ARE WE CONCEIVED AND BORN IN SIN?
Sakkie Parsons
I sent you something in which I told you about an event where a tiny baby completely overwhelmed me. I told you how I felt that I was in the presence of a human being who had never disappointed our God and who, in other words, according to my way of thinking, lay there in my arms without sin.
I then received an email in which the person—and here I must make this clear—pointed out to me in a truly very beautiful way that, although it was a beautiful thought that I had sent out, according to this person, and I quote: “We are conceived and born in sin.” In other words, this person meant, as I understand them, that we are already tainted with sin when we enter this world.
In response to what was sent to me, I now want to share with you how I see it. I know there are those who believe that “we are all conceived and born in sin,” and by that they mean, as I understand them, that we already have sin within us when we are conceived in the womb. But unless I have always overlooked something, I cannot at all remember reading anywhere in the Word that “we are conceived and born with sin.” And as far as that is concerned, I nowhere read in the Word that God creates sin, and yet that is what God would have had to do if the baby who is born, were already born with sin within him or her.
We do indeed read the following in the Old Testament, which people completely misunderstand: “Notice that it says ‘in iniquity’ and ‘in sin’ – not ‘with iniquity’ or ‘with sin’.”
PSALM 51:5 Behold, I was born in (not with) sin, and my mother conceived me in (not with) iniquity.
We see in Psalm 139:13–14 in the Word how the same writer confirms this thought—and I quote it from the 2020 translation:
PSALM 139:13–14 For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
I will explain later in this writing how I believe we should understand the passage in Psalm 51:5. For now, I will show you how our Lord, according to the New Testament, looks at not only babies but children as well.
I specifically mention the New Testament because it is, after all, the only Testament that applies to me in its entirety.
For it is written:
MATTHEW 26:27–28 These are the words of Jesus:
27 Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, “All of you drink it,
28 for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.
Paul, with the Holy Spirit guiding him, puts it this way:
2 CORINTHIANS 3:6 He also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The New Living Translation puts it this way:
2 CORINTHIANS 3:6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.
Of course, there is much in the Old Testament—not everything—that is very valuable and helps us in our spiritual lives. But, to put it this way, the New Testament has the final say.
Let me now explain to you how I reason about that newborn baby who, as far as my thinking was concerned, was a little human being without sin. God created that baby in that woman.
When the baby was lying in her arms after the birth, the person who had placed the child there with her could rightly also have said to her: “Here is your child, whom God created in you and has now given to you.”
That baby, untainted by sin, was given to the mother of that child in a world tainted by sin.
Because we are human beings, from the very beginning of our lives we have a tendency to find sin attractive, and satan exploits this, just as he did right at the beginning.
GOD DOES NOT BRING SIN INTO THE WORLD. As far as I am concerned, to say this is blasphemy. God does not cherish sin either. Let me quickly show you how Jesus reasons about children:
MARK 10:13–16
13 They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
15 Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”
16 He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
He was displeased with what His disciples had done:
“But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (MARK 10:14)
And no wonder, because look at whom the disciples wanted to keep away from Jesus:
Jesus says: “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (MARK 10:14)
According to God’s wonderful, divine plan, the children were destined for Heaven. And, as all children do, somewhere between childhood and adulthood, when they reach the age of accountability, most people change God’s plan for them.
The same Jesus who said: “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (MARK 10:14) also said:
JOHN 8:34
Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.”
Now I ask: Would God create a slave of sin in a woman?
Has God, to put it this way, created someone enslaved to sin in the woman?
Would God taint a person with sin—in other words, also create the sin in that baby—and then give the baby, tainted with sin, to its mother?
GOD DOES NOT CREATE SIN.
God allowed that baby, untainted by sin, to enter this sinful world, and in this way the untainted baby was received by his or her parents into this sinful world, untainted, in this sinful world.
It is completely unthinkable to me that God would create a human being in a woman, then taint the child with sin, and then give that baby, tainted with sin, to the parents.
As I have already mentioned—
What is certainly a reality, however, is that somewhere between the cradle and adulthood, when a person reaches the age of accountability, most people choose to become slaves of sin. I do not know the year, month, week, day, or hour when a child is no longer a child. Therefor I cannot say exactly when a child reaches the stage at which he or she becomes accountable for what he or she does, because it is not exactly the same for everyone. But fortunately, that is not my problem either. What I certainly do know is that my faith in my God must be like that of a child, and that Jesus said the following in this regard:
MATTHEW 18:1–4
1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 Jesus called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them,
3 and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Of course, I agree if someone says that our Lord gives the child to the mother in a sinful world. But that our Lord gives her a little bundle of sin—never! Never! NEVER!!!
We are born into a sinful world and, in that sense, born in sin, but never born with sin, because God does not create sin.
I know I have repeated myself many times now, but this is a very serious matter to me.
Sakkie