The Wages of Sin

• The coming of sin into the world
• Satan deceived Adam and Eve
• Should God have punished Satan instead of humanity?
• Original sin and the formation of the doctrine
• Man, the image of God
• What does the Bible say about sin?
• Incorrect interpretations
• What proves that there is no original sin?

The coming of sin into the world  

Gen 3:22-24: “And Jehovah Elohim said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever…!” 23 Therefore Jehovah Elohim sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Years ago, when I pondered the nature of sin and its consequences, I thought this way: Man has free choice in his life. However, Adam and Eve had no desire or intention to sin. They were just inexperienced; never before had they faced a situation where they had to decide to resist the temptation. In this sense, God did not create his perfect image, but a spiritually weak couple to resist sin that they did not even know well. They were like a young child in a cookie jar from where her mother had forbidden to eat.

God, who knows all of this in advance, must have known of Satan’s fall and his intention to seduce Adam and Eve. Why did he let it happen and not make them strong enough to stand up to Satan’s temptations? We also know God, even before the creation of the world, planned a special mission for his Son. The Son’s assistants (apostles) were already in God’s plan, as were his chosen followers. Adam and Eve, the first people, were by no means perfect when they were deceived by Satan. They had just not been deceived by Satan before. If only we were to believe that God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than those of us humans, even though we were created in the image of God – almost godlike beings.

If Jesus had been both God and the perfect man, as the main churches believe, Jesus would not have had temptations to overcome. But Jesus was a man, and even he was not perfect in the beginning, but he became such through suffering. Heb 2:10 ” For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” – Adam and Eve’s life had been carefree without any suffering. No one had ever tried to deceive them, meaning they were completely unprepared for Satan’s seduction. Jesus also had to learn obedience through suffering: Heb 5:8 ”though he was a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which he suffered, 9 and having been perfected, became to all them that obey him, author of eternal salvation.”

Jesus’ earthly suffering made him perfect to receive from God the high position and power, all power in heaven and on earth. The elect of God will also be tested and taught during their lives on the earth to receive high government position under Christ in the Kingdom of God.

The angels of God in heaven are completely obedient and sinless. Instead, all people have sinned. If everyone has a free choice to sin or not, why does everyone sin? Wouldn’t there be even one who is free from sin? There is no such person; Paul said in Rom 3:23: ”for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Now, after years have passed, I am returning to these questions and would like to start by saying that I left these things to the last because I found them very difficult.

There are two opposing views in my writing;

(a) an ancient view of the original sin interpreted differently by churches.

(b) the opinion that man commits sin in his own lusts and is lured by Satan to sin.

I reflect on the nature of sin and how it manifested itself in human activities. At the same time, speaking of original sin, it is assumed to be part of human nature since Adam and Eve. One might ask: Has God planted sin in man’s nature so that man will always be inclined to it? It would mean that Adam and Eve would have had this tendency to sin already when Satan was tempting them.

The red thread in this article is that Satan has been involved since the time of Adam in luring and deceiving people. Human behavior, both in good and bad, comes from an external example; Moses, Abraham, and Jesus gave man a good example to follow. The examples in this world are often such that bring out the celebrities and stars whose example emphasizes success, money, fame, etc. Satan, whose goal is to make man forget the word of God and make people live according to ‘the course of this world’ (Eph 2:2), strikes right there.

Satan deceived Adam and Eve

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve lived in Paradise, God’s creation for them. They had a connection with God. They were the first people, and they lacked nothing. All Christians know how Satan seduced and deceived Eve and also Adam.

However, God had warned Adam saying, Gen 2:16-17 Jehovah Elohim 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 of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.” – Did Adam really understand what “you will surely die” meant?

Satan tempted them to disobey saying:

Gen 3:5 ”for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

What a Great temptation:

1) “Your eyes would open.” What might Adam and Eve have thought? Is something hidden from us?

2) ”You will be like God.” Perhaps Adam and Eve realized that they were not like-God yet. Did they think “what do we lack”?

3) ”knowing good and evil”. Did Adam and Eve We only know what is good in paradise. What about outside paradise? What could be there? Why shouldn’t we know everything like God?

