Rabbinical theology does not make a big deal about Genesis 3 (the fall of man), out of what we call “original sin”. The rabbis believe that in every man’s heart are 2 yetzers (yetzer hara and yetzer hatov), which is actually their word for intent – there’s a bad intent and a good intent. They say there is a black dog and a white dog in every man’s heart, the one you feed the most gets the biggest and dominates your life.

The Bible teaches that man was created in the likeness and image of God, and that included the ability to choose (freewill). Adam chose to violate a specific command of God, and somehow his progeny (the whole human race) was affected by that. Death entered through Adam (cf. Rom. 5:12-21), and death affects all of us because somehow we participated in Adam’s sin. You might say, “It’s not fair”; it’s not fair to you because you’re not used to thinking corporately. the Bible says it over and over, “the sins of the father will be visited on the children to the 3rd and 4th generations”. You have the same concept of corporality in Deuteronomy 9:7 where it says “but those who love Him, God will love to the thousandth generation”. There we have collectivism. There is both negative collectivism and positive collectivism. In Adam, we have negative collectivism. Adam sinned as all of us were affected. All of us are guilty before God. We sin because we are sinners by nature. Adam set an atmosphere in which all of us have rebelled against God. Because we’re humans, we were caught in that sin. Everybody who was ever born was caught in the sin of Adam and death spread to all men. However, (cf. 1 Cor.15:22) “as through one man sin all died, through one man’s (Jesus’) act of obedience, all are made alive”. That’s the same kind of thing – the Hebrew concept of corporality. In the righteousness of Christ, we do have a choice, and we must exercise that choice to be a part of the forgiveness that is found in Christ. So one is involuntary and the other is voluntary. I don’t believe in universalism that all will be saved in the end. But I do believe that all are potentially saved in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are right with God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, plus nothing. The unconditional grace of God did something that none of us could earn, or merit, or purchase, or deserve. Salvation Is a gift from the grace of God to sinful man. It wasn’t that we were worthy of it. The amazing thing about the gift of God is while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (cf. Rom. 5:8). Herein is God’s love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and gave Himself on our behalf (i.e. 1 John 4:10). Hallelujah!