Are we sinners because of what we do or because of who we are?
We are sinners because of who we are, not because of what we do. We are sons of Adam and sinners by nature, so sin flows from who we are. Scripture says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; the Law reveals sin but cannot justify anyone.
Les explains that every human being has been a lawbreaker and is a sinner by nature. Keeping the Ten Commandments cannot justify anyone, because the Law only gives the knowledge of sin. The text declares that all—Jew and Gentile—have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Les stresses repeatedly that it is not because of anything we have done that makes us a sinner; we are sinners because of who we are, as sons and offspring of Adam. He puts it this way: we sin because we are sinners; we are not sinners because we sin. After that, the remedy is given: being justified freely without a cause by His grace, His unmerited favor, through the redemption or buying back process that is in Christ Jesus. God set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. The blood is special in God’s sight because life is in the blood.