n was
the beginning of sin; and because of her we all die[11].' Unto Adam
thou gavest thy one commandment, which he transgressed, and immediately
thou appointedst death for him and in his generations; and there were
born of him nations and tribes, peoples {194} and kindreds, out of
number[12].' 'Adam sinned, and death was decreed against those who
should be born[13].' This was also the prevalent doctrine of the
Rabbis represented in the Talmud. The idea of an inheritance of
_moral_ corruption--but not specially associated with Adam's fall--may
be found in the cry of the Psalmist, 'In sin hath my mother conceived
me!' perhaps also in other passages of the Old Testament, and in our
Lord's teaching, as recorded both by the Synoptists and in St. John's
Gospel[14]; but as connected with Adam's sin it does not, so far as can
be ascertained, appear for certain in Jewish literature till we get to
the Second Book of Esdras, a Jewish Apocalypse later than St. Paul.
There it is taught that there was originally a seed of evil, 'a wicked
heart,' in Adam as he was created, side by side with the good in him,
and that he by his sin gave it preponderance in the race[15]--a form of
teaching not by any means identical with St. Paul's. On the whole,
then, it remains a matter of some doubt what exactly was the source
{195} whence St. Paul got the certainty and completeness of his
doctrine of 'the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that
naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam.'

3. The more important question for us, however, is not whence St. Paul
derived the materials for his teaching, but whether it is true--whether
it can hold in the light of modern anthropology. And to this question
only a partial answer--the answer that appears to be most
necessary--will be attempted here[16].

We are in our generation rightly anxious if we are asked to accept any
professedly historical statement for which we feel the evidence is
doubtful. We know that from the point of view of history the origin of
our human species is lost in dense obscurity and uncertainty. And it
relieves many consciences to realize that, if St. Paul states his
argument in a form which implies the historical character of the
narrative in Genesis iii, all that is necessary for his argument is to
assume (1) that the human race is organically one, and can be dealt
with as one; (2) that sin is universal in our race; (3) that at least
the sting or curse