Psalm 51:5 Explained: We Are NOT Born Sinners With A Sin Nature.
Verse
Psalm 51:5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Their Argument:
"This verse is proof that we are born sinners with a sin nature."
Our Response:
There are a few strong counterarguments that can be made about this passage. So let's dive into each of them.
1. There is no inherited sin or sinful nature curse in Genesis 3.
Using Psalm 51, Romans 5, or any other passage in an attempt to read something into the text is incorrect. Genesis 3 says nothing about mankind being cursed with being born a sinner with a sin nature. What we do see is:
Man died spiritually, cut off from God.
The snake was cursed.
The ground was cursed.
Man's burden of work was increased.
The pain of childbirth was increased.
They were expelled from the Garden, cut off from the tree of life.
Nowhere does it mention some dramatic, life altering curse that everyone will be born guilty before God with a love to disobey God. Even the thought of God cursing people with a love to disobey God is so bizarre.
This is literally the logic modern Christianity wants you to believe:
God wanted Adam and Eve to obey Him, but they decided to choose sin over obeying Him. This makes God angry, so He decides to give mankind a built in desire to love sin more than Him. Because of this, mankind continues to choose sin over God which makes God so angry that He kills people and gives them eternal punishment. WHAT!?!?!
Even a child can look at that logic and realize how dumb of an idea that is. God's will is that we obey him so he wouldn't put a curse on humanity that prevents them from obeying him! The early church believers understood this as well:
"Neither do we maintain that it is by fate that men do what they do, or suffer what they suffer. Rather, we maintain that each man acts rightly or sins by his free choice. . . . Since God in the beginning made the race of angels and men with free will, they will justly suffer in eternal fire the punishment of whatever sins they have committed."
- Justin Martyr (100 AD - 165 AD)
"We were not created to die. Rather, we die by our own fault. Our free will has destroyed us. We who were free have become slaves. We have been sold through sin. Nothing evil has been created by God. We ourselves have manifested wickedness. But we, who have manifested it, are able again to reject it."
- Tatian (120 AD - 180 AD)
"There is, therefore, nothing to hinder you from changing your evil manner of life, because you are a free man."
- Melito (140 AD - 180 AD)
"But man, being endowed with reason, and in this respect similar to God, having been made free in his will, and with power over himself, is himself his own cause that sometimes he becomes wheat, and sometimes chaff."
- Irenaeus (120 AD - 200 AD)
There are no hidden curses put on man that are not written in Genesis 3. To use a prayer of repentance as the basis for an entire doctrine is far fetched to say the least.
2. The verse says David's mother was in sin.
It literally says in sin DID MY MOTHER conceive me. The mother was in sin either through the act of adultery or some other means. Seeing how this is a prayer from David after his instance of adultery with Bathsheba, it would make sense for him to reference that this sin has been in his family before. Or perhaps making a similar argument that Ephesians 2:3 makes where they were "by nature children of wrath" with the word "nature", defined by Thayer's Greek Lexicon as "a mode of feeling and acting which by long habit has become nature". If David's family and friends were sinful it may very well have influenced his own fall into sin.
3. Other passages in Psalms go against being born a sinner.
Let's take a look at some of the passages that speak against being born a sinner.
Psalm 139:13-14
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
If God makes us wonderfully in the womb, that can't include making us wicked and with a corrupt nature. This passage is a clear contradiction if David is made a sinner at conception.
Psalm 58:3
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
For some reason, people like to bring this passage up as proof of a sin nature and inherited sin but it's actually the opposite! It says that they "go astray from birth". The word "astray" literally means to wander off the right path. You can't wander off the right path unless you are already on the right path! You can't leave something that you've never been on.
Conclusion:
Psalm 51:5 is not a solid argument for being born a sinner with a sin nature. No curse was put on mankind in Genesis, It clearly says his mother was in sin, and other passages in Psalms point to us going astray after birth. If you want to go deeper into the study of sin nature, visit our YouTube channel linked below.
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