Original Sin (Inherited) vs Personal Sin
Romans 5:12 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 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression , who is the figure of him that was to come.
Romans 5:15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Romans 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned , so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
Romans 5:17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Did you notice something in all the verses where I made the text bold? They all speak of one man’s sin who was Adam. This is the original sin that all mankind inherited from Adam. We have that sin when we are born, even though we did not yet sin ourselves. That sin we are born with is enough to keep us separated from God and destined for Hell. This is the sin that is referred to in Romans 5:12 and other verses I have made bold.
Original sin is passed down through the male, not the female. Ever wonder why the generations only mention the males? Ever wonder why Mary had to be a virgin? If Mary was not a virgin, then Jesus would have had original sin, even though he himself did not sin. So he would not have been able to be a perfect sacrifice for us.
There is however another kind of sin which is personal sin. Personal sin is what we ourselves do when we know better. If we commit a sin that we are unaware of, we are not guilty of that sin. That is what Paul is referring to in Romans 5:13, when he states that without the law sin is not imputed to us. Even if we are not guilty of any personal sin, we would still be guilty of original sin though.
Not convinced of what I am saying? Notice that Paul states in Romans 5:12 that “all have sinned”. Then he states in Romans 5:14 about “them that had not sinned”. So is Paul contradicting himself? Not at all. In Romans 5:12 because of Adam we all are sinners. He states in Romans 5:14 that even if we don’t sin (personal sin), we are guilty of Adam’s sin.
Goodboy
I had always been taught that we received a “sin nature” from Adam. While that statement is correct, one could assume as I did that we received a tendency to sin, but were only guilty of our personal sin. I think it better to say that we received “sin” from Adam, not just a nature to sin. Because we received Adam’s sin, every single human is guilty before God for this sin they inherited. The only way to be freed from the sin is by believing in and accepting Jesus as your Savior.
