Two weeks ago when Kirsten and I announced to the church that we were expecting our first child, I mentioned how fascinated I am by pregnancy calendars. These pregnancy calendars tell you about your baby and what it is like according to how many weeks the woman has been pregnant. We are currently 10 weeks into this pregnancy. Here is an excerpt from one pregnancy calendar I enjoy explaining the baby at conception:
“Although you won’t know it for months yet, the gender of your baby and his or her eye and hair color, and even to some extent his or her personality, has all already been determined. The moment sperm met egg and you and your partner each chipped in your 23 chromosomes to create this new person, all of that was instantaneously worked out.”
It is amazing to me that as soon as the baby’s life begins, everything about it has been determined. God has made this process in such a way that the baby inherits characteristics from both parents. The baby will look, act, and speak like us because it has inherited our DNA. But one thing that is chilling to me is the fact that my child inherited more than just DNA from me. Because my child will be born of the seed of a sinful man, my child will have also inherited sin from me. This is the reality of our fallen condition. This sinful lineage started with Adam, and it continues to this day.
Romans 5:17 states “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man…”. In one sense, because Adam represented all men as the head of the human race, his sin condemned all who would follow (Romans 5:18). But in another sense, because Adam’s flesh became corrupted by sin, all those who are sons of Adam are born with a body corrupted by sin. In fact, the Scriptures refer to this fallen condition as “the flesh.” My child will be born in “the flesh”, and in need of the grace of God (Romans 8:7-8).
This is why I am so thankful for the One who was born who was not of the line of Adam, but was born of the Spirit of God (Matthew 1:20). Jesus was born free from the guilt of indwelling sin. Jesus also lived a life of perfect obedience to the law of God, and thus was able to die in man’s place to pay the price of their sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:21-22). And those who have faith in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ are saved and “born again” to new life with God (Ephesians 2:1-10; Philippians 3:9-11).
This is why I have begun to pray for my child that they would come to know and love Jesus. I pray that my child would one day be drawn by God’s Spirit into the grace of God the Father to Salvation through God the Son. From me my child will inherit sin. From Christ, my child will receive an “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Peter 1:4).
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