The transgression of disobedience, seemingly minor in itself, was, in fact, great — an act contrary to God’s will. They tasted the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil because Satan had assured them that they would then learn, like God, to distinguish between good and evil. Adam and Eve knew nothing about the world. What did they know about the good? Maybe they knew God was good. They knew nothing about evil. However, they were fascinated by obtaining the knowledge. Even today, man is looking into things and seeking knowledge. Modern man may think from Satan’s argument that “it is good, every man should know the difference between good and evil.” The world would be better if only people knew and remembered this difference. In my opinion, the following question is most important: Why shouldn’t Adam and Eve be allowed to know the difference between good and evil?

Why didn’t God want the first people to understand this? Gen 3:22: Jehovah God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…”
3:23 Therefore Jehovah Elohim sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

– God says [to the angels]: The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…”

Is this what God said to be understood as meaning that God wanted Adam and Eve to remain ignorant of the good and evil that can be in the world? The Bible has been given to mankind so that we can distinguish between good and evil. Jesus and the apostles made every effort to explain this to their hearers. Why didn’t God want them to have eternal life? When Adam and Eve lost this eternal life that was originally meant to them, it was considered by many to be too much of a punishment.

Surely, at this point, you have to ask: God, what is your purpose when you say that your ways are much higher than ours and we cannot understand your purpose?

I have used Adam and Eve a parable, that they were like children at a cookie jar. Although the mother had forbidden them to go to the jar, it attracted children like honey attracts bees. It was not a rebellion against God in the same way that Satan wanted to become God and replace him, and in order to achieve that, he would sacrifice even the millions of angels under his command.

I can easily understand Jews and Muslims. When you look at a small newborn baby, it is difficult to see the baby being taken by the original sin inherited from Adam and Eve. Children are sometimes disobedient: they “go for a biscuit can” or otherwise disobey their parents’ instructions. But note: children are not disobedient to God’s commandments. Only teen-age children begin to understand what is right and what is wrong. Only after they have been taught what is right and wrong. It is only then that they will begin to have an understanding of God’s will. After they have understood it and yet acted against it, they sin. However, small children are free from original sin.

I am quite sure that children and young people for the first time committing offenses, do it after learning it from the environment. If the environment were filled with God-fearing righteousness, for example, youth crimes and all sorts of sin would not exist, at least not as much as today.

However, the world and its nations are fragmented into numerous religions and thousands of denominations. All religions face the same problems. However, I now stick to Christianity and the problems and causes of Christianity.

There are approximately three billion Christians. Most live “according to the way of this world.” Sinful life has become the new normal. What did Peter write? “Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pet 5:8)

God destroyed mankind except for the Noah family. Sin did not disappear, but it manifested itself stronger and stronger to afflict mankind. Does man have a built-in attribute, the original sin, which manifested after the fall of Adam and Eve to all people and does not leave humanity?

Even though the sins of our ancestors do not inherit, something else is inherited – death. Adam and Eve were immortal before falling into sin and would have lived forever had they not sinned. The consequence of their sin was that they became mortals. It was manifested in a way that, over time, human life expectancy decreased from nearly a thousand years to an average of about 70 years.

God gave the world dominance to Satan

• Satan is still the King of this world
• Satan leads people to sin

Should God have punished Satan instead of humanity? 

Satan rebelled against God and deceived the first people with false promises. I ask, shouldn’t God have punished Satan so he could no longer deceive humanity? God did not do this, but on the contrary, God gave the whole world to Satan.

Towards the end of this article is a paragraph about Satan’s influence on human behavior. Its starting point is completely unknown to many and many do not agree. However, it is based on the clear word of the Bible.

The reason for humankind’s sinful cycle is that God gave this world to Satan. Satan is the king of this world and the greatest influence in the world. However, Satan’s power will come to an end. After all, God has promised all power in heaven and on earth to his Son Jesus Christ.

Since then, Satan has played a central role in the sinful behavior that afflicts mankind. One might ask: will humankind be healed if Satan is removed from deceiving men? If Satan is no longer deceiving mankind, will evil go away from people’s minds? The Bible knows what’s going to happen. I’ll come back to that soon.

Original sin and formation of doctrine

What proves that there is no original sin?

