Online Bible Study - The Promise Is to You

THE QUESTION: How is it that all humankind is sinful?

WE BELIEVE: Sin is passed on from Adam, but righteousness is given through Christ.

When Adam and Eve sinned, the image of God in humankind was lost. The Bible says that they gave birth to their children "in their likeness and in their own image." The first two children were Cain and Abel. They were not in the image of God, as God had originally made Adam and Eve. From then on, everyone would be born a sinner like Adam.

A STORY:
Abel was a herdsman. Cain was a farmer. Both made an offering to the Lord. Cain gave some of the produce of the soil and Abel brought some animals to sacrifice. Because Abel had faith, his sacrifice pleased God more than Cain's. Cain grew very angry about this. God asked him, "Why are you angry? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door." Next, Cain invited his brother out into his field. Alone there, he attacked him and killed him. Then God said to Cain, "Where is your brother?" He answered, "I don't know. Am I supposed to take care of him, too?" (based on Genesis 4, see also Hebrews 11:4)

GOD SPEAKS...
Jesus said, "Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Matthew 7:17-19

We get apple trees from apple seeds, which come from apple trees. Likewise, sinners give birth to sinners. The human heart is wrong from birth. Only God can change our nature. First He forgives us in Jesus Christ. Through Christ, He then begins to transform us back into the image of God. This will be totally finished when God raises our bodies from the grave on the last day.

"For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" Romans 5:15

"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self, with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." Colossians 3:9-10

Through Jesus Christ, God is correcting Adam's sin and is restoring what he lost. It had been a perfect world; the world will be perfect again when God's plan is complete. Humankind was in the image of God; that is given to us again in Jesus Christ. There had been no sin or death; there won't be sin or death in heaven.

THIS PART OF OUR LESSON ASKS:

-Some people say it's not fair that we are all sinners because Adam sinned. Is it fair that we get to go to heaven because of Christ?

-When you think of your sins, would you rather have God be fair or merciful?

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