Michael S. Heiser on Original sin & the human will
Will in bondage; needs sovereign grace to be freed
"I don't believe that Adam's fall affected all humanity by transmitting Adam's guilt to all humans." — drmsh.com. And: "Regeneration enables a choice; it doesn't remove freedom. And when someone is regenerated, they want to make that choice. The quickening is irresistible and in line with the will."
THE POSITION
Holds that before regeneration a person cannot choose the gospel and that the quickening which enables that choice is irresistible — which is the substance of the bondage position. But he arrives there while denying inherited Adamic guilt outright, and while insisting that genuine freedom in every other respect survives the fall. Spiritual death is estrangement from the source of life, not a blanket incapacity.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned.
17 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Old Testament and Semitic languages scholar (PhD, Wisconsin, 2004), Scholar-in-Residence at Faithlife/Logos, and host of the Naked Bible Podcast. Argued that the Hebrew Bible assumes a real divine council of lesser elohim under Yahweh, and held that this reading defends rather than threatens the deity of Christ.
Cite this page
"Michael S. Heiser on Original sin & the human will", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/heiser/original-sin (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/heiser/original-sin).