Does every man sin? Some Bible passages say that every one sins (1 Kings 8:46; 2 Chronicles 6:36; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiates 7:20; 1 John 1:8-10), yet some passages say that those who are born of God do not and cannot sin (1 John 3:9). Is there a contradiction?
Who is punished for the sins of the father? Isaiah 14:21 declares, “Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathes; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.” Yet, Deuteronomy 24:16 states, “The fathers shall not put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sins.” Is there a contradiction?
Throughout the Bible, we encounter those who suffer from leprosy. This horrid disease brought with it a host of hardships. Of the dreadful affliction, Barnes writes:
“…though the appearance of the disease is at first in the skin, yet it is deeply seated in the bones, and marrow, and joints of the body…A leprous person may live twenty, or thirty, or even fifty years, if he received the disease at his birth, but they will be years of indescribable misery. The bones and marrow are pervaded with the disease. The malady advances, from one stage to another, with slow and certain ruin. Life still lingers amidst the desolation; the joints, and hands, and feet, lose their power; and the body collapses, or falls together, in a form hideous and awful.”