The answer is “yes,” but there are other scriptures which should be considered along with this verse to prove conclusively that everyone born into this world is “born a sinner.”

Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth IN INIQUITY, and IN SIN my mother conceived me.” This verse teaches us that when our mother gave birth to us, we were “born IN SIN.” Because our mother and father are sinners, we “inherited SIN from them.” After Adam disobeyed God in the garden of Eden he became a SINNER, as we see in Romans 5:12, “Wherefore, as by ONE MAN SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (KJV). Adam then had a SIN NATURE that produces “acts of sin.” This “sin nature” has been passed on to all men and that is what we see in Psalm 51:5. This is also seen in Romans 5:19, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were MADE SINNERS.” This truth is confirmed in Genesis 5:3 where we read, “And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son IN HIS OWN LIKENESS, AFTER HIS IMAGE, and named him Seth.” We know that Adam was “created in the likeness and image of God” (Genesis 1:26-27) but after he (and Eve) sinned they became sinners and their children were “born in their likeness and image,” which means their children were “born SINNERS.”

Again, babies are born with a “sin nature.” We often say that humans are “sinners by NATURE and by PRACTICE.” Before a baby even commits one sin, they are constituted a sinner, as we saw in Romans 5:19. My wife and I had a Christian man over to our house one day and as he saw our beautiful infant daughter crawling on the floor and giggling, he said, “What a shame that one day she will commit a sin and BECOME a sinner.” I replied, “No, the truth is one day she will commit a sin because she IS a sinner.” After looking at some of the verses above he humbly admitted that he was wrong and that babies are born sinners, which will then cause them to commit sin.

The Apostle Paul taught this solemn truth in Romans chapter 7:7-25 where he was trying to please God by keeping the Law of Moses and instead of obeying the Ten Commandments he found himself committing sin. Listen to what he discovered in verses 14-20: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME. For I know that in me (that is, in MY FLESH), nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME.” Paul discovered he had a SIN NATURE IN HIM which he refers to as “my FLESH” and that this sin nature that he inherited from his parents (and they from their parents and it goes all the way back to those born of Adam and Eve) is the source of every sinful act he commits.

In closing, Jesus also spoke of the truth we have been considering in John 3:6 where He said, “That which is born of the flesh is FLESH, and that which is born of the Spirit is SPIRIT.” In the first part of this verse, He is teaching that all “born of human parents are born in sin with a sin nature” (the FLESH, as we saw in Romans 7:18). In the second part of this verse, He is teaching that one can be “born of the Holy Spirit with a new, spiritual nature” that enables him/her to see and enter the kingdom of God (see verses 3 and 5). Has my reader been “born of the Spirit?” If not, please read on in verses 14-16 along with John 1:12 to see how to be “born again.”  (DO)  (590.3)