The Inevitable Truth: Born Sinful or Become Sinful?
Understanding our sin nature isn't just theology; it's the foundation for understanding everything else.
The Question That Changes Everything
Modern psychology insists we’re basically good people corrupted by circumstances, trauma, or poor choices. Popular Christianity echoes this sentiment, suggesting we start innocent and gradually become sinners through accumulated bad decisions.
As psychologist Carl Rogers famously declared: “I have little sympathy with the rather prevalent concept that man is basically irrational, and that his impulses, if not controlled, will lead to destruction of others and self. Man’s behavior is exquisitely rational, moving with subtle and ordered complexity toward the goals his organism is endeavoring to achieve.”
Most therapeutic approaches flow from this optimistic anthropology. Fix the environment, heal the trauma, adjust the thinking patterns, and human goodness will emerge.
Scripture teaches the opposite.
We sin because we are sinners!
This isn’t a mere hypothesis. This distinction determines how you understand salvation, human nature, and your desperate need for God.
The Universal Diagnosis
Romans 5:12 declares: “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”
Adam’s transgression didn’t just set a bad example; it set a bad precedent. It corrupted human nature at its core.
Psalm 51:5 confirms this reality: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” David isn’t describing his mother’s circumstances. He’s acknowledging the sinful nature present from conception.
Ephesians 2:3 removes any doubt: “Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
Not by choice initially, but by nature!
The Heart Problem
John MacArthur explains in The Gospel According to Jesus: “Sin is not merely what man does; it is what man is. It is not simply a series of acts; it is a nature, a prevailing disposition that governs all of unregenerate humanity.”
We don’t sin accidentally or occasionally. We sin inevitably because sin defines our core nature apart from Christ.
Jeremiah 17:9 exposes this truth: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
The problem isn’t external circumstances or poor choices; the problem is internal corruption.
Why This Matters
Understanding original sin demolishes three dangerous misconceptions:
First, the myth of inherent human goodness disappears. People aren’t inherently good, but they have some bad habits. We’re fundamentally corrupted, capable of good only by God’s restraining grace.
Second, the possibility of earning righteousness vanishes. If we’re sinners by nature, not just by choice, then better behavior cannot solve our core problem. We need a new nature, not a new strategy.
Third, the necessity of supernatural salvation becomes obvious. Natural solutions cannot address supernatural problems. Only divine intervention can transform a sinful nature.
The Practical Implications
This doctrine should humble us completely. R.C. Sproul writes in Chosen by God: “We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Sin is not a thing we do; it is a condition of our hearts.”
In your marriage, parenting, business relationships, and personal struggles, remember this truth. The people around you aren’t basically good people making bad choices. They’re fallen image-bearers desperate for grace, just like you.
When someone disappoints you, betrays your trust, or acts selfishly, don’t be shocked. Expect it. Then respond with the same grace God showed you when you were His enemy.
The Gospel Connection
Romans 5:19 provides the solution: “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Adam’s disobedience made us sinners by nature. Christ’s obedience makes believers righteous by nature.
This is substitutionary transformation, not behavioral modification.
We cannot improve our way out of original sin. We need a new birth, a new nature, a new heart. Only Christ provides this through His perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection power.
Moving Forward
Stop trying to fix your sinful nature through better habits, positive thinking, or moral effort. These approaches treat symptoms while ignoring the disease.
Instead, acknowledge your complete spiritual bankruptcy apart from Christ. Then rest in His finished work that not only forgives your sins but transforms your very nature.
This isn’t pessimistic theology; this is realistic anthropology that leads to glorious soteriology. Or another way of saying this: this isn’t pessimistic thinking about people; it’s a realistic truth about human nature that reveals the glory of God’s salvation.
The doctrine of original sin isn’t meant to discourage you. It’s meant to drive you to Christ, where sinners become saints not through self-improvement but through supernatural transformation.
Until next week, remember: understanding what you are naturally also helps you appreciate what you become supernaturally through Christ.
To His glory,
Thad M Brown
Bibliography:
Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
MacArthur, John. The Gospel According to Jesus. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008.
Pink, Arthur W. The Doctrine of Human Depravity. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999.
Rogers, Carl R. On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961.
Sproul, R.C. Chosen by God. Carol Stream: Tyndale, 2017.
Spurgeon, Charles H. Original Sin. Sermon Series, Metropolitan Tabernacle.