When do humans first sin?

So, when exactly did you, or any person, first sin and disobey God?

Well for starters, we know every human has sinned and fallen short of the standards of God:

Romans 5:12

“…sin entered the world through one man,…in this way …all sinned—”

Romans 3:23

“ For all (humans) have sinned…”

But when do humans first sin exactly? When you are a little child? When you commit your first known sin? Where does it come from?

These are all interesting questions, when exactly do humans first sin and fail the standards of God? What makes someone sinful?

We know all people are prone to sin but when does this begin in a person’s life? And can you stop it if it’s caught early enough? What does the Bible say?

God says that humans are prone to evil thoughts, going all the way back to childhood:

Genesis 8:21

“…every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.”

Though it says “Childhood” the original Hebrew word here was “נָעוּר” [naw-oor'] means a youth: Defined as a child from being born until adolescents, but specifically it refers mostly to an older child like a tween or teen.[1]

It’s easy to see why the teen (or tween) years are the beginning of evil (Sinful) thinking: Teens are usually rebellious and disrespectful towards their parents (Rebellion) and most love to gossip about others embarrassing secrets or untrue rumors (Lying Slander) and especially love many other things besides God (Idolatry). Teens have all types of evil sinful imaginations, from adultery to idolizing.

But this word could also mean early childhood:

It’s also easy to see why childhood is where sinning begins: Children are usually never thankful for what they have instead they see something they want or don’t have and get jealous of others (Coveting) When they do something wrong, they blame another person (False Witness) and they love their toys and playtime more than God (Idolizing) along with many other selfish sins and thoughts.

So, everyone has been a sinner at least since childhood!

But is that where sinning in humans starts or does it go deeper?

The Bible makes a statement telling people to be like babies: which is innocence concerning evil (Sinful) thinking and actions:

1 Corinthians 14:20

“…in regard to evil be infants…”

Infant here is the original Greek word “νηπιάζω” (nay-pee-ad'-zo) which means “to be or act childish” and comes from the root word “νήπιος” (nay'-pee-os) meaning “baby/little child”.[2] This shows that at least babies and maybe even young toddlers (Infants) are innocent of Evil/sinful thoughts and actions .and are sinless! So, this tells us that Sin begins somewhere Childhood (like between 4-11 years old) as soon as a child learns the difference between right and wrong and learns how to reason and make decisions then there capable of thinking and acting on sinful thoughts. That pretty early in life but is there a way from babyhood to childhood to stop someone from sinning?

Before we answer that, this is not all the Bible says about humans being sinful!

In Psalm 51:5 David (the author of Psalms) writes when he sinned that he was born a sinner!

“Surely I was sinful at birth,…”

So even newborn babies are evil with sin! But didn’t we just read that Babies are innocent of Evil and thus sin? If that’s the case, then how in the world are newborn’s evil?

I can see how a child can be the start of when someone begins to sin, but how can a newborn be sinful if he/she cannot even do anything and is innocent? Now this is very perplexing…

But David actually doesn’t stop at his birth he goes even farther back in time when he was inside his mother!

Psalm 51:4-5

“Surely I was …Sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

David Said he was sinful when he was conceived!!!

The earliest existence an individual human has is where the first time someone is mentioned as sinful! But if a newborn baby could not do anything, then how are two cells coming together for the first time to create a new human (What conception is: the male sperm cell and the female egg cell coming together to create a new individual being) be sinful!?!

This does not make sense, the only way it makes sense is if sin is deeper than actions…

The only logical conclusion is that sin, in humans, is deeper than actions

a verse tells more about this:

it tells that no human is pardoned from sinning, because every human is under sins power:

Romans 3:9

“…[All]…are all under the power of sin.”

It seems all humans are controlled by sinful desires, but what exactly does being under “the power of sin” mean?

Corinthians might answer that in this verse, it compares sinful actions (specifically arguing over leaders and causing division) as the default human mindset and the worldly (natural/societal) thinking.

1 Corinthians 3:3-4

“Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere human beings?”

Arguing and all other sins seemed to be portrayed as just human nature rather than actions, by the verse saying that’s acting like “a mere Human”.

Romans has another name for this “mere human acting” Romans calls it “The Flesh”

Romans 8:5-8

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh,…For to set the mind on the flesh is death,..For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

So, the Flesh is connected to being worldly and that is connected to the natural mindset of Humans. We also see that this flesh is naturally against God’s laws and offends God, so the flesh must be sinful. But it connects to humanity, so the flesh has something to do with the human body/mindset.

Ephesians talks again about the flesh and how we seek to follow our fleshy ways and then reveals it as A NATURE!

Ephesians 2:3

“…gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like everyone, we are by nature deserving of wrath.”

So here it links the flesh: that are natural sinful desires and thoughts with HUMAN NATURE! And it also says by this very nature humans deserve the WRATH of God!

