Q: I read in Romans 5:12 that death and sin are a consequence of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden. If sin is Adam’s fault, then why are we still punished for it?

A:  Great question! In order to find the answer we’ll start with the relationship between human nature and human choice.

Theologians commonly refer to Adam and Eve as innocent in nature (as opposed to God who has a Righteous Nature). They were a blank page, as such their nature would be determined by their choices. Adam’s decision to sin warped and corrupted his human nature, which was afterwards passed along to all his descendants (thus Romans 5:12).

This means that we are all born with a natural tendency towards and lust for sin (Psalm 51:5). It does not mean we are forced to sin, however. We have the ability to choose, and even to go against our natural urges (Romans 2:14-15). This ability is called our will or human choice.

Think of Adam’s created innocence like a table that is perfectly level and straight. Were you to place a marble in the middle of that table, it would stay there without much difficulty. But if the table were warped, the marble wouldn’t stay. On the contrary, it would require constant vigilance and effort to keep it from rolling off. Doing the right thing with a warped, sinful nature is like keeping 50 marbles on a warped table; technically possible but in reality, an unattainable standard. In the same way, Righteous living has become too difficult for us and we all fail time, and time, and time again (Romans 7:15).

So then, each human being is a nearly inextricable combination of victim and perpetrator. We inherited a sin nature and suffer from the sins of others; that makes us victims. But we also make deliberate choices to sin; so we are guilty too! Only God could’ve come up with a way to sort out this mess: fairly punishing sin while showing mercy to sinners. He did this through Christ (Romans 3:23-26). Those who accept Christ’s payment for sin are forgiven, cleansed and given a new nature in Christ (I Corinthians 15:22; II Corinthians 5:17, 21). Those who reject Christ have rejected God’s fair offer of pardon, thereby demonstrating their guilt and removing any justification for evading punishment (John 3:18).

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