Of the three Abrahamic religions, only one, Christianity, recognizes the existence of original sin. Jews and Muslims do not believe in the existence of an original sin.

Lutheran confessions tell how sin passes from ‘father to son’:

“Even now, in the midst of this corruption, God does not create or cause sin in us, but through the human nature, which is still God’s creation, the original sin is passed on from the sinful father and mother in bodily conception and birth.”

According to most versions of the original sin doctrine, man is responsible and guilty in front of God for having the corrupt nature of the original sin, even though man cannot influence it in any way.

What is Original Sin?

Kristinusko.fi (a Christian website) defines original sin as follows: “Original sin is a practical theological expression of man’s inherited tendency to sin, that is, to live his life independently of God and Jesus. But we are guilty of the fall ourselves. We cannot blame Adam or Eve for being slaves to sin. We got the sin through our own choices.”

Original sin is called in some other languages “Inherited sin”.

The term “original sin”, deals with the sin of Adam’s disobedience to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil against the word of God and the effects of this transgression on the rest of humanity. Original sin can be defined as “Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden and the consequent guilt that we all have in God’s eyes as a direct result of Adam’s sin.“ Original sin doctrine focuses specifically on its effect on our position before God, before we are old enough to commit conscious sin. – This definition has long emphasized the doctrine of the churches that all people are guilty of Adam’s sin. The doctrine is so advanced that even children are responsible before God for Adam’s sin.

Why did the Church Fathers emphasize Adam’s responsibility alone? It was Eve who picked the fruit and gave it to Adam.

Augustine, Father of the Church, also a proponent of the doctrine of predestination, explained that as a result of his fall, Adam’s descendants have been subjected to sin and death, and that man is completely lacking both will and capacity for good. Man is dead in sin.

Saint Irenaeus and Saint Augustine illustrate these two aspects. However, Augustine thought that the first sin was the result of a very conscious, adult decision that really harmed human nature and was transmitted through reproduction.

The teachings of Augustine received the strongest support in the West. Almost its opposite was the rise of Pelagianism; monk Pelagius claimed that man has free will and ability to live without sin and thus to contend for eternal life as his goal. It was essential for the Pelagians to have faith in the teachings of Jesus and in the Word of the Gospels in the Bible. The mutual love of people and the deeds that flowed from it were believed to achieve salvation.

The British monk Pelagius has begun the school of thought bearing his name; man is born as innocent as Adam. Man has free will and ability to choose good or bad. If one has fallen into sin, he can rise from sin by his own means. Man is also able to live his life according to the will of God.

”Pelagius denied Augustine’s theory of original sin. His adherents cited Deu 24:16 in

support of their position. Pelagius was declared a heretic by the Council of Carthage (418). His interpretation of a doctrine of free will became known as Pelagianism.”

The Pelagians argued that if a man is incapable of doing any good, can he be held accountable for his actions? There was confrontation between Augustine’s faith and grace, and the acts of faith emphasized by Pelagianism. – Augustine’s conception won in the West, and Pelagianism was condemned to be heresy in 418. Pelagian doctrine states that man has the free will to choose between good and evil, salvation and loss. According to Pelagius, free will is a prerequisite for ethics; if one does not have free will, one cannot be guilty of one’s actions, and on the other hand, if one’s destiny is predetermined and one’s own choices cannot influence one’s fate, ethical behavior is absurd. Thus, Pelagius’ eschatology is synergistic and requires man to take active measures, after which he is rescued by God’s actions – Christ’s atonement. Pelagius was opposed to the original sin because of inconsistency and internal contradiction.

We may well ask, like Pelagius, how can man be held accountable for his actions if God has not given him the ability to do good?

Has God predestined the role of men in the coming salvation? Has God really made some people for “bad things” and others for “noble use.” Romans 9:21: “Or has not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour?” – Many consider this Bible passage as evidence of predestination. Paul says this in this way: 2 Tim 2: 20-21 “In a large house there are not only utensils made of gold and silver, but also those made of wood and clay. Some are for special use, while others are for ordinary use.21 Therefore, if anyone stops associating with these people, he will become a special utensil, set apart for the owner’s use, prepared for every good work.”

– Man himself can influence his own destiny. Leaving the familiar environment can be difficult under the pressures of this world.

