What does Ellen White write about...
Adventistische Schriften über: "Why did Adam's sin become our inheritance?"
Answer
Adam was the representative of all humanity; had he remained faithful, he would have passed on his pure and upright character to his descendants. However, through his disobedience he fell into sin and death and could not give his descendants a better nature than he himself possessed. For this reason all people are born in the fallen image of Adam and inherit his sinful nature, the propensity to disobedience, as well as the sentence of death.
Adam's Position as Representative and the Transmission of His Fallen Nature
»Since Adam was the representative of the entire human race, he naturally passed on his own nature and his destiny to all his descendants. Because he had thus taken on a mortal, perishable nature devoted to death, he transmits the same nature to the generations that descend from him. Naturally, he could not give his children a better nature than the one he himself possessed.«
The Consequences of Disobedience for the Descendants
»God gave our first parents a pure and upright character in accordance with His law; and had they remained obedient, they would have passed the same character on to their offspring. Yet they listened to Satan's deceptive temptations and transgressed this holy law, and the result was death. And instead of coming into the world as righteous heirs of eternal life, as God originally created humanity, Adam's sons and daughters became victims of sin, death, and misery.«
The Inheritance of the Fallen Nature After the Fall
»Regarding Adam's creation it is said: “God created him after His image”; but after the fall man produced “a son after his likeness, after his image.” While Adam was created sinlessly in the image of God, Seth, like Cain, inherited the fallen nature of his parents.«
Inborn Tendencies to Disobedience Through Adam's Fall
»The first Adam was created as a pure, sinless being without any blemish of sin; he was in the image of God. He could fall, and he fell by transgression. Because of sin, his descendants were born with inborn tendencies toward disobedience.«
Guilt and the Sentence of Death as the Inheritance of the First Adam
»The inheritance of the children is that of sin. Sin has separated them from God. [...] Regarding the first Adam, people receive from him nothing but guilt and the sentence of death. But Christ intercedes and walks the same ground on which Adam fell, enduring every trial for humanity.«
Original Sources (English)
Stephan Krol
Founder of EGW Vision
Why I built EGW Vision
Hello, I am Stephan Krol. I started this Ellen White website to make the writings of Ellen G. White and the Adventist pioneers easier to access for everyone.
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