One of the most-often cited prooftexts for defending the doctrine of Original Sin is found in Psalm 51:
Those who teach Original Sin point to this verse and say,"See? David was born in sin, conceived in sin. That proves that he was born a sinner." And, of course, by some unknown biblical precedent, David's experience is automatically applied to all mankind. My first impulse is usually to ask the person if his name is David, and if not, then why is he taking David's words upon himself. However, since that has nothing to do with the debate, it really doesn't do for answering their argument.
There is a real problem, however, with using this verse to prooftext Original Sin that the OS defender doesn't take into account. The person who tries to use Psa. 51:5 to demonstrate the reality of Original Sin is taking a poetic, figurative phrase and interpreting it literally. He is saying, "David said he was shaped and conceived in iniquity (sin), so we all are." Even if we ignore the leap in logic that applies David's statement to all mankind, the OS defender has allowed a dangerous and damaging precedent; to wit, that if he is allowed to take poetic, figurative language out of the realm of the figurative and use it literally, then so am I.
But for the sake of argument, let's say that the OS Defender is correct. So let's start with Psa. 51:5 as our starting point. For the sake of argument, I say that I was shaped in iniquity, I was born with Original Sin. But let's explore this a bit further, and not just stop here. Whose fault is it that I am born in sin? Who shaped me?
Of course, the immediate answer is "Adam! We are born in Adam's sin!" Not so fast, I say. Just because you say it doesn't make it so. Let's see what the Bible says about my birth and who created me. After all, we do want to know what the Word of God says about it, don't we?
Here we have a statement, in the great hymn to the Word of God, about our creation. Psa. 119:73 tells us that I am shaped, fashioned by the hand of God. This is a direct answer to the question about who shaped me. And this leaves us with the accusation against God that, if I am shaped in iniquity and if He is the One Who shaped me, then He is the One Who created me a sinner, and it is none of my fault.
An even clearer statement of being shaped by God's hand is in another of David's songs, Psalm 139, a hymn to God's omniscience. In v. 13, David wrote:
In modern translations, such as the New American Standard, God's work in my creation is much clearer:
If, as the teachers of the Original Sin doctrine maintain, that I was shaped in iniquity, it is by God's own hand that I am formed a sinner. God my Maker is the originator of Original Sin in me. It is His fault, not mine, and if he makes me with a sin nature, it is unjust of Him to condemn me for what He gave me.
But now that we have established that it is God Who has made us sinners, on the same principle that shows that we ARE born sinners, we now come to the problem of a direct contradiction to the whole premise. The Bible tells us that God has made us with a pure, not corrupted, spirit, at birth.
In Ecc. 7:29, Solomon says that he has learned that God makes people upright, without sin.
It is important to note that the NASB says "men," not "man," as the King James does. This means we cannot retreat to an Adamic creation and fall defense. We can't say, "Well, Solomon is referring to the original creation, where Adam was made perfect, but now we are fallen and so all are created sinners." This won't work, because we are told that men, not Adam, are made upright. Taking a poetic, figurative statement literally, just as the defenders of the OS doctrine do, I show that they are wrong and that there is a direct contradiction in the Bible.
Here is the upshot of the whole matter, then. If the defenders of the Original Sin doctrine are allowed to take a poetic, figurative statement literally, then those who do not accept the OS doctrine are allowed to do the same. And in following the same principle that they use, we find that it is God who shapes us as sinners, and also that God DOESN'T shape us as sinners, but upright at birth.
We have to conclude that we cannot allow the defense of Original Sin to claim that Psa. 51:5 teaches Original Sin. If we do, we make God both the originator of sin in mankind and a liar.
Instead, if we are to keep true to the truth that the Word of God is infallible, we have to look to another explanation for Psa. 51:5. And keeping in mind that Psalm 51 is poetic in nature, and is an expression of David's sorrow for his sin, we have to conclude that he is talking about himself, and no one else. He knows the depth of his sin, how he has committed adultery and murder, and this is grevious to God. He is telling of his sorrow, and in the passion of his sorrow and repentance, he makes the statement that we read, saying that he sees himself as completely sinful. Making this statement in a poetical, emotional way, he is placing himself completely under God's judgement, knowing he has no claim to God's mercy. He is not saying that all of mankind was born in sin, but that he feels the depth of his sin to his very core.
This can be the only way to interpret this psalm; any attempt to read more into this can only result in blasphemy against God and His Word.
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