The Old Man 
 
     The subject of inbred sin or, as it is sometimes called, "The
Old Man", is seldom discussed in Church circles in this modern 
day.  Many questions could be asked about it:  Where did it come 
from ?  Exactly what is it ?  Why do I have it ? and on and on. 
    I  guess  the first item we should look at is, in a sense, a
dual subject.  It came or was caused by a very disastrous event 
in the Garden of Eden.  God place man there in a perfect state of
being.  He was made in the words of Genesis "in our image after 
our likeness".  Man had dominion over all of the earth.  Then came 
an act of disobedience: eating of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil.  Up to this point there had not existed a choice 
between good and evil, for they had not the knowledge of it. 
However, this act of disobedience, even though it had some very 
bad results was not the real problem. The real problem lurked
behind the action of disobedience in the spirit of unbelief. God
had stated quite clearly that if they ate of this tree "they would
surely die".  The devil or serpent so stated "Thou shalt not surely
die".  This introduced the very spirit of unbelief that caused them
to doubt God and act on their own.  This doubt, and the resulting
action of eating of the tree, was an act of unbelief.  Could it be
any other way?  Had they held firm in the belief of what God had 
told them, "you shall surely die", to eat of it would have  been
suicide and against the very nature of man.  One can take  the time
to note all of the major troubles that had plagued us  through
history can be traced to this same spirit of unbelief  of what God
has said.  Take for instance the words of John 3:18     

    "He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that     
    believeth not is condemned already, because he hath 
    not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of 
    God." 

Consider these  words carefully.  For man is  condemned  for  his
unbelief in the name of the Son of God.  Man has been informed many
times of the results of his sins.  Yet he continues in them because
he thinks God will not really punish him for them.  Unbelief 
started in the garden and has been handed down to every person 
throughout the history of man.  However there has been one
exception: Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin and without sin
or unbelief.  Praise God for His love and grace. 
     What was the purpose of this. The writer of I John in 3:8b 
states:
 
    "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He     
     might destroy the works of the devil." 

Question:  What was the first work of the devil on the human race? 
In addition to providing salvation and forgiveness Jesus will
destroy the work of the devil.  Does this include "the Old Man"?