For Irenaeus, according to uscatholic.org, the disobedience of Adam and Eve was more of an act of a child who did not know better. Irenaeus thought that Adam and Eve’s turning away from God was due to their immaturity and weakness. Augustine saw in human nature a fatal mistake: pride. To him, pride meant the ability to use his free will to try to live without God – to see yourself only in relation to yourself, not to God, and to feel false autonomy, and you forget that you were created.

In 439 at the Ephesus Ecclesiastical Council, the Catholic Church reaffirmed the notion of original sin that it is not in itself a sin, but a “state leading to sin.”

“The Church was keen to emphasize its importance in such a way that it is impossible to be saved outside the church. The idea that if one is able to find God’s word and salvation without the Church, the basis of faith in Christ and the significance of grace in relation to deeds will crumble.

The Schmalkalden Declaration of the 16th Century proclaims the original sin as: “This original sin is such a deep and terrible destruction of nature that it cannot be understood by any human mind, but must be known and credible in Bible revelation, Psalm 51:5.”Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.”

What is the intention of proving by reference to this verse of the Psalm? Is it to prove that man lives in sin from birth? Or that it is sinful to conceive a woman? At least in the Middle Ages, the church ordered the day of the week when to have sexual intercourse. And this was only for the purpose of childbirth. Reference is made in Romans 5:12 and Exo 33:3: “To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of you, for a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you in the way.”

– I do not understand what this verse is intended to prove. Such is the case in many apologists’ writings. Do they trust that people will not bother to check the Bible passage mentioned in the reference? Or, does their imagination find in these verses something that an ordinary man cannot see?

Does original sin exist?

In the foregoing, I briefly examined the scholarly constructions of various eras, the central content of which was often to confirm the existence of the original sin. One may ask why? People have been tied to the Church in many ways over time. Confirmation of the original sin was one of the ways in which people were constantly reminded of their sins and make them obedient members of the Church. People were assured that it was not possible for them to be saved outside the Church.

There is no original sin according to the doctrine developed by the churches. How can we be convinced?

Proponents of the original sin claim that man is not born in the “image of God” but in the image of Adam. This is defended by claiming that because Adam fell into sin, he became a sinner and his sinful nature was passed down to posterity.

Man – the image of God

That argument that man is the image of Adam is not correct. God created man in his image. The people born after Adam and Eve are still “images of God” according to the Bible. God’s image means sinless. From this, we can still conclude that when man is born, he is the image of God and has not inherited the sins or sinful nature of his previous ancestors.

Gen 5:3. Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

The following Bible verses clearly state that God created man in the image of God even after Adam. The people born after Adam are ‘God’s images’ just as Adam was.

Gen 9:6; Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. – This is in Noah’s time.

1 Cor 11:7; For man indeed ought not to have his head covered, being God’s image and glory; but woman is man’s glory. – Paul’s statement in the 50’s.

Jam 3:9; With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God. – Letter of James was written about 100 AD.

When the Bible states that man is God’s image, it means that man is sinless. Over time, sinful thoughts come to each person. If a person is not able to fight against them but implements his thoughts, he sins. Paul’s account of his spiritual struggle proves that sin is not inherited from parents to children but is learned from the environment. Romans 7:20 “But if I do what I do not want to do, I am no longer the one who does it, but it is the sin that lives in me.”

Inclination to sin                       

Do people inherit a tendency to sin? Paul writes in Rom 7:15 “I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t do what I want to do, but instead do what I hate.” – It could be inferred from this that some power is taking over man and causing man to do something sinful, even though man hates what he is forced to do. For example: Drunkenness, gambling, sex, etc. Has at least in such situations a person becomes subject to the original sin?

Can such sins be hereditary? Children of thieves would become thieves and children of drinkers would become drinkers? Young people adopt behaviors in their environment. Often, circumstances are imperative. Did Paul remember this explanation when he wrote that he was doing what he hated, though he didn’t want to? Perhaps the young man has inherited behaviors from his parents, but not all the way from Adam and Eve.

If a person does not want to do this, then who does? Well, Satan of course. He is the one who wants man to sin, which would lead to separation from God.

