Introduction

Many skeptics think that the Bible claims that people are condemned to    hell on the basis of Adam and Eve's sin - the original sin of mankind. The  doctrine of original sin comes primarily from Paul's letter to the Romans. In  this letter, Paul makes the statement that "through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all  men..."¹ Taken out of context, Paul  seems to imply that all people are condemned because of Adam's sin. This page  will examine what Paul said in context and how that fits with the  remainder of biblical theology.

What was the original sin?

God created Adam and Eve and placed them in a garden²  of numerous fruit trees³ that He had designed,  from which they could eat anything, except the fruit from one tree.⁴  Although Adam and Eve had no concept of good and evil, they obviously did know about  disobedience, since Eve told the serpent, "From the fruit of the  trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree of "THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL"  which is in the  middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or  you will die.'" Spiritually and physically. They had eternal life before this act. event... (Genesis 3:3)

From her statement, it is clear that Eve  knew that she shouldn't eat the fruit. In fact she even added to God's command  with the words "or touch it," which was not in God's original command.  So, the original sin was disobedience, mistrust, and disloyalty against God.⁵ Satan, the serpant, decieved Eve by TWISTING THE WORDS OF GOD, with His evil and deciet!

Romans chapter five

In chapter 5 of Romans, Paul describes how We are justified before God on  the basis of faith in Jesus Christ,⁶ who came to  earth to die for the sins of mankind.⁷ The  chapter takes us back to how we got into the current mess we are in - back to  our original parents, who committed the first sins. Paul's point in doing this  is to compare the transgression by the transgressor to the redemption offered  through the Redeemer. In this chapter, Paul makes it clear that, although Adam  and Eve committed the first sin, we are guilty on the basis of our own  sin:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death    through sin, and so death spread to all men, because    all sinned-- (Romans 5:12)

What the original sin did was to cause the human race to fall into the  practice of sin. We are born to imperfect parents, whose sin negatively  influences us. We become accustomed to committing "minor" sins  without regard to their negative impact on our lives and the lives of others.  However, God, in His love,⁸ provided the means by  which all people⁹ could become completely  righteous before Him,¹⁰ thus inheriting eternal  life.¹¹ 

      UNCONVERTED PEOPLE: Our Sin Problem Man has a sin problem. Our sins separate us from God. Isaiah 59:2, "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that he will not hear". It is our sins that have caused the separation. In Romans 3:23, we are told, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"  Except for our Lord the Messiah, no one can be an accountable person living or dead, who has ever been able to say that they have never sinned !

We are all in need of salvation. I John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us". The easiest person to deceive is ourselves. When we rationalize away what God says, this is what we are doing. God says that man has a sin problem, but man says that he does not. Who is right and what are we doing to God when we say that we have no sin? Continuing our reading in I John 1:10, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." God is always right when he tells us that we have all sinned.

In Romans 6:23 we read, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord". Death is a separation. When we die physically, our body is placed into the grave, but our spirit is separated from our dead body and goes back to God, who gave it. We are told in Ecclesiastes 12:7, "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it". In physical death, there is a separation between our body and our soul..

In Romans 6:23, we saw that, "For the wages of sin is death". This is a spiritual death, which is a separation from God in eternity for those who are lost. Since God is in heaven, and those who experience this spiritual death are separated from God, they cannot go to heaven. This leaves only one place for them to go, hell. We see hell spoken of as the second death in Revelation 21:8, "the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death".