God certainly did not create Adam a sinner. God saw all that he had made and it was very good (Gen 1:31). Adam failed to obey the Lord and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. By disobeying he became guilty and corrupt, falling into an estate of sin and misery. He became subject to death and the pains of hell forever. This was his moral culpability. God created him positively good and upright, in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. But after he sinned, he fell and brought death to all of us and to the entire creation through the curse.

Was Adam a sinner as created by God? I understand Adam had not sinned, but was that part of his identity?

I understand sin to be defined as falling short or missing the mark. After listening to Reformed Forum for a number of months now, I get the impression that Adam did hit the mark. You comment how he failed to meet his role as profit, priest, and king. I can see where he failed to protect God’s word as Satan and Eve misquoted God. As a contrast, I see that the last Adam perfectly quoted God’s word when tempted by Satan. I see that the last Adam will crush Satan’s head. I see that Adam failed to do this. Adam’s behavior reminds me of my behavior and everyone I know. I now see Adam as a sinner even before he ate the fruit and provided the physical evidence of his sin.

I see myself as knitted together in my mother’s womb by God, yet a sinner. I had not sinned, but as a child of sinful parents, it is my identity. I am a sinner, born of sinful parents, living in a sinful world. It is part of my identity.

As I put these two thoughts together, I conclude that God created Adam out of the dust of the earth: a sinner. Adam did not have God’s Spirit in him as Jesus did when His body was conceived.

This seemed outlandish to me at first, but the puzzle pieces seem to fit together. What has helped me bring this into the realm of reasonable is that if I understand that every person after Adam and Eve was created by God as a sinner, it is not much of a stretch to extrapolate that to Adam.

What are your thoughts on this concept?