Free Will To Sin

James 1:12-15 (NKJV)

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

These scriptures show plainly that sinning is a process of personal decisions. It is something an individual does or fails to do by yielding to the Devil’s temptations.

When we make the conscious decision to sin for the first time, in other words, when we reach the necessary level of cognitive function to understand what sin is, and we then choose to sin, that is when we die spiritually, and we are not made alive again spiritually unless we are buried and raised with Jesus Christ through baptism. (Colossians 3:1-4; Romans 6:1-11)

These facts make it clear that sin cannot be inherited. Sin is a personal action, and while the consequences of sin may affect others, the guilt of sin is only for the sinner who committed it.

Ezekiel 18.20 (NKJV)

“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

- Eric Bullock, Evangelist