Troublesome Topic: IS A CHILD BORN UNDER THE CURSE OF SIN?

Wellllll, it is hard to answer with certainty.

We are definitely born with a tendency toward sin, but whether or not we are born under a curse is debatable, with things pointing either direction.  

THINGS THAT POINT TOWARD ALL HUMANS BEING BORN UNDER THE CURSE OF SIN ARE THE FOLLOWING:

The entire creation was cursed, hence thorns, diseases, the ground produces weeds, etc. are a reality for everyone. It is not just about each individual human, nature is suffering too. See Romans 8:19-20.

We were all conceived in sin (Ps 51:5) because our parents were sinners.

 In Adam all die, I Cor 15:22.

THINGS THAT POINT TOWARD US HUMANS NOT RECEIVING THE CURSE UNTIL WE BEGIN TO FOLLOW THE SINFUL TENDENCIES WE INHERITED FROM ADAM ARE AS FOLLOWS:

“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned”  See Rom 5:12. It appears that death comes to each one because each on has sinned. Ezekiel chapters 18:4 and 33:9 also say that each person will die for their own sins.

According to a Messianic Jew named Rich Oka, the ancient Jews believed that everyone entered this world in a condition of common and clean. If we all entered the world in a cursed condition, that would mean common and unclean, not clean.

Then there are the comments from Paul that I described above, indicating that, in some conditions, a child enters the world as holy. That does not coincide with entering the world in a cursed condition.

From the last set of indicators, it appears that we were not born with the curse on us yet, that came as we started to live according to the sinful tendency we inherited from Adam. As soon as we started doing any of the things a child does knowing it is wrong, such as lying to a parent to avoid punishment, we brought the curse of sin on ourselves.

HOW CAN WE RECONCILE THE TWO SIDES?

I think we can reconcile some of these contrary points by saying that nature in general is constantly under a curse because of the high percentage of sinful people in this world compared to the small percentage of innocent babies that have not yet begun to live according to their sinful tendencies. Such a reconciliation also holds in place the concept of an age of accountability which most followers of Jesus hold to because it seems to fit most of what we see in Scripture.

Therefore, it may not be perfectly accurate to say that we are born under a curse, and we can be confident that it is wrong to say that we are born in the image of God. What we did inherit from Adam was 1) a tendency toward sinning and 2) Adam’s image, which is a marred form of the image of God.

The next lesson in the full series on covenants is: WHAT IS MEANT BY KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL?