Reference: Heredity
Hastings
HEREDITY, which may be defined as 'the hereditary transmission of qualities, or even acquirements,' so far as it is a scientific theory, is not anticipated in Holy Scripture. That men are 'made of one' (Ac 17:26 RV) is a fact of experience, which, in common with all literature, the Bible assumes. The unsophisticated are content to argue from like to like, that is, by analogy. But the modern doctrine of heredity, rooted as it is in the science of biology, involves the recognition of a principle or law according to which characters are transmitted from parents to offspring. Of this there is no trace in the Bible. Theology is therefore not directly interested in the differences between Weismann and the older exponents of Evolution.
1. In the OT, which is the basis of the doctrine of the NT, there is no dogmatic purpose, and therefore no attempt to account for the fact that 'all flesh' has 'corrupted his way upon the earth' (Ge 6:12), and that 'there is none that doeth good' (Ps 14:1). A perfectly consistent point of view is not to be expected. Not a philosophical people, the Hebrews start from the obvious fact of the unity of the race in the possession of common flesh and blood (Job 14:1; 15:14), the son being begotten after the image of the father (Ge 5:3; cf. Heb 2:14). This is more especially emphasized in the unity of the race of Abraham, that 'Israel after the flesh' (1Co 10:18), whose were the fathers and the promises (Ro 9:4-5). But the Bible never commits itself to a theory of the generation or procreation of the spirit, which is apparently given by God to each individual (Ge 2:7; 7:22; Job 33:4) constitutes the personality ('life' '/2-Samuel/1/9/type/acv'>2Sa 1:9, 'soul' Nu 5:6), and is withdrawn at death (Ec 12:7). This is the source of Ezekiel's emphasis on individual responsibility (Eze 18:4), a criticism of the proverb concerning sour grapes (v. 2), which was made to rest on an admitted principle of the Mosaic covenant, the visitation upon the children of the fathers' sins (Ex 20:5). This principle involves corporate guilt; which, though sometimes reduced to a pardonable weakness inseparable from flesh (Ps 78:39; 103:14; Job 10:9), and therefore suggestive of heredity, yet, as involving Divine wrath and punishment, cannot be regarded as a palliation of transgression (Ex 34:7; Ps 7:11; Ro 1:18). Sin in the OT is disobedience, a breach of personal relations, needing from God forgiveness (Ex 34:6-7; Isa 43:25); and cannot therefore be explained on the principle of hereditary transmission. Moreover, the unity of Israel is as much one of external status as of physical nature, of the inheritance of the firstborn no less than of community in flesh and blood (Ex 4:22; cf. Ge 25:23; 27:35). Similarly Adam is represented as degraded to a lower status by his sin, as cast out of the garden and begetting children in banishment from God's presence.
2. Such are the materials from which NT theology works out its doctrine of original sin, not a transmitted tendency or bias towards evil, but a submission to the power of the devil which may be predicated of the whole race. [See art. Sin.]
J. G. Simpson.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot [a son] in his own likeness, according to his image, and called his name Seth.
And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.
And LORD said to her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people. And the elder shall serve the younger.
And he said, Thy brother came with guile, and has taken away thy blessing.
And thou shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says LORD, Israel is my son, my first-born,
Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, LORD thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who hate me,
And LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, LORD, LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the th
keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear [the guilty], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, upon the th
Speak to the sons of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against LORD, and that soul shall be guilty,
And he said to me, Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and kill me, for anguish has taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me.
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou have fashioned me as clay. And will thou bring me into dust again?
Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
What is man, that he should be clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
God is a righteous judge. Yea, a God who has indignation every day.
The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that does good.
And he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and comes not again.
For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust.
and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
I, even I, am he who blots out thy transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins.
Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die.
And he made from one blood every nation of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having determined prescribed times, and the limits of their occupancy,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all irreverence and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
who are Israelites, of whom is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the divine service, and the promises, of whom are the fathers, and from whom (according to flesh) is the Christ, God who is over all is blessed into the ages. Truly.
Look at Israel according to flesh. Those who eat the sacrifices, are they not partakers of the altar?
Since therefore the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might make him who has the power of death impotent, that is, the devil.