All humanity, except for small groups of the righteous, has lived and lives “in accordance with the course of this world.” It means that almost everyone sins. Already in Genesis 6:5 “Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

In the defense of original sin, it is typical to plead that “sin departs from man and defiles man”. And also, “sin does not come to man from outside him, but dwells in him as an inherited sinful nature, from which all other sins arise and originate.”

Man always falls first in his thoughts and then sins with his deeds or words. Throughout the ages, it has been thought that sin dwells in the heart of man from birth as inheritance from Adam. As Adam’s legacy, man’s sinful nature is corrupt and prone to sin. However, this is a misinterpretation because man is created in the image of God to be sinless. He chooses himself, but it is generally believed that the people around him make him what he is like. Another belief is: “stupidity is thickening in the crowd,” which means that man is not strong enough to resist the pressures of the environment.

While the Bible may suggest that sin from within is inherited from ancestors, it does not have to be this: Man gathers influences from the environment where Satan sows his thoughts. Inherited maybe environmental thinking and sinful practices of the environment.

Most Bible readers are familiar with the example of Satan’s influence on Judas Iscariot. Joh 13:2 By supper time, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. Luke also confirms the same: But Satan went into Judas called Iscariot, who belonged to the circle of the twelve. – We do not know exactly how long Judas had matured this thought in his mind. He must have hoped that Jesus would become a secular king who would have rebelled against the Roman Empire and liberated Israel. When it became clear at Easter that this was not Jesus’ goal, Judas was disappointed. At this point, always attentive Satan struck.

Sin from within (‘the heart’) is spoken of, in these Bible verses.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable; who can know it?

Mar 7:20 He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

Jam 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14 But every one is tempted, drawn away, and enticed by his own lust;
15 then lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin; but sin fully completed brings forth death.

What does the Bible say about sin?

Rom 5:12 ”Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to everyone, because all have sinned.” Also: Rom 3:23 ” for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

Jam 1:15 then lust, having conceived, gives birth to sin; but sin fully completed brings forth death.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the nations walk in the vanity of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;
19 Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint.
20 However, that is not the way you came to know Christ.
21 Surely you have listened to him and have been taught by him, since truth is in Jesus.
22 that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Pro 19:3 The foolishness of man overturns his way, and his heart rages against Jehovah.

It is clear from these passages in the Bible that all human beings are corrupt and sin and this reproach is not inherited but learned from the environment. Man himself is guilty of his sinful mind and of the sins he has committed, but he has not inherited his sinful tendencies, even though the doctrines of the original sins claim so.

God shows his human qualities to the people he created: God repented that He had made men on the earth. He became sad in his heart. It seems surprising to see that God has such human feelings. Didn’t God foresee the kind of development that humanity would bring? I believe that God saw everything coming. Instead, I do not yet fully understand God’s plan. Why was such a complex development needed? Again, Isaiah’s wise statement of God must be remembered. Isa 55: 9 For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Gen 8:20 And Noah built an altar to Jehovah; and took of every clean animal, and of all clean fowl, and offered up burnt-offerings on the altar. 21 And Jehovah smelled the sweet odour. And Jehovah said in his heart, I will no more henceforth curse the ground on account of Man, for the thought of Man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will no more smite every living thing, as I have done.

Noah built an altar to God and offered burnt offerings on the altar. God felt the “sweet scent” coming from the altar and promised that he would never again curse the earth for man’s sake. The continuation of the sentence is very clear; “For the thoughts of the human heart are evil from his youth.” – The evil thoughts of the human heart are born from man’s youth. Note that it does not say “from childhood” but only from adolescence. Babies and children are free from sin. Only when they are grown up, the environment infects them with sinful thoughts. Sinful actions sprout from thoughts.

Incorrect interpretations

Rom 5:12 Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all have sinned.

Room 3:10 As it is written, “There is no one righteous. No, not one.                             

11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
12 All have gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable; there is not one that practises goodness, there is not so much as one.”

Paul is quite right in Rom 5:12. Sin came into the world through one person (or two in fact). When the Bible states that the wages of sin is death, it is quite right to conclude that death has come to the lives of all men because all have sinned. How do you conclude that the sin passed to all people through one man? For centuries, churches that have spoken of the inheritance of the original sin have failed to realize that all generations of mankind have all committed their sins while living ‘according to the course of this world’.

