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/am'>2Sa 1:9, 'soul' Nu 5:6), and is withdrawn at death (Ec 12:7).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
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.
When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, after his image; and he named him Seth.
And God looked upon the world and saw how degenerate, debased, and vicious it was, for all humanity had corrupted their way upon the earth and lost their true direction.
Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils were the breath and spirit of life died.
The Lord said to her, [The founders of] two nations are in your womb, and the separation of two peoples has begun in your body; the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.
[Isaac] said, Your brother came with crafty cunning and treacherous deceit and has taken your blessing.
And you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn.
You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, Keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.
Keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.
Say to the Israelites, When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person is guilty,
He said to me, Rise up against me and slay me; for terrible dizziness has come upon me, yet my life is still in me [and I will be taken alive].
Remember [earnestly], I beseech You, that You have fashioned me as clay [out of the same earth material, exquisitely and elaborately]. And will You 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 could be pure and clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be right and just?
[It is] the Spirit of God that made me [which has stirred me up], and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life [which inspires me].
God is a righteous Judge, yes, a God Who is indignant every day.
The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable deeds; there is none that does good or right.
For He [earnestly] remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that goes and does not return.
For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust.
Then shall the dust [out of which God made man's body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God Who gave it.
I, even I, am He Who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your 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 [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes),
For God's [holy] wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the truth and make it inoperative.
For they are Israelites, and to them belong God's adoption [as a nation] and the glorious Presence (Shekinah). With them were the special covenants made, to them was the Law given. To them [the temple] worship was revealed and [God's own] promises announced. To them belong the patriarchs, and as far as His natural descent was concerned, from them is the Christ, Who is exalted and supreme over all, God, blessed forever! Amen (so let it be).
Consider those [physically] people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices partners of the altar [united in their worship of the same God]?
Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death -- "that is, the devil -- "