The Bible teaches that we are products of the fall of man, guilty of the sin of Adam as well as our own. But for many, this concept is hard to grasp. How can it be that we are sinners before we sin? How can it be that no human being is innocent?
Romans 5:19 – 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.
Something about Adam’s action changed our very natures as human beings. All of us who are born sons or daughters of Adam carry the stain of his sin as guilt. Thus, without the rescuing work of Jesus, all of us would be destined for total destruction.
I was recently reading the children’s book Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware in the chapter “How Sin Spread to All People,” and I came across the following illustration to help us to grasp the concept of being sinners, even before we have actually chosen sin. I think it helps. (Sorry, my copy was audio, and I do not have a page number .)
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If you still wonder how we can be sinners before we have sinned, consider this illustration. Would you say that a tree bears apples because it already is an apple tree, or does the tree become an apple tree when it produces its first apple? Well, it is pretty clear. I hope we all would agree that the reason the tree bears apples is because it already has been and is an apple tree. In fact, an apple tree (or orange tree or pear tree) can grow as a small tree for many years before it ever produces its first piece of fruit. In those early years it is still an apple tree (or orange tree or pear tree) even though it isn’t old enough to bear any fruit. And when it does bear fruit, then we would just say that the tree is producing fruit according to its nature. That is, it produces apples because it is, by nature, an apple tree.
So too we, by nature, have the sin of Adam from the very moment that we are conceived in our mother’s womb. As David prayed, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). We are, then, sinners by nature who show ourselves to be sinners by choice. For when we are old enough, just like the apple tree that eventually bears apples, so we sinners bear our “fruit” in the form of sin. As Jesus said, “each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44).
When we realize that we need to be rescued, not only because of our actions, but because of our very natures, we see something of the depth of the grace of God. We are not naturally good people who have made a few blunders. Because of Adam’s infecting sin, we are rotten to the core and are transformed by a grace that is total. May this cause us to give God even greater praise for our salvation.
Pastor Travis Peterson 