Paul feels very hopeless when he observes that mankind is walking on Satan’s leash. From the Bible, we remember the guideline: the wages of sin is death. If a person sins, he runs the risk of receiving the wages of sin – death. First the spiritual death and then in the final judgment the ‘second death’. Everyone has sinned! Do all who have sinned receive the wages of sin? Of course not. Even though we have all sinned, we always have the opportunity to repent and be forgiven. Even as many as seventy times seven. At this point, Paul’s message is pessimistic, but surely his many writings highlight the salvation associated with Christ’s grace.

When the Bible says that all have sinned, it has been wrongly taught that babies, even fetuses, are guilty of the sinful nature they inherited from Adam and Eve and are thus answerable to God. This would mean that God would condemn people for something that they could not influence themselves. Babies have not sinned but will sin as they grow older. To sin requires awareness and understanding. No one can sin without understanding.

Contrary to popular belief, sin or the sinful nature of man does not inherit from father to the following generations:

Eze 18:19 Yet say you, Why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? when the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.
20 The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.
21 But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22 None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

Ezekiel concludes that “the son bears not the debt of the father”. Only the soul that sins must die. If a sinner turns from his sins and live righteously, he will be forgiven of his sins and live.

Man is only responsible to God for things that he has been able to influence and which he has understood as sin. Many interpretations of the original sin doctrine can be said to be misinterpretations of the Bible. The misinterpretations of the original sin doctrine in the Bible have, since the first centuries, passed through Catholic fathers throughout the Christian world. When Rom 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Many scholars have wanted to understand that infants have also sinned.

When Paul states that everyone has sinned, he is right. This is not true for an infant or a little child; a child sins later when he grows up to the age where he realizes his actions are sin. No one lives old without committing any sin. In this way, Paul’s interpretation of his message is true.

Paul describes his life in Romans 7:8 “But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.” I understand this so that if there is no God-given law, one cannot know sin. When the law is given, one realizes where he or she has sinned. NLT: But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. – The various translations of this Bible passage are quite similar to each other. Sin is seen as a person; sin awakens lusts, sin dies, sin revives … But sin is the result of man’s doings, the result of the act. It is man who sins lured by Satan. Satan causes man to sin with the temptation of sin just as in Eden’s paradise. Sin is said to awaken in the heart, even though nowadays everyone knows that thought activity occurs in the brain. The question is who or what arouses sinful thoughts in the human brain that lead to action.

According to Jewish practice, a boy will be of legal age in religious terms of 13 and a girl at 12 years of age. At this age, they will have a Bar Mitzva or Bat Mitzva party. They are now “sons of the law” and “daughters of the law.” Young people have come to an age where they are mature enough to understand the meaning of the law and the consequences of breaking it. From the religious age onwards, the young person is responsible for the observance of law, tradition and Jewish ethics. The young person also has the right to participate fully in Jewish worship: he may be called to read the Torah. Under Jewish law, he is also theoretically old enough to marry.

Satan has shaped the world we live in. The world has changed more in the last 100 years than in the previous 2000 years. I am convinced that development has taken place to a large extent under the impact of Satan.

Eze 28:16 By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire…
17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I have cast you to the ground; I have laid you before kings, that they may see you. – This description of Ezekiel of the Prince of Tire (Satan) describes how Satan’s heart was filled with violence and pride. Satan’s behavior came from within, from himself. Satan was one of the highest holy angels in the presence of God. There was no original sin implanted in Satan. No one else was guilty but himself.

1 Joh 5:19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 

The whole world is under the control of evil (Satan), says the Bible. The Bible also testifies that God gave Satan control over the world (Jer 27:5) and Jesus did not deny it (Luke 4: 6). However, human beings have the opportunity to make a choice and distinguish themselves from the system governed by Satan and the churches led by Satan.

Jam 4:7 Subject yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

God has also given people different starting points for their lives. I have written a small article on this subject.

One question in that article is, why hasn’t God given everyone as much faith as others? Otherwise, God has made people different. Some are made for ‘cheap dishes’, while others are made for ‘noble use’.

What proves that there is no original sin?

