Primitive Man and His Fall

Our first parents, in their original state, were upright.  They naturally preferred and desired to obey their Creator, and had no preference or desire to transgress His will until they were influenced and inclined by Satan to disobey God’s commands.  Previous to this, the only tendency of their nature was to do righteousness.  In consequence of their first transgression, the state under which the posterity of Adam came into the world is so different from that of Adam that we have not that righteousness and purity which Adam had before the fall; we are not willing to obey God but are inclined to do evil.  Hence, none, by virtue of any natural goodness and mere work of our own, can become the children of God (Genesis 1:26-31; 3: 1-7; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Psalms 51:5; John 6: 44; Romans 5:12-21; I Corinthians 2:14).