It is written:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)
Some teach that David here is claiming that he was conceived as a sinner, and hence was born totally deprave with original sin.
Is this the case?
No.
First, the context of the passage is extremely important. David is writing this Psalm after he has been confronted with the fact of his sin which had become public. He had committed adultery, gotten his mistress pregnant, then arranged to murder her husband (2 Samuel 11-12). Nathan the Prophet confronted him, and this Psalm was written at that time. David was (in graphic poetic language) describing how he felt as a sinner. This poetic language and the context must be considered.
Second, there are other possible interpretations of this passage that are much more likely then the Calvinistic doctrine of original sin.
“The second possibility is that the psalmist, David, was pure and innocent of sin, but was born into a world full of corruption and iniquity. Such a phrase is used in Acts 2: 8, which says that people were born in a language. Therefore, just as babies are not born already speaking a language, but rather are born into a country of a certain language, so can Psalm 51: 5 correctly mean a child is not born with sin, but rather is born into a world of sin and corruption. The third possible interpretation of Psalm 51: 5 is that David’s ancestors were under a curse of sin. Follow with me in the Scriptures, folks. If a man was born illegitimate, his descendants were under a curse up to the tenth generation, Deuteronomy 23: 2. Pharez was an illegitimate child, Genesis chapter 38, and David was the tenth generation from Pharez, Matthew 1: 3-6 and Ruth 4: 18-22. Therefore, Psalm 51: 5 may very well be referring to David’s conception and birth under the curse of the sin.” (Gay Henson, The Ivory Domino, 4953-4955 (Kindle Edition); Charleston AR; Cobb Publishing)
David is not claiming that babies are born as wicked little sinners!
Again, we see another passage which Calvinists distort to try and teach that mankind is totally depraved.
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