Ever since the early centuries of Christianity, it has been taught that fetuses and babies are guilty of their inherited sinful nature and thus responsible to God for being sinful. This would mean that God would condemn people for something that they cannot influence. Jesus also said, “Allow the little children to come to me! Do not forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mar 10:14).

In this way, Jesus testified that the children were pure and innocent, with no hidden sinfulness in them. Children are pure images of God. When people are born after they are pure images of God, it shows that they have no original sin. Only the childlike, pure and sinless can enter the kingdom of God.

Babies and children have not sinned but will do so when older. To sin requires awareness and understanding. No one can sin in their dreams or without understanding. If a little boy hears someone crying in a foreign language and repeats it to others without realizing that it says something blasphemous about God, he has not sinned. 

God gave the world to Satan 

Most Christians know the story of Jesus in the wilderness; When Jesus fasted, Satan came to tempt him. “If you bow down to me, you will have the whole world under your control,” Satan offered, but Jesus drove him on his way. I am in these writings commenting on this biblical story. Many are only aware of the aforementioned short excerpt and have not heard of the shocking background to it. The priests do not accidentally say anything about it. So, what happened? Luke 4:7 tells what Satan promised: “If you, therefore, will worship before me, it will all be yours.”

After Adam and Eve had fallen into Satan’s temptation, God was angry and drove them away from Paradise. With their departure, sin and death appeared to the growing humanity; henceforth, all men have sinned, and have become mortal.

But what did God do to Satan? He gave the rule of mankind to Satan. Jeremiah confirms God’s words: Jer 27: 5 “I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to me.” God saw fit to give the world to Satan: Luke confirms Satan’s words: 4:6 The devil said to him, “I will give you [Jesus] all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.

Jesus did not dispute Satan’s claim. He and the apostles in the Bible call Satan “the prince of this world.” We also know that when God gave Satan control over the world, he did not give it unconditionally or forever.

Paul describes Satan as follows: “Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8). Satan has done well in his work. Most of the world’s 7 billion people are other than new-born Christians. Nevertheless, Satan is not pleased; he knows that he failed at first when trying to kill Jesus as a baby and then as an adult, he failed to seduce him to worship himself. Satan also knows that his time is running out and that Christ has already received from God all power in heaven and on earth and will soon come to earth to exercise his power and destroy Satan’s troops.

To this day, Satan is the king of this world. If people knew that, it would be much easier for them to understand what is going on in the world. People often blame God for adversities or accidents. Wrong address! After all, they should blame Satan, but instead, people make claims to God.

The major religions still believe in centuries-old concepts of original sin. I presented my own view. It is based on Satan’s above-described activities and his influence on the people of the world. All people are under Satan’s influence! Without Satan, there would not as much sin as in the modern world. Sin is easily transmitted like Ebola disease. God has foreseen that some of the people he created can resist Satan but most cannot. God offers everyone the opportunity to break free from Satan’s influence. To accomplish his plan, God has made us “different vessels” for the purposes God meant us to be.

I ask a question: If Satan was not seducing mankind for his own course, would humankind, free from sin, be ready to follow Christ and live up to his teachings? What are you betting on? Do you know the answer?

The Bible tells you what will happen: When Satan is captured and put in chains for a thousand years before he is released again for a short time. Satan manages to seduce a large number of people and to attack the saints who are fighting Satan. The Bible tells us of Satan’s troops that; Revelation 20:8 ”and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”

– Not even a thousand-year Christ-led era free from the influence of Satan will help humanity to get rid of the influence of Satan. Even after a thousand years of Christ-reigned peace, Satan manages to seduce a large crowd to follow himself. However, Satan and his troops are being destroyed. With the defeat of Satan, Satan himself and all his troops will be condemned by the final judgment.

Jesus Christ commanded to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to all people of the world before the events of the end-time. God has foreseen that a small part of humanity will experience resurrection and will reign with Christ for a thousand years. Many will be destroyed in the Day of the Lord. For more of the Day of the Lord’s wrath, see the article The Last Days.

I have mentioned above the Bible prophecy of the coming Millennium and the time of peace that will prevail during it. All people learn to know God and live under Christ’s will. However, when Satan is released from his captivity, a thousand years free of Satan does not change the deepest nature of humankind. The ‘weak vessels’ remain weak and are attracted by Satan to the struggle against the rest of Christianity. It is not the original sin of mankind, but some of the human beings can be lured by Satan for his purposes.

