Are humans corrupt? Absolutely. Are we so corrupt that we are without ANY ability to understand morality before finding salvation in Jesus? NO. Read on to find out why.
Because of Adams' sin, death and suffering entered the world. Adam sinned before God and Adam will answer for Adam on judgment day. Adam will NOT answer for anyone else. So, what happened in the Garden, the punishment of Adam and Eve is not the legacy handed to the rest of us. Yes, perfection ended, bringing suffering to all mankind, but these verses state clearly that each person is accountable for themselves: Ezekiel 18:20, Romans 14:12, Matthew 12:36-37, Hebrews 4:13, and Revelation 20:12. When sin came to call, perfection ended and suffering began its universal reign. But these verses mean we do not answer for the sins of others, not even the sin of Adam and Eve. The difficulty of life is the result of sin, not of Adam and Eve’s respective punishments.
Adam's sin destroyed perfection and is the reason none of us are perfect. Because of Adam, man has a sin nature, but each person did not inherit Adam's personal perverseness. I mean, you can't have perfect creatures if they live in an imperfect world, right? Perfection and imperfection can't co-exist. As a result, Romans 3:23 tells us that ALL (defined as any, all, every, the whole) people sin and fall short of God's glory. That EACH of us sins is the reason EACH of us stands accountable to God for ONLY ourselves, Adam included.
Yes, because of our sin nature, Ephesians 2:3, we walk in the ways of this world. God calls us out of this dead state by resuscitating us so that we can respond to His offer of salvation. Ephesians 2:6. God also raised Pharaoh from his dead state and offered him salvation in Romans 9 (See: Individual Predestination, Romans 9). This is God's character across two testaments and millennia of time. Yes, our bodies are dying because of the curse of death brought on by sin. NO, our wills are NOT dead. When God awakens us from sin death through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, we then understand we have a choice, just like Adam and EVE. We can choose between life (salvation) OR death (damnation). Just like Pharaoh; when God showed Pharaoh that he wasn't really god like he believed himself to be, Pharaoh had the choice of submitting to Jehovah or denying Jehovah. Just like Christ, who laid down His life voluntarily (John 10:18).
The moral inability to please God only plagues a person until God resuscitates them by raising them to life in Christ, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. People who are NOT born again do not seek after God. Why would they? They are dead in sin, but their free-will isn't dead because they exercise a million times daily. Yes, Romans 3 says no one seeks after God, but in verse 12 we learn that those who do not seek God are people who have already turned their backs on Him. Why would anyone who has already turned their back on God seek Him? That makes no sense.
Romans 1:19-20 clearly tells us that God has made Himself known to ALL people, so much so, in fact, that NO ONE has an excuse for failing to know who He is. God has written His moral code on the heart of EVERY person, AND has placed within creation itself, proof of His existence so that when the Holy Spirit convicts us, raising us from the death of our sin nature, we can respond using our free-will. Hopefully, we will choose as God desires and receive Jesus as Savior. The following verses speak about those who do seek God: Proverbs 2:1-11; Jeremiah 29:13; 1 Chronicles 16:11, 22:19; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Acts 17:26-27; Hebrews 11:6; James 4:8; Matthew 6:33; Proverbs 8:17; Psalm 9:10; Psalm 14:2; Psalm 27:4; Psalm 34:10; Psalm 40:16; Psalm 63:1; Psalm 105:4; Lamentations 3:25; Psalm 119:10; Zephaniah 2:3; Luke 11:9-10; Psalm 119:2-3; Matthew 7:7-8; Job 5:8-9; Isaiah 55:6-7; Deuteronomy 4:29-31: Matthew 13:44-46; Zechariah 8:20-23.
Anyone who is not born in Christ is incapable of doing good because they are operating under their own merit and we've already learned that everyone falls short of what God wants. This is the very reason we need a Savior! Those without Christ as Savior are those who go to hell. John 14:6.
Thanks, Edward Lich, for the beautiful pic!