IMO the mistake that many people make is to focus on sin instead of a sinful nature. The fact that we have a sinful nature is indisputable. The first Adam has to die for a reason. It is corrupt; it can never be made right; it must die. The last Adam is our only hope. He is the resurrection and life.
I tend to believe that GOD is not so much concerned about our acts of sin as he is our denial of our sinful nature. We all commit acts of sin; and I'm not trying to imply that GOD is pleased with such, because he is not. But IMO he is far more concerned about our denial of our sinful nature than he is about our individual acts of sin. Because by denying our sinful nature we imply that we are inherently righteous. That is abomination to GOD, and keeps us from receiving the righteousness through the spirit that enables us to see and do righteous acts.
No, that's fair. Yeah I can understand where you're coming from...I once had a HUGE discussion with another person on another forum about which "nature" we inherit from Adam. Let me just say for the record that 'if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us' (1 John 1:8), because 'it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one' (Romans 3:10), so yeah all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
But at least to share where I'm coming from in that post; Romans 5:12:
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.
Broken into it's pieces...
1. Adam sinned.
2. Sin (disobedience, which never existed in the world until Adam) now exists in the world because of him.
3. Death [a condition] entered the world through sin [Adam's disobedience].
4. Death was passed to all people (because all were seeds in Adam when he sinned and Adam's body must die).
5. Because all sinned [an action] (in Adam).
Then I follow that up with 1 Corinthians 15 especially verse 56:
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
So for this verse, I imagine death as a scorpion chasing me daily (or that this scorpion is on my back)...and when it stings me I sin. So death compels me to sin. This is what I also call the "corruptible flesh" (i.e. "mortal" flesh).
1. Adam sins
2. Adam's body must die
3. Thus we are born with death on us (because of Adam's sin).
4. That death compels us to sin (stinging us).
5. Our sin then deserves the judgement of death (the wage of sin).
6. It's a vicious cycle...of sin = death = sin = death...until Christ saved us from "sin = death" (Romans 8:2), freeing us from this law. Sin no longer equals death because of God's grace & the cross.
7. We also receive the gift of Christ's Holy Spirit; the only Spirit powerful enough to overcome the scorpion (death) so that (eventually) we no longer suffer from its sting (to sin).
8. And when Christ comes, the scorpion (death) will finally be defeated for good.
Scripture does't say (or at least I haven't found where it says) that sin passed to all people from Adam, but that death did...and because of death we sin. Of course I haven't gone through *all* of scripture just yet, or maybe I've overlooked passages I've previously gone over (and feel free to post passages I may have overlooked), but this is where I'm coming from at least.