– The result of the rebellion is that the fire falls from heaven and Satan and his troops are destroyed.

I think these events show that much of humanity is being deceived by Satan with false promises just as Adam and Eve once were. I do not know what Satan will promise his troops that they will leave the Kingdom of Christ for the Satan Battle Group. Sin remains firmly in the people.

However, man can be freed from sin by being born again from above, from the Spirit of God, and then he is freed from sin.

The Book of Concord Article II, page 29 (1580) or Concordia (often referred to as the Lutheran Confessions) is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since the 16th century. They are also known as the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The following passage tells clearly what is the Lutheran doctrine of original sin accepted in many Lutheran Churches – even today.

“It is also taught among us that since the fall of Adam all men who are born according to the course of nature are conceived and born in sin. That is, all men are full of evil lust and inclinations from their mothers’ womb and are unable by nature to have true fear of God and true faith in God. Moreover, this inborn sickness and hereditary sin is truly sin and condemns to the eternal wrath of God all those who are not born again through Baptism and the Holy Spirit.

Rejected in this connection are the Pelagians and others who deny that original sin is sin, for they hold that natural man is made righteous by his powers thus disparaging the sufferings and merit of Christ.”

Has God planted sin in man so that man will always be inclined to it? It would mean that Adam and Eve would have had this tendency to sin already when Satan was tempting them. I have already stated that it is not a question of God planting the original sin in Adam, and thus in all future humanity. The question is that Satan, as the king of this world, guides humanity to sin by directing human beings to sin, creating many different kinds of sins, each one of his own.

Jam 1:14-15 ”But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

Where do people every person find “his own lust”? It is learned from the environment and imitated. God doesn’t tempt anyone! Jam 1:13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

After all, it was Satan who was teasing Adam and Eve – not God.

Satan, after all, will plant sinful thoughts in people’s minds. When Satan gained world domination from God – probably under certain conditions – Satan, with millions of angels, has done his utmost to turn every man to his sinful side.

The wages of sin is death

God wants everyone to repent and be saved: 1 Tim 2:4 “who wants all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.”

God knew, before the beginning of time, that people would fall into sin, and he saved us and called us by his holy calling, not according to our deeds, but according to his purpose and grace given to us in Jesus Christ before eternal times.

God is love – most people are happy to accept this. On this basis, people in no way want to accept the word, repeatedly confirmed in the Bible, of the punishment of sinners, the eternal torment of a fiery lake. It would still be acceptable for Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin to end up with Pol Pot in a fiery lake.

Every man has sinned and receives death to pay for it: John 1:29 The next day, they will see Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The first death is that we all will have to face, but the more serious is the so-called second death, the verdict of the last judgment: By believing in the redemption sacrifice of Jesus and doing as best we can in God’s will, man is saved from the second death.

What is the punishment for those who will be sentenced to second death?

Two deaths

Rom 9:20 ”On the contrary, who are you—mere man that you are—to talk back to God? Can an object that was molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 A potter has the right to do what he wants to with his clay, doesn’t he? He can make something for a special occasion or something for ordinary use from the same lump.

12:3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

Aside from the amount of faith, God also determines who he draws to him and Christ: Joh 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.”

It is not a question of human choice but of God. Jesus also told his disciples that they did not choose Jesus, but Jesus chose them.

What should we think of the Bible verses above? First, God has not created all people the same. Some are made for ‘cheap use’, others for ‘noble use’. Those made for cheap use have received less faith than those made for noble tasks. Does this seem unfair? This is what I think: It makes no difference what happens to us in the first phase, that is, life until the first death. If God were to leave his “cheap vessels” without the possibility of salvation, it would be unfair. God himself has given different starting points to each person. If only God’s plan – which people do not seem to understand – is that all people will be saved in God’s purifying fire after the final reading of the judgment. Once more; God wants everyone to be saved! Even the greatest persecutor of Christians, Saul (later known as Apostle Paul), received mercy and salvation. Do we trust that God is love and God is righteousness? We just do not always understand the words of Isa: Isa 55: 9 ”For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” I have written a separate article
about the last judgment.