From: "David Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> David Miller wrote: > I believe that the sin nature within us is simply a > drive towards selfishness, which is a drive toward sin. > However, if one resists this sin nature, he would be > blameless.
Judy wrote: > I don't think so because death reigned from Adam > to Moses even over those who had not sinned (Romans 5:14) DavidM: Careful. The text here does not say, "over those who had not sinned," but rather "have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression." Judy: I should have completed the verse however this does not change its meaning. We are told by the prophet that Adam wilfully transgressed the covenant he had with God (see Hosea 6:7) and then rather than repent he tried to hide it (Job 31:33) which is the sinful nature bearing fruit immediately and this is the inheritance he left us, the one we are born into this world with. We don't have to transgress the original Covenant because Adam did it for us. DavidM: Two verses earlier, the text clearly indicates that all had indeed sinned, even though it was a different kind of sin. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED: (Romans 5:12 KJV). Judy: Yes we all have sinned and sin is sin no matter what kind it is; we are all born with an "attitude" and it doesn't take very long for it to manifest. DavidM: Ezekiel 18 balances the teaching that God visits the iniquity of the parents upon the children with the teaching that each person will bear their own sin. Judy: In Ezekiel 18 God is speaking of repenting of personal responsibility for sin but he is not negating His Law given in Exodus 20:5; and when Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity 68 years after Ezekiel 18 and the book of the law was found - Ezra read God's law to the people whereupon they wept, were willing to put away their foreign wives and Nehemiah led them in repenting for the iniquity of their fathers (Nehemiah 9:2) because they realized they had also been walking in it. DavidM, Consider: The soul that sinneth, it 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 upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (Ezekiel 18:20 KJV). It seems to me that we cannot ascribe blame and guilt until sin is actually committed. What do you think? Judy: I think that heaven and earth will pass away before one jot or tittle of the law fails and that unless we have parents who walked in total righteousness before God we inherited and have been trained in their iniquity as well as that of the first Adam. This is why Abraham was called out of Ur and told to leave his family behind. I think that Ezekiel 18 is a call to repentance and not a revision or change in the status quo. Judy wrote: and there is no power in our flesh to overcome the "sin that indwells us". DavidM: True, no power in our flesh, but there is power in the Spirit. Judy: Only when we exercise spiritual discernment and walk after the Spirit - but old covenant people had no indwelling Spirit. Judy wrote: > He was tempted in all points as we are yet without > sin and look at how James describes the process of > sinning. We sin when we follow the lust residing in > our own heart (which is the sin indwelling us through > Adam's fall) (see James 3:6-18). DavidM: Right, which would also apply to Jesus if he was a man. Judy: Only if he was a man with Adam's blood coursing through his veins which would impart Adam's iniquity and disqualify him as a sacrifice for our sin. Grace and Peace, Judy ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
