What is your legacy? A legacy is what people remember about you after you’re gone, or what you pass on down to the next generations. What if I told you that no matter what you do, you will leave a legacy of evil for those after you, and there’s nothing you can do to change that? Would you feel bad about that?
Adam and Eve, the first humans who were created, left such a legacy for the entire human race. This legacy is what’s known as original sin. Because they disobeyed God and broke their perfect relationship with him, they sinned and all of creation was suddenly broken and full of sin as well.
I would encourage you to read the entire chapter of Genesis 3 for the full story on what happened to bring the evil of sin into the world. For now, let’s look at God’s reaction to this, in Genesis 3:22: “And the Lord God said, The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Before this, only God knew the difference between good and evil. After sin, now mankind recognized that evil existed as it was brought into the world. No longer would mankind live forever. No longer would mankind live the perfect existence that Adam and Eve had been enjoying in the Garden of Eden.
The was the original, or the very first, sin. Since then, mankind has been completely sinful; there is no mere human who has ever been or who ever will be perfect. Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, every person born after that is sinful by default because we live in a sinful world. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, but when they sinned that perfect image was destroyed. Humans still reflect God’s image, but not in the perfectly righteous way that those first humans did.
The consequence of this is that you and I and every person are sinful. By default, we cannot have a relationship with God because of our sinfulness. But, just as sin came into the world through Adam and Eve, redemption came into the world through Jesus. Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection allows us to mend that broken relationship with God.
The legacy of Adam and Eve was bringing evil and sin into the world; the legacy of Jesus was to live a perfect life to remedy what they did. There is still sin and evil in this world, and there always will be as long as this world exists, but we can praise God that there is hope through Jesus!
3 comments:
I'm somewhat confused by this sentence that was in your blog:
"By default, we cannot have a relationship with God because of our sinfulness."
***I guess my understanding of what you said is...Our relationship with God doesn't automatically happen just because we are sinful. Everyone on this earth is sinful by nature due to Adam and Eve. So, in order to have a TRUE relationship with God we need to seek him and accept Jesus into our hearts. Am I understanding you correctly?***
Also....
This is just my curiosity...are babies sinful or are they just brought up in a sinful world?
Thanks for you time.
Thanks for the comment! What you wrote is correct, about how we can't automatically have a relationship with God because of our sin.
As for your other question, ultimately God is the only One who can answer that. I believe that every person is born into sin, so even babies are sinners. But, I also believe in what's referred to as an "age of accountability," which essentially means that when a child doesn't understand sin, they aren't necessarily judged for it. But since the Bible isn't clear on this particular question, we just need to trust that God will act according to His character. God is a loving God and all His ways are just.
Read Psalm 51:5-6 for a little more on this, and check back on Thursday for Logan's post; I think he'll be writing more on this.
Awesome, thanks! I was thinking the samething when it came to my question about babies and sin.
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