Are We Responsible for Our Sins?

 October 1, 2024

Tuesday

Some people think that we are born absolutely innocent but become sinners through the influence in the world. That is a form of a heresy called Pelagianism. It denies that we have inherited a sin nature that originated in Adam. It denies that we are responsible for our own sins. How can we be held accountable if we were so influenced. It is the argument used in many trials. He robbed the bank because he was high on drugs. If he hadn't received the drugs, he wouldn't have done it. There is some rationality in this with the exception that he still did it even though he was on drugs. Blaming the drugs can't exonerate the law breaker.

Anyone who has children realizes that they are naturally manipulative. No one needs to teach them. It doesn't come from the influence of others. Sin is the natural direction of all of us. We choose it for ourselves.

The person who blames others for his sin does not see the need for salvation or forgiveness. This person sins because he has been influenced to sin. Therefore, it is the sin of those who influenced him that needs forgiveness. Surely it is not his own sin for that sin doesn't even belong to him. It came from someone else. I suppose you can chase this up the lineage of sinners and find that no one is responsible for his or her sins. Let chaos reign!

The need for salvation is only realized when a person knows that he or she has made the choice to sin. Yes, there may have been an environmental factor but it doesn't change the fact that each person makes their own choices. We all come into this world with a natural propensity to sin. We own our own sins and need personal forgiveness for them to be removed from us.

Though Pelagianism may deny it, Pelagianism removes the need for Christ's suffering, death and resurrection. Those who espouse it may want to stand before the Lord someday and say, "It wasn't my fault!" Justice will not accept this excuse.

So take these words to heart:

1 John 1:10 (ESV) ¹⁰  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

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