Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5 (NIV)
Adam came out of the hand of God upright, but Seth came out of the womb. He was born in the likeness of his father, a sinner. Poor Seth—sin was in his father and mother by their own choice. Sin was in him by nature and by birth.
Not only was sin in Seth, but its effects were all around him. God placed Adam in a garden paradise. But Seth was born outside paradise, in a world under the curse of sin, a world that would be marked by pain and suffering, a world in which the creation itself was groaning in frustration (Rom. 8:20).
Can you imagine Adam sitting down with Seth, “You ought to know, son, that you have two brothers.”
“Really? Where are they?”
“One of them is dead.”
“How did he die?”
“Your other brother killed him. Your mother and I haven’t seen him since that day. He has become a restless wanderer.”
Sin is in all of us by nature. This is the truth about all of us, even the best of us. This was true even of King David, who was described as a man after God’s own heart. David said, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psa. 51:5).
David is not saying that his mother conceived him through a sinful act. He is saying that the new life conceived by David’s father and mother was the life of a sinner.
Do you identify more with Adam or Seth? Why?
