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Just thinking about this, in fact each of us does have "the choice to decide if they wished to eat of the tree..." Neither you nor I was "doomed to failure and sin" but we have become sinners, and followed in the choices of our forefather Adam. Not because we had to, because we chose to. Jesus, the son of man, did not become a sinner. Yet he had the same opportunity and inclination toward sin as any of us, and did not sin. No one is compelled to sin. Each of us stands in need of redemption, not because of what Adam did, but because of what we ourselves do. And there is a distinction between punishment and consequences or results, although we are not always careful in our use of the words. We could discuss hypothetical scenarios that demonstrate difficult consequences do not always indicate punishment (penalties for bad behavior). However, I would backtrack first and note that the word punishment is not used in Genesis 3, in the account of the first human sin, nor in reference to that event anywhere else in the Bible that I am aware of. Death as an outcome of sin is not described as punishment. There is another word that is often used to describe what God said in Genesis 3, and that is "the curse." It is worth noticing though that the word curse is used in reference to the serpent (3:14) and the ground (3:17), but not in reference to the man or the woman. Which is to say, the consequences stated in Genesis 3 did not amount to God cursing human kind, or punishing them (us) either. Eve and Adam affected all their progeny with their choices, but the consequences were not punishment nor a curse from God. In fact, God dedicated himself to relieving the worst consequence of all. Heb 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. (NIV)
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