I have my doubts. But such doubts mean I’m largely swimming against the current in the mostly reformed waters I’ve swam in for most of my life. I believe it’s referred to as federal headship, and my understanding is that it’s the idea that Adam’s guilt is directly imputed to me so that even in my mother’s womb I was guilty. This view mainly comes from Romans 5:12-21 and has some perhaps other lightly scattered support in 1 Corinthians.

I would definitely concede that the view is plausible on a careful reading of Romans 5, but not a slam dunk. Given the reasonable questions that this view inevitably brings up about God’s justice and his character, I think prudence requires some caution before embracing a teaching like this.

It’s a problem for me that it seems to go against the simple moral intuition that guilt requires personal volition. Secondly, it appears to be out of step with God’s character as broadly sketched throughout the entire Bible. God clearly states that individuals shall be punished for their own sins such as in Ezekiel 18, Deuteronomy 24, and Jeremiah 31.

I also find it curious that when Paul speaks about righteousness, he uses imputation language like “counted to him as” but with this idea of imputed guilt, he never seems to use the same king of language. Why not?

Ultimately, I’m not really convinced it’s much of a hill to die on. Either way, whether a person embraces federal headship, or merely some version of the fact that because Adam sinned, we now have a corrupt nature and we sin, either way Adam sinned … and now we’re guilty.