All Have Sinned?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rom. 3:2

   This is the Stronghold of the Born in Sin Doctrine. All mankind at birth are guilty of Adam’s sin and stand condemned before God. BUT, is this what the writer intended to convey? Massive evidence reveals clearly that no one in early times believed in any kind of ‘Original Sin’ doctrine or that man could inherit the guilt of another. They believed that sin is a choice people make of their own free will. So why have ‘all sinned’?   

   First, the entire Bible nowhere states that Adams's sin has been passed down to all mankind. In fact, it states the VERY opposite: Ezk.18:20, "The son shall NOT bare the guilt of the father" but some have injected a fallacy into Rom. 5:12 and insist that ‘all sinned in Adam’. By this logic, we must then conclude further that ‘in Christ’ ALL are made righteous. (Rom. 5:17-18) If Adam made everyone a sinner, then Christ has made everyone righteous!

   Certainly, no one would agree with such a notion, therefore, to prevent this Universal Salvation of all mankind, they invented the Doctrine of Election. Therefore ‘all’ means only the Elect. So in this instance all doesn’t mean all.  

   The same holds true of such passages as 1Tim. 2:4 and 2Pet. 3:9, ‘God is not willing nay perish but that ALL come to repentance and be saved’. But again, not all are saved, only the elect. You begin to see how this fallacy works. Rom. 3:23 encompasses ALL mankind, not because they have sinned (Rom. 5:12) BUT because Adam sinned. Therefore none are righteous. They must be saved in their sins, declared right and covered by grace. The package in a nut shell: Confess, believe and trust…..and DON’T ask any more questions.

   In reality, Romans 3, like Jeremiah 17, is speaking about rebellious people who have rejected God, NOT desperately wicked believers or even ALL of mankind! The writer is saying that all these wicked people are sinners and their only hope is to repent and turn to God. He is referring to ‘all who have sinned’, NOT everyone on earth. Rom. 5:12.

   Romans 3:10-18 is taken from several Old Testament passages. The ‘None’ rghteous is speaking of the folly of godless people rejecting truth. Read the passages! Psalm 14 and 53 begins: “The FOOL has said in his heart there is no God." Declaring there is no just man on earth who does good, Ecc. 7:20 is contrasted with the just righteous man! Ecc. 7:15. The end of chapter 7 concludes that God made man UPRIGHT, but he has sought out many schemes!

   Psalm 5 is again contrasting the righteous with the wicked. Ps. 40, ‘The poison of asps’ is NOT speaking about all of mankind! But wicked men who pursue the righteous. Ps. 10 is much the same, speaking of triumph over evil. The mouth full of curing and deceit is the wicked man boasting against God. Ps. 36 ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes’ is describing wicked men who despise God. And the Isaiah 59 reference is CLEARLY the Prophets warning against the overwhelming iniquity of people wallowing in their sins.

   NONE of these passages is inclusive of ALL mankind! Man is NOT born guilty of Adams's sin. Righteous people exist and have existed on earth and the Bible PROVES it! Certainly they are among the very FEW, but we cannot deny the fact that Scripture declares them right. The parents of John the Baptist, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Lk. 1:6, are said to be: ‘Both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances, blameless!’ Can we still call them ‘sinners saved by grace?’ If so, where is their transgression recorded? 

   Simeon and Anna also, Lk. 2:25-38 were in service to God and spoke by the Holy Spirit. CLEAN vessels fit for the master’s use! (2Tim. 2:20-21) Noah, Daniel and Job were delivered from judgment by their own righteousness! Ezk. 14:14. Enoch walked with God and the Lord took him, Gen. 5:24. Noah is declared PERFECT in his generation. Gen. 6:9. There is no record of Joseph sinning or Samuel and many other Prophets. Even Abel obtained witness from God that he was righteous in his obedience.

   In order to receive this truth you MUST reject your Reformed Theology that implies by conjecture that all these people were poor helpless sinners who found grace in the eyes of God and ‘declared’ righteous in their sins. However, you would be opposing the Master Himself who declared in Luke 15:7, ‘that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents that over ninety nine JUST persons WHO NEED NO REPENTANCE!’ WHY would our Lord say this if such people DID not exit? Surly in the mind of God, He would know all those who DO what is right! (1John 3:7). We understand from the scriptures that God does not listen to those who live in sin (John 9:31). Thus, we discover that even a non-Jewish individual, earnestly pursuing a relationship with God, is described as RIGHTEOUS (Acts 10:2, 22). The condition stands firm (if you will accept it) ‘Every Nation whoever fears Him and WORKS righteousness is accepted by Him!’ (Acts10:35)

   WHY is this true? BECAUSE he who DOES what is right is righteous! (1Jh.3:7) Man is created by God FREE with the ability to obey or disobey. If he chooses to sin, he receives the penalty of spiritual death (separation from God).  Physical death all mankind has inherited from Adam, but sin is a personal CHOICE and once committed demands a wage, (Rom.6:23). You cannot be reconciled in your sin by merely returning to obedience. You must be ransomed from the bondage you have sold yourself into and ONLY the blood of Christ can perform that task! (Heb. 9:14) Restored you can now walk upright with the Just doing what is right.

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