1005 墮落的本質
這就如罪是從一人入了世界，死又是從罪來的，於是死就臨到眾人，因為眾人都犯了罪。《羅馬書 5:12》
聖經並沒有說神因一人的罪而懲罰人類，而是說罪的本質，即我對自己的權利的宣告，是通過一人進入人類。但聖經也說，另一人祂自己承擔了人類的罪並把罪除掉——這是何其深奧的啟示（見希伯來書9:26）。罪的本質不是不道德和過錯，而是自我實現的本質，它導致我們說：「我是我自己的神。」這本質可能表現在正確的道德或不正確的不道德上，但它總是有一個共同的基礎——我對自己宣告我的主權。當我們的主面對無論是內心充滿一切邪惡力量，或生活純潔、有道德、正直的人祂都不理會一個人的道德敗壞，或另一個人的道德修養。祂看到的我們看不到的東西，即人的本性（見約翰福音2:25）。
罪是我與生俱來的，是人無法觸碰的——只有神通過救贖來觸碰罪。神藉基督的十字架，拯救了整個人類，使我們可以脫離罪的遺傳而受到的詛咒。神從未讓人為遺傳的罪負責，也不會因繼承的罪性而定罪任何人。定罪是來自當我認識到耶穌基督來拯救我脫離遺傳的罪時，我卻拒絕讓祂這麼做。從那一刻起我開始受到詛咒的印記。 「光來到世間， 世人因自己的行為是惡的， 不愛光， 倒愛黑暗， 定他們的罪[和關鍵時刻]就是在此。」（約翰福音3:19）
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們開始我們基督徒的生活是通過相信被告知要相信的事情，然後我們必須繼續如此同化我們的信仰，以至於它們以一種迴響神榮耀的方式產生結果。危險是在於我們越來越接受我們自己沒有活出的信念。《改變像祂的樣式》
1005 The Nature of Degeneration
Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… —Romans 5:12
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin, but that the nature of sin, namely, my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race through one man. But it also says that another Man took upon Himself the sin of the human race and put it away— an infinitely more profound revelation (see Hebrews 9:26). The nature of sin is not immorality and wrongdoing, but the nature of self-realization which leads us to say, “I am my own god.” This nature may exhibit itself in proper morality or in improper immorality, but it always has a common basis— my claim to my right to myself. When our Lord faced either people with all the forces of evil in them, or people who were clean-living, moral, and upright, He paid no attention to the moral degradation of one, nor any attention to the moral attainment of the other. He looked at something we do not see, namely, the nature of man (see John 2:25).
Sin is something I am born with and cannot touch— only God touches sin through redemption. It is through the Cross of Christ that God redeemed the entire human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We begin our Christian life by believing what we are told to believe, then we have to go on to so assimilate our beliefs that they work out in a way that redounds to the glory of God. The danger is in multiplying the acceptation of beliefs we do not make our own. Conformed to His Image, 381 L