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/leb'>2Sa 1:9, 'soul' Nu 5:6), and is withdrawn at death (Ec 12:7).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
when Yahweh God formed the man [of] dust from the ground, and he blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
And when Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he fathered a child in his likeness, according to his image. And he called his name Seth.
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.
Everything in whose nostrils [was] {the breath of life}, among all that [was] on dry land, died.
And Yahweh said to her, "Two nations [are] in your womb, and two peoples {from birth} shall be divided. And {one people shall be stronger than the other}. And [the] elder shall serve [the] younger."
And he said, "Your brother came in deceit and took your blessing."
And you must say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Israel [is] my son, my firstborn."
You will not bow down to them, and you will not serve them, because I [am] Yahweh your God, a jealous God, punishing [the] guilt of [the] parents on the children on [the] third and on [the] fourth [generations] of those hating me,
And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh, God, [who is] compassionate and gracious, {slow to anger}, and abounding with loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing [the] guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth [generations]."
keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing [the] guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth [generations]."
"Speak to the {Israelites}: 'When a man or woman {commits} any of the sins of humankind by acting unfaithfully, [it is] a sin against Yahweh, and that person will be guilty;
He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me, for convulsions have seized me, even though my life [is still] in me.'
Please remember that you made me like clay, but you turn me into dust [again]?
"A human being born of a woman [is] short of days and full of troubles.
"What [is] a human being, that he can be clean, or that [one] born of a woman can be righteous?
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of Shaddai gives life to me.
God [is] a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
[The] fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good.
for he remembered that they [were] flesh, a passing wind that does not return.
For he knows our frame. He remembers that we [are] dust.
And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.
I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake, and I will not remember your sins.
Look! {All lives are mine}. {The lives of father and son alike are mine}. The person sinning will die.
And he made from one [man] every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining [their] fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and unrighteousness of people, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
who are Israelites, [to] whom [belong] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the [temple] service, and the promises, [to] whom [belong] the patriarchs, and from whom [is] the Christ according to human descent, who is God over all, blessed {forever}! Amen.
Consider Israel according to the flesh: are not the ones who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar?
Therefore, since the children share in blood and flesh, he also in like manner shared in these [same things], in order that through death he could destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,