“Flesh” is originally the Greek word “σαρκὶ” (Saur-Key) meaning “Flesh” This word could meant two things: it could mean the physical flesh (which is not just the skin but also could refer to the soft parts of all the body such as skin, organs, muscles, and ligaments as opposed to Blood and Bone) but it also could have another meaning: the nature of Human beings![3]

In fact, this is what many commentaries say the definition of this flesh is here! Used in this context it says it’s The sinful state of humans!

This means the nature of human beings is sinful, since it deserves God's wrath, cannot follow God’s standards for humans, and offends God!

So this leads us to the conclusion that sin is MUCH MORE deeper than actions and thoughts (though actions and thought definitely can be sin) but in humans, in particular, the state of being sinful seems to come from the essence of human nature instead of just actions!

So, when do humans first actually start sinning?

The ages vary but it seems somewhere in childhood when the earliest sign of reasoning happens usually about 3-8 years old (wherever physically that old or mentally that old, if someone lives to be old enough to reason they will begin to sin). But that’s not the issue anymore, because we have learned that is just the expression of what is already there:

The corrupt Human nature that makes even innocent newborn babies who know no better sinful without them actually even doing anything! This makes even your first moment of “Existence” in your mom’s womb when your first cell was made, Sinful!

You can think of the relationship between this corruption and actually sinning like a fruit tree:

A fruit tree of any kind will not start producing fruit right away; it starts out as a seed (Conception in the Parent tree’s fruit) then once put in soil and water is added, it germinates and eventually develops into a seedling (A newborn tree). This seedling does not begin to produce fruit but rather its just like any other seedling and it may take years before it even begins to produce fruit (Early development), until that time it will look just like a tree. But one day it will begin to produce its fruit (Early maturity).

But does this mean that this fruit tree only became a fruit tree when it began producing fruit? Or was it always a fruit tree to begin with even before it began showing signs of fruit?

The obvious answer is it was always a fruit tree because that was in its D.N.A. to become one, even if it didn’t show signs of actual fruit at first! Being sinful in humans is much the same way according to these passages:

Though an embryo in the mom’s womb or a newborn baby does not show signs of sinning or being a sinner and is completely innocent, its nature is sinful, and thus even when conceived the nature of the creature being formed is sinful! So, when a human gets to the earliest point of being able to reason, have though, and most importantly taking deliberate action (Which is usually somewhere in childhood for most humans) they begin to sin! It was always there but it’s just being expressed because the person is old enough!

Romans clarifies all humans have a sinful nature and as a result are prone to wickedness and evil, look at the verses chosen to describe this sinful human nature:

Romans 3:9-18

"…all…[Are]… under the power of sin.

As it is written:

(Ecclesiastes 7:20)

'There is no one righteous, not even one;'

(Paraphrasing of Psalm 14:2-3 and Psalm 53:2-3)

'There is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.'

(Psalm 14:3)

'All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;'

(Psalm 14:3 and Psalm 53:3)

'there is no one who does good,

not even one.'

(Psalm 5:9)

'Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.'

(Psalm 140:3)

'The poison of vipers is on their lips.'

(Psalm 10:7)

'Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.'

(Isaiah 59:7)

'Their feet are swift to shed blood'

(Isaiah 59:7-8)

'ruin and misery mark their ways,

and the way of peace they do not know.'

(Psalm 36:1)

'There is no fear of God before their eyes.' "

Some of these evils are not committed by every single human (in fact these original verses are telling about very evil people) BUT the point is they all steam from THE SAME NATURE! And each person on earth has that potential of THIS type of evil sinning! (This nature is another reason why no one is a good person!)

"But why are all of us sinners by nature?"

Once again because of Adam:

Like stated before all sin on Earth, and especially in humans, all goes back to Adam:

Romans 5:12

“…sin entered the world through one man (Which was Adam), …in this way …all sinned—“

But it seems not only did Adam make all humans sinners from his actions by default, but because of his mistake he corrupted all of humanity and they BECAME sinners by NATURE!

As the Psalms says, this is why every human is sinful because all have been corrupted by Adam!

Psalm 14:3 and Psalm 53:3

“…all have become corrupt;”

So, what can I do to stop this sinful nature?

The answer is nothing! You can’t stop an apple tree from being an apple tree as much as you can’t stop a human from being a sinner. Eventually both are going to act upon their nature, and there is nothing you can really do to stop it (Without actually killing the person thus killing the nature with them).

So, Sin is in you, and all humanity, it’s far deeper and far worse than previously thought, sin is not just something you do, it is WHAT YOU ARE!

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Source:

[1]

[A] BibleHub Genesis 8:21 Parallel Hebrew

Website:

https://biblehub.com/text/genesis/8-21.htm

[B] Strong’s Hebrew: 5271.נָעוּר (naur)—youth, early life

Website:

https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5271.htm

[C] Strong’s Hebrew: 5288.נָעוּר (naar)—a boy, lad, youth, retainer

Website: