam and Eve is a nature that wants to sin (Romans 5:12-18).

Sinful from the Start

"For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me." —Psalm 51:5 (NLT)

David tells us that we are sinful from the moment of conception (Psalm 51:5) and calls humans “wayward” and “spreading lies” from the moment we leave our mother’s womb (Psalm 58:3). Yikes. But think about it... even in the best environment, children are going to naturally rebel against authority at some point (Proverbs 22:15).

We've all sinned against a parent or friend or someone else, then tried to avoid blame by lying. We've all harbored unjustified hateful feelings. We've all wished bad things to happen to another person. Nobody teaches us these things; it's just in our nature (Romans 3:23). No one has the right to judge another's sin because we're all guilty (Matthew 7:1-5).

What can we do about our sinfulness?

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." —John 3:16-17 (NLT)

Every human being has fallen short of God's standard or holiness (Romans 3:23). We deserve God’s wrath because of the sins we committed (Ephesians 2:3). When we seek to serve sinful desires of the flesh, we cannot do the good that God wants us to do (Romans 8:8). We are spiritually dead until we place our faith in salvation through Jesus (Ephesians 2:1).

But God loves us so much that He made a way to bring us back to life and restore our relationship with Him (John 3:16-17). We can become spiritually "born again" (1 Peter 1:23) by accepting Jesus’ death as a payment for our sins and His resurrection which proves God accepted that sacrifice.

We may be naturally born with a sinful nature (and will always have a sinful nature on this earth), but once we're saved from condemnation for our sin (Romans 8:1), we're fully restored through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus gives new life to those who choose to trust and believe in Him and His Word. He makes us sons and daughters of God, co-heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven (John 1:12-13). We no longer need to be slaves to sin; we can enjoy freedom as children of God.

ALSO SEE:

• Why did God create Adam and Eve if He knew they were going to sin?
• Did God create evil?
• What is the sin nature?
• Do humans truly have free will?
• Do we sin daily?
• How can I stop wanting to sin?
• How can I be saved?
• Are people born good?
• Are all my past, present, and future sins forgiven?
• What does it mean to be born again?
• What does it mean that a